- 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.

-- XinpingZhu - 24 Feb 2009