Reaction to a 1L Perspective
Photo by Courtney Nuss on Unsplash
I just got off the phone with a first year law student who just began her school year in California. Our conversation was friendly and interesting, and I hope to be speaking with her again soon. During the call, after discussing what we had originally connected for, she wanted to ask me a few questions. She prefaced each of her questions with a brief statement about how “big law firms” are perceived at her school. She did this very innocently, acknowledging that she might be misperceiving a broader viewpoint being so new to the law firm world. It was clear from these statements, however, that her introduction to “big law” hadn’t been favorable.
One of her questions was about pro bono work, and the other was about how comfortable it felt being a woman in law. Fair questions, nothing to see there. What got me thinking was the way she had prefaced the questions, and her reactions to my answers. It caused me to consider the possibility that “big law firms” have a stigma in law schools that is no longer entirely accurate. According to this young law student, doing pro bono at a big law firm is rarely, if ever, done and students who have strong passions for people are better off going the public service route. And as for being a women in law, she seemed to think that big law firms are doing nothing about inherited biases that have existed in law firms for decades.
Both of these perspectives do not do justice to “big law.”
I’ve worked and lived in Washington, DC for four years now, and the entire time I’ve spent in law firms. I got to know the ins and outs of a firm, its attorneys, its staff, and its management. Additionally, I am part of an organization for recruiters that brings people from law firms and law schools in the DC area together, and have gained great insight into the nature’s of other firms and schools through those people. I know a bit about what big law looks like from the inside. Which caused me to be genuinely surprised at the misperception that preceded her questions. I could perhaps understand it ten years ago, but it’s not at all where the industry is today.
I hate to disrupt the law school status quo, but big law is not the uncaring, whip-lashing behemoth they might like to portray it as.
On the contrary, what I see in the people I work with, what I hear in management messages, what I help organize in firm events and programs, and what I read in the industry’s trending and most reported on news is very focused on helping people; their clients, yes, but also their attorneys and staff, their families and their communities. Pro bono work and women’s empowerment are two great examples of this.
Pro bono is a proud feature of big law. Over the course of our four-week virtual summer program we had hour and a half long panels weekly on our firm’s pro bono efforts, often running over from the abundance of stories and questions shared. These big law firm lawyers described their work getting early release for inmates due to covid, keeping immigrant families together, death row inmates and more with a passion any public service worker would recognize. Each year most big law firms recognize significant pro bono work with an awards ceremony, and pro bono work is highlighted in every summer associate and lateral orientation. Some firms have pro bono fellowships where former summer associates can work in public service and be paid by the firm for 3-6 months before they begin working at the firm.
Rather than shy away from pro bono efforts, big law embraces it and sincerely believes our lawyers and our communities are better for it.
As for women working in law, this is another area that firms have sincerely embraced. While I can’t speak for every attorney’s mindset, firms overall are doing everything they can to promote, support, and empower women at every level. Every big law firm will have a women’s committee that aims to do just that, and most are quite active in events and mentor-ship for new and seasoned female lawyers. These committee’s are also powerful voices within the firm advocating for perspectives and initiatives with women in mind. They help put a check on old mindsets, where they find them, and ensure women don’t get lost in the planning and managing of the firms overall goals and policies.
Certainly big law is not perfect, and the fact that they have these committees and policies has it’s roots in earlier well-founded critiques.
Neither is the big law firm at the finish line of righting the balances, as recent articles about persistent gender pay gaps can attest for. But from my perspective they are hitting their stride. What’s more - they genuinely care about getting it right. Being the best in the industry has gotten the big law firm where they are, and that is the same attitude and passion they bring to bear on firm culture and morale. They want it to be at it’s best and won’t stop driving their firms forward until it is.
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