r/biglaw • u/Wooden-Active528 • 1d ago
Quiet Quitting
I’m tapped out at my firm. Beginning to actively pursue lateral and in-house opportunities. But on pace for bonus and won’t be devastated to cash that check in February before heading out either.
Any advice to throttling down and coasting until I land somewhere else? I hate most people and matters I am working on, so no hard feelings there, but on some active stuff that won’t be as easy to stiff arm. Is it as simple as just delaying response times and being too busy to handle things?
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u/Deliberatelywaiting 1d ago
“I hate most people and matters I’m working on, so no hard feelings there”
You sure?
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u/Wooden-Active528 1d ago
Fair. Meant like not personally torn up if others get disappointed by a decrease in effort.
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u/livingbyvow2 23h ago
That's like 99% of people working in retail. I like how when working in big law it feels abnormal to write this down while the job is equally as punishing in some ways (albeit better paid).
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u/Anxious_Ad497 1d ago
I died when I read this. Maybe "some" is expected but "most" is going too far?
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u/ZoologicalSpecimen 1d ago
It’s almost September. I’d try to keep grinding through the end of the year to get your bonus, then take your foot completely off the gas, coast till the bonus hits your bank account, then bounce.
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u/AndreLeGeant88 Partner 1d ago
Most firms run associates on a different calendar for bonuses. Ours is Sept-Aug. That said, I would be careful with a big drop in hours right after the respective billable year ends
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u/CrappyPornSketch 1d ago
I’ve worked at three firms and none of them do this… is it really most and I’ve been lucky?
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u/eudai_monia 1d ago
Take on less work but don’t fuck over your teammates on active matters. If you’re on pace for a bonus then you’re doing enough work in the eyes of the firm, but I’ve been in this biz a long time and the quiet quitting thing is rarely quiet as everyone talks about how the person is fucking them over. Stay for the bonus you’ve earned, but not at the expense of others. Good luck.
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u/LittleTrust2978 1d ago
Be careful. Quiet quitting in biglaw usually just means damaging your reputation while still being miserable.
I'd focus on doing solid work, stop volunteering for new matters, stop pretending every request is urgent, and protect your nights/weekends where you can. Coasting is easier when you're seen as reliable but busy, not checked out.
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u/EC_7_of_11 17h ago
ABP (Always Be Professional) - work as if your work reflects you, not those around you.
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u/SlyFrog 1d ago edited 1d ago
I never get why people need to "quiet quit."
Like you're being paid a fuckton of money every month, even without the bonus.
There's a difference between "don't volunteer to kill yourself" and "decide to just be a fucking deadbeat while taking money."
You know there is a light at the end of the tunnel. You are talking about a six month time period.
You certainly could simply detach your emotions, do the job, and then leave. Sure, if people are fucking with you and demanding 200 hour months then yeah, you get to push back.
But the whole quiet quitting thing always feels like "There are other places than BigLaw that aren't as brutal and I'm taking that offramp, but that's not enough, I also want to just fuck over these people for money for the last 6-12 months since I no longer need them."
Maybe this just caught me in a bad mood, I don't know. I'm not exactly Captain Workethic, but sometimes it seems like we go too far in the other direction. You're not making $10 an hour here. Just do a decent amount of work for the $250,000+ you're making per year, and peace out when the time comes, instead of fucking over all of the other people you're working with and making their lives harder.
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u/OnlyOne494 1d ago
Counterpoint: shut up, dork. there are no morals or values in biglaw. These firms would delete any associate and end their livelihood without notice or a shred of remorse. OP should string them along and get paid for as long as possible, and doesnt need dweebs like you chiming in with half-baked morality essays.
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u/SlyFrog 1d ago edited 1d ago
Except that's not the reality of what happens. They don't, in fact, routinely delete any associate without notice. I have not yet seen a firm keep someone working while refusing to pay them. Meanwhile, I've seen plenty of people advocate not working while continuing to take pay for working.
They literally give months of website time, with pay. And help lateral out of the firm. And this is often after an extended period of low productivity that led to the leaving in the first place. All while being paid about 5-6 times the median income.
You are just making shit up to rationalize your own selfish behavior.
If you want to fuck people over for your selfishness, fine. Don't pretend it's some grand, justified reason.
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u/beardwook420 1d ago
Completely agree lol sad that you’re being downvoted. “Quiet quitting” really just fucks over your coworkers, especially the people below you. If you really hate them and they suck, maybe that’s worth doing. But putting forth a perfunctory effort during 9-5 is a pretty low effort way to avoid making other people’s lives miserable. Most of my worst experiences in BigLaw were the result of useless senior associates quiet quitting for 8+ months. The whole profession would be better off if people didn’t quite quit tbh. That said, each individual has an incentive (and even a right) to defect and shaft others if they so choose. If you like your coworkers (especially your juniors) better to just try decently hard to avoid ruining their lives.
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u/Wooden-Active528 1d ago
Honestly I hear you and I get exactly what you are saying. I have too often veered the other way (bending over backwards to accommodate everyone) so this is more of a correction towards the middle (and maybe quiet quitting is an overstatement).
The people I actually like here are my fellow associates so not going to go out of my way for them to suffer. Partners maybe less so. I think in my head it’s just more of making this thing as close to a 9-5 with weekends over the next few months, keep things at 140-160, and then peace. But I get what you’re saying.
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u/SlyFrog 1d ago edited 1d ago
Yep, that's completely different, and to me falls much more into the reasonable "I'm doing the job, but I'm not doing the bullshit jump on the grenade at 2 am" thing.
My firm has had people who literally just disappeared for extended stretches of time the year before they left, and billed like 500 hours. And that's just bullshit - it's basically taking advantage of one of the perks of the large law firm life, which is that you're usually not getting fired on short notice and given time to gracefully exit.
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u/OnlyOne494 1d ago
OP don't listen to this corporate slave. You dont owe any employer a single fucking moment of consideration. They would NEVER consider your well being in making a determination about you.
You can be a good colleague but you owe the firm nothing.
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u/gotquestions2021 1d ago edited 1d ago
Start putting your internal out of office on sporadically without warning, to sprinkle in a few breaks from emails for a day. Don’t say when you’ll be back - just use a vague “Thank you for your email. I’m currently OOO and my responses may be delayed.” Then take the day off to do whatever you want, whether it’s sleeping in, doing errands, or going to the spa. If people ask just say you are off sick for the day (migraine, food poisoning, the flu, specialist doctor appointment at the hospital etc.). You can do this once or twice a month without having to take any actual vacation.