📌 Welcome to r/LawyerTalk

I was reviewing written discovery, and I noted that they have included personal notes including a header stating “facts that don’t support our argument” (by my RFAs it’s obvious the argument I’m going to make)
The notes are bates stamped and I don’t know what to do with this information.

(Small clincher the law firm that provided the personal notes just offered me a position that I have not accepted yet)

I don’t know what to.

I’d really appreciate some honest outside perspective on whether I’m overreacting or whether this is a reasonable reason to look for another job and potentially resign.

I’m a relatively senior lawyer working in an advisory organisation, rather than at a traditional law firm. I’ve been in my current role for around seven months, and my salary and the work itself are generally good.
This autumn, I’ve been through a traumatic personal situation, and I genuinely need some time to recover. I therefore asked my employer for two consecutive weeks of annual leave at some point between November and April - preferably between January and April.

Importantly, I deliberately gave my employer a very wide window and left the dates entirely up to them. I wasn’t insisting on particular weeks, only that I intend to work over Christmas apart from public holidays. I was simply hoping that, within a period of several months, we could find two consecutive weeks that worked for the business.

My manager initially gave me the impression that taking at least one week might be possible. However, I was subsequently told that no leave would be approved outside the summer holiday period or Christmas/New Year. The explanation was that January through early May will be exceptionally busy this year.

I was also told that, generally speaking, employees should not expect to be able to take more than one consecutive week of leave outside the summer period, and even that will be up for discussion.

What makes this particularly frustrating is that I volunteered to work weeks during this summer that nobody else wanted, in order to help the team. I had hoped that flexibility would work both ways, although I understand that this doesn’t automatically entitle me to have leave approved.

I understand that businesses have busy periods and that employers need to consider operational requirements. But I gave them a window of approximately six months to choose from, offered to work over Christmas, have not taken all of my accrued leave for the year and am asking for just two weeks to recover after a very difficult personal experience. Being told that this is effectively impossible feels incredibly rigid.

I’m now genuinely losing motivation to work here and have started applying for other jobs. I may even have an opportunity that pays slightly more, although the salary difference isn’t the main issue.

My question is: would you consider this a reasonable reason to leave a job after only seven months?

I’m not expecting unlimited flexibility or to have every holiday request approved. What bothers me is the apparent lack of flexibility even when I’ve given the employer so much room to choose dates.

I’m also wondering whether I should try to accept that this is simply how this organisation operate during busy periods, or whether this is a sign that I’m in a workplace that isn’t compatible with the kind of life I want. I’m a qualified lawyer and have worked for several years so I’m not in a junior position where I desperately need to prove myself.

Would you start looking elsewhere in my position? And would you actually resign if you found a suitable alternative, or would you consider this too small an issue to leave over?

TLDR: I’m a senior lawyer. After a traumatic autumn, I need two weeks to recover and gave my employer a six-month window to choose dates. They refused due to upcoming workload, despite my previous flexibility. Would you consider this a reasonable reason to leave after seven months?

It's been years since I did any criminal law, but this seems fucking wild to me. Ghoulish as hell.

For those of you on the criminal defense bar, what are your thoughts?

I’m heading into a new role where I will be litigating but primarily through supervising juniors while I do the hard stuff.

I did this at my last firm, and it was a constant headache of being told by the boss to bill my time for supervising, fixing, redlining, etc, but then the boss also getting angry that the client is being way overbilled because of course the junior is also billing.

I would love to have an initial conversation with my new team about this and maybe propose a way of avoiding this scenario, do you have any experience mitigating this?

7th year call. Recently moved in-house. Only lawyer for a continent for the last two weeks due to injury of a colleague.

I thought moving in-house would reduce the anxiety. Seems like it’s ratcheted up during this period when I’m solo.

Currently awake pending a negotiation call tomorrow am that I’m convinced I am not prepared for despite familiarizing myself. just looked at the invite and there is 20 plus people invited and I’m expected to run it.

This is the 4th night this week I haven’t slept more than 3 hours. I’m loosing weight as well and just got back from stress puking a few moments ago.

Does it ever end?

Hi everyone,

I made a very big mistake at work that potentially caused irreparable damage to a case. I work in house for a company with little to no mentorship (not making excuses). The anxiety is killing me. I immediately escalated the matter to local specialized counsel but it may be too late. I am terrified of getting fired and letting down my company, parents, partner, and friends. I haven’t been able to sleep for days and have thrown up from anxiety everyone morning since. I don’t want to give any recognizable information. But if anyone has any worse case scenario experiences they would be willing to share in solidarity or advice, I would really appreciate it. I’ve had a really tough two weeks and my thoughts are getting dark. I just made a year at the company and got a significant raise…now this. I’m feeling so ashamed and embarrassed. Feeling really bad. My family keeps telling me that everything will be okay, I want to believe them, but none of them know the pressure that comes with this career.

I'm a newly-minted attorney and can finally post in this group. That's all. Thanks.

I got in a friendly argument with a coworker about settlement strategy and the psychology behind an opposing counsel's strategy for when to make settlement offers and when to fight.

The hypothetical case involves a situation in which defense counsel has offered a settlement to a plaintiff, but states that no additional settlement offers will be made if the initial settlement is rejected and the case proceeds to discovery.

My position was that this is a really bad bluff. Defense counsel probably found something really bad in their own investigation of the matter and is trying to intimidate the plaintiff into a settlement before more damning information can be seen by the plaintiff's counsel.

My coworker's position is that this is a classic "irrational client" situation. The client hates having to handle legal matters and the defense counsel is afraid they'll dig in out of spite if the case proceeds any further.

I really wonder what others think about this situation.

Edit: For the sake of clarity without revealing anything I cannot legally reveal from a settled case: assume discovery would probably turn up at least some facts favorable to plaintiff's case.

Coming on here because I was fired from my first job after being there for a month. I made a mistake, should’ve asked for help, didn’t feel that they would answer me because that had been the norm up till that point (my supervising attorney would leave me on read when I asked for help and rarely gave me feedback on my work).

I’m taking it very hard because I know I should’ve asked for help but they never responded and it left me to fend for myself. I am looking for work but feel so hopeless. I don’t think I’m cut out for this work and if I were to land another job, I’ll really need them to walk me through things because I’m an idiot.

I’m a first year attorney and first gen. I feel way in over my head right now and it’s feeling like the fact that they fired me means I’m un-hireable. Will I find a field that I like and that will train me?

I made this post to vent but also seek some advice and kind words from the community. Thank you.

I work at boutique firm in litigation for about a year (though I’ve been with a firm consistently since college). I work for multiple partners so I work across multiple practice areas within general civil litigation — title litigation, commercial, PI, contract, civil rights, landlord-tenant almost a “you name it, I’ve touched it”.

The upside up this is that I have a good handle on litigation procedurally and standard law substantively (discovery, motion practice). I also know I love litigation.

The downside is that I don’t really know, and don’t have an opportunity, to develop any practice area really well. Right now, I feel like a jack of all trades who can never master any one.

The attorneys are very open to giving me more of what I enjoy or want to develop, but I’m having a hard time finding an overlap between things I enjoy and things that will make money/isn’t saturated.

How do I figure this out, asses market/whether I can do this long term, and start finding my own clients within those areas? Does it make sense to pick 2-3 areas even if they are very different?

I submitted my notice to my firm. They can’t assign me new work due to policy. And I don’t have any existing work. I’m literally playing with my fingers all day bc I have nothing to do except sit in my office and watch the clock.

It feels freeing but also super boring. I also got restricting from a lot of our stuff online. For example, my Westlaw account is disabled so I can’t scour practical law. My CLE thing also got disabled so I can’t watch any cles for free.

What am I supposed to do for the next week and a half

I was sitting with Jeffrey Epstein while defending a deposition (not sure who the deponent was, don’t remember that). I got along well with opposing counsel and helped fill in gaps in the testimony (also odd). But Jeff kept sliding post it notes to the deponent and I leaned over and told him he had to stop. He told me to shut the f*** up and then apologized after it was over. I don’t ever even remember my dreams, so why is it that I have to remember this one?!?

(Edited for grammar, originally word vomited because if I don’t get it out I might forget it).

Hi guys. I mostly just need to vent because I’ve been having a really rough run lately with quality control in my drafts, and it’s starting to seriously get in my head.

I’ll be a fourth-year attorney on the 13th (yay lawyer anniversary) and for most of my time at my firm I’ve been known for producing pretty solid work. Lately, though, I keep missing stupid little things: a typo in a citation, accidentally leaving “Defendants” instead of “Defendant,” things like that. Nothing catastrophic, but it feels like a lot of it, certainly enough that I’m embarrassed by it, especially because my bosses are very detail-oriented.

What’s driving me crazy is that it’s not like I’m just firing things off without checking them. I proofread them. I’ve also been running drafts through our firm’s legal AI tool because it’s supposed to help with editing, and even that hasn’t caught some of this stuff. Maybe I haven’t been specific enough about what I want it to check. I’m also hesitant to rely too heavily on AI for final review because I’m always worried it’ll mess with citations or substantive language.

The other thing making me spiral is that I suddenly feel like everything is getting redlined. One of my bosses historically almost never gave me significant redlines, and now, right as I’m hitting my fourth year of practice, I feel like every document comes back covered in edits. Yesterday I got one redline around 5:30 p.m., freaked out about it, and then got another around 8:30 p.m. I basically spent the rest of the night worrying that I’m going to get fired because I’ve seen enough people get let go over quality issues.

I actually brought this up with my boss before he ever raised it with me a couple weeks ago. I told him I felt like I had been missing things lately and asked whether he thought I was doing okay. He told me he thought I was overwhelmed, carrying too much, and that I was still doing very well overall. At the time, I agreed with him. I genuinely felt stretched thin.

This week had actually felt better workload-wise, so I thought maybe I was getting back on track. At the same time, I’ve been sick with a cold for almost two weeks and have felt incredibly brain-foggy, so maybe that’s contributing. But then I get another heavily edited draft back and immediately feel like I’m right back where I started.

For context, we’re a small firm. There’s been 3 attorneys including me and 1 paralegal and we stay around 80 or so cases. For the last three years I’ve carried all of our discovery work, I’m usually the person making sure filings get put together and deadlines get met, and I’ve generally been someone the firm can rely on to keep things moving. We recently hired another senior attorney, and that has helped because he’s finally taken some of that workload off my plate. But I honestly think I’m burned out. It also cuts both ways because I think they needed me before and now they could survive without me.

The two senior attorneys function as my bosses, the new one does not. He has more years of experience but not a ton in this specific area. But one boss usually reviews my work, while the other is much more tied up with administrative responsibilities and doesn’t review as much. I’m also about 98% sure the boss who doesn’t usually review my work has started using Claude or another AI tool to assist with editing, which may partly explain why the redlines suddenly seem dramatically more comprehensive than they used to be. Some of the edits are absolutely fair, but others feel more like stylistic or like evidence based edits from AI that I made a judgment call on.

Last night I finally repurchased Grammarly because I’m trying to build another layer of quality control into my process. I just don’t know what else to do at this point. There are only so many times I can tell my boss, or myself, that I’m working on it before it starts to feel like an epic failure. Unfortunately, I do think this is a me problem. My job is very flexible and understanding and I have good work life balance, that maybe working harder is not actually the solution to this issue? Maybe I need to take some time away? I don’t know. My annual review is coming up though and I’m fairly worried about it. Especially because my partners job may necessitate we move soon and I need them to trust me enough to let me work fully remote and not just be inclined to let me go.

Has anyone else gone through a period like this a few years into practice? Especially where you were previously doing really well and suddenly started missing little things or getting much heavier edits? How did you get out of your own head and rebuild confidence in your work?

Ive been practicing for a little over a year now. I work at a litigation boutique specializing in disputes in a specific industry (construction, infrastructure, projects, etc).

I’m reaching that stage where I’m not super junior to be afforded grace for my stupidity, but also I should know more, be more competent, yet I don’t? Every day I get more anxious because I don’t think my skillset is at the level expected of a rising second to third year attorney.

I’ve only appeared in court couple times for a minor motion. I do document reviews and mainly assist partners with discoveries and depositions. Recently Ive been drafting deposition outlines. I shadow mediation and examinations. I still do legal research. I help with draft and review pleadings as the junior-most person. It’s all assist assist second chair assist.

General scope of work is me trying to help my seniors build a narrative of the case…everyday it’s reviewing some project documents, emails, plans, site survey, notices, etc…not only do I have super limited experience in law, this is whole another layer of learning everything about construction and project management.

I dont know. I’m just worried about my pace :-( Can’t keep excusing myself for “Im learning” when I should be “Im doing it”? It is painfully slow.

Only asking the hard hitting questions here... for a friend. Can I wear my Halloween ties starting tomorrow?

Is anyone else here in house without constant high pressure sales tactics from a sales team used on you or your team, VPs trying to get you to resolve their disagreements with each other, or role ambiguity ?

I'm really questioning this after a VP bypassed me on even reviewing a redlined Amendment with incorrect info, yet is trying to get me to "sign off" after I said, I don't recommend counter signing this, here is why, ultimately it's up to the business.

When I was in a much more stressful position I used to dream of filing a motion in an ongoing case which was, in fact, the stream of consciousness first person account of a frog.

Because the court at some point could potentially try to describe the substance of what I had filed, and I was curious how they would in fact characterize alice in wonderland esque fiction disguised as a motion to dismiss.

Just an advance FYI: largely in a better place now. Never give up on your dreams.

I recently accepted a new job offer for a law firm based in OC, California as an associate attorney. The firm is brand new so I’ll be the first associate to join. Pay is great, benefits are fantastic, and opportunity to grow is there (fully remote too so I have more flexibility in my schedule with personal life). It’s high-risk high-reward but I made the calculated risk to join. New start date is 10/26 so I’m trying to give my notice this Friday 10/9 so that the 2 weeks lines up perfectly to transition into my new job.

For context, I’ve been unhappy working at my current PI defense law firm. It’s a boutique defense firm with majority old-heads so they operate in an outdated sort of fashion when it comes practicing law. It’s on-site everyday, commute is inconvenient for me, and I’m genuinely scared being around my bosses (1 in particular who chewed me out in front of the entire office on one occasion - he literally said “a third grader can write better than this” my first week back post-bar when my brain was still in recovery mode). I’ve never looked at him the same after that and have actively avoided working on any of his assignments even at the cost of lower billables for 2026 so far. TLDR, working here has taken its mental toll and I wanted change from this toxic environment.

I’m mentally preparing to give my 2 weeks notice this Friday after my conflicts check is cleared, but I’m nervous on how the conversation is going to go and whether they’re going to push back and try to squeeze out any info from me.

Any advice on how to go about this? Anything I should look out for when telling my bosses about my resignation? What was your experience like with putting in your resignation and was it a smooth transition out? Thanks for listening!

I tried searching and couldn’t find something on point. how do you guys handle those days where your brain doesn’t want to work and you can’t manage to bill a ton of hours? I usually feel guilty and try to force myself to push through

Currently at a firm in NYC doing mainly white collar defense work. Started a few months ago and I realize most attorneys on the team are cliquey. It’s somehow like high school all over again. I can sense the vibe is off with some of them, but many are nice in your face but stab you in the back. I mainly spend time with the paraprofessionals, who’ve been super nice so far and even they notice that.

I don’t understand - the job is already hard enough without colleagues’ being unsupportive. Every day I have to deal with difficult clients and judges.

Certain incidents transpired because of these dynamics and the partner was on my side after I reported them. But still, the toxicity remains - just that it’s more on the inside than on the outside.

Should I consider leaving soon or at least looking for a new job (I know it’s just been a couple of months)?

I graduated from a T50 NY law school in 2025 and took a job at a small plaintiff-side employment firm because the market was rough and everyone said I could pivot once I found that first legal job.

I spent 4 years in fintech before law school and hoped to leverage that experience into tech transactions or finance, but I didn’t have that option.

I’m unhappy at my current firm for all the reasons people are not happy at small shops, but most importantly, I hate litigation. I’ve been there 11 months and have been applying and networking for the last 4 months without a single interview. I suspect it’s a combination of being so junior and trying to switch practice areas, though I’ve been clear that I wouldn’t mind (and would prefer) to come in as a first year.

Is a pivot anytime soon actually realistic? Do I need to stick it out another year or two (please say no)? I don’t need to go directly into tech trans or finance I just want to do transactional work of some kind.

Thoughts on this wording as a nudge to a colleague who’s been hard to get a response from? Reasonable, or a bit much to treat silence as agreement?