The only act necessary in getting an assignment is to sit in my office. A partner will come by and ask if I could work on something. The juiciest assignments, however, will go only to those associates who take steps to earn them. Work is delegated in a very ad hoc manner, and without regard to practice groups or specific partners, so associates must fight for opportunities. It may require constant agitation to get the kind and quality of work that you want, grumbles one young associate.
Many associates find that after their first assignment, they re left on their own.
The real stars of the firm shine under this system, but others are often left taking care of dull and routine tasks. At some point, just about all associates will have been on assignments they didn t want. Chin up the upside to this otherwise unfortunate circumstance is that you get exposed to a lot of different types of law. It varies, of course, but the average hours at Sidley probably compares favorably to the other large law firms in Chicago, says an associate, and most Sidelyites seem to agree. Overall, I find the workload very livable.