- I think boutique firms might be the way to go. I spoke with an associate at a boutique firm the other day who much preferred his current situation to his previous employment at a big firm. He said that there was a palpable culture of fear in his previous office; the lawyers lived at the mercy of their clients and everyone was sort of afraid to move for fear of angering them. In contrast, he his current firm was one which encouraged him to take responsibility for his cases, and he said he was doing things now that he would have been made to feel was beyond him at the big firm because the firm didn't want the clients getting mad at them for giving work to an associate.

- M&A doesn't seem particularly stimulating. I recently spoke with a former associate in M&A who said that it was just drudge work. She said that any enjoyment to be derived from it came purely from the mystique of being part of a big deal, which didn't do it for her and I don't think would do it for me. My suspicions grew when I went to a talk by the head of Cravath's Environmental practice last week. I really liked the guy because he was very animated and obviously cared about his work, but when he described the actual work that he does it didn't sound like much more than giving the green light (no pun intended) to clients' big deals.

- If I was going to work for a big firm right now, I'd probably want it to be Simpson Thacher. In ThoughtsOnCommunity, Gavin suggested that big firms can be their own community. If this is the case, I think it probably looks like this. What a creative program! Also, they are helping to pay for my spring break trip to do legal work down in New Orleans, so I'm grateful for that. What do you guys think about this, though—is sponsoring a service trip for law students just a ruse, or the sign of a legitimate commitment to pro bono?

-- MichaelDreibelbis - 24 Feb 2009

I think pro bono is just a safety valve for biglaw so the associated don't feel that their whole law school studying is a total waste.

-- XinpingZhu - 24 Feb 2009

If a corporation (or LLP) is a person, and people are rational actors, and rational actors won't do a "deal" unless they believe they are getting a "bargain", then Simpson Thatcher must believe that enough law students will believe that they have a legitimate commitment to pro bono to enhance their recruiting ability and pay for itself in the long run.

Of course, if you don't believe that an LLP is a person, I still think this holds true.

-- WalkerNewell - 24 Feb 2009