Vantaggi
There are some very talented people there from whom you can learn a lot. Quiet workplace.
Svantaggi
Long hours, poor communication from partners/management to staff. I was recruited and hand-picked by a very powerful and personable partner to be his legal assistant and to support some associates in his department. I was replacing a long-time, beloved assistant who had decided to work in a different department. Things were left in disarray and I had to pick up all the pieces and clean up years and years of messes. Seemed worth it, as the partner was so enthusiastic about having me on board and the work was exciting. I learned quickly that the support staff within the department hardly ever worked as a team. Filing piled up everywhere on everyone's desks and it was nearly impossible to ever track down anything filed by anyone else (even though the opposite pertained to me; I was expected to scan every single piece of mail that ever came in to my partner.) I asked the other department assistants why they never seemed to have a chance to file, and I found out that certain people felt it was only their responsibility to file items for their assignors; meaning that they would file for their partners but rarely their associates. I took it upon myself to change that system as much as I could and I did all my filing every single day, and took others' as well to get people up to date. Seemed trite, but a little bit went a long way. Things were going well and I felt I had the respect of many fellow staff members as well as the attorneys I supported and others in the department. I supported one associate in particular who was an absolute gem of a person and a brilliant lawyer. (She no longer practices.) Then one day, another partner walked past my desk and innocently asked me if I was planning on going to the Blue Bell office with my partner. Apparently, my partner had decided to move to another office permanently, but didn't think it was important to let me know. When the friendly partner realized he told me something I didn't know, he quickly backtracked and apologized. Wasn't his fault. The next time I saw my partner, I went into his office and asked him about what I heard. He told me, verbatim: "I didn't have any obligation to tell you anything." From that point forward, he and I had a very limited relationship. He didn't give me any more work, he barked orders at me, and he didn't greet me in the mornings not ever say goodbye anytime he left for the day. My other assignments/attorneys were still giving me plenty of work and I was doing the department's filing and organizing, so I was busy. About a week later, I got a call from HR. This was a Monday afternoon. I figured she was going to tell me officially about the partner leaving and re-assign me. Instead, she laid me off and said there was no room for me. The weirdest thing was that HR told me I could stay the whole week if I wanted. Come and go as I pleased. I used the next four days to transition assignments for my other attorneys and to file. The partner obviously knew I got laid off and never said a word to me after. When he saw me back at work, he asked another assistant if she thought that I was there to help him pack his things. No room for me sounded legitimate but I saw SO MANY assistant jobs posted for many, many months after for the Philadelphia office. I felt very betrayed and blindsided. Who recruits someone - from another state, mind you - only to leave a few months later and do so in such a nasty way? How was this ok with management? Other people sat by and shook their heads and felt bad but did NOTHING. Their loss. I was an asset to the department and the firm and they can continue to be mediocre and passive.