Big-Firm Associates in the News

Big-Firm associates are the topic du jour again.  Both law.com and the WSJ law blog are talking about this report (link difficulties experienced with report):  "After the JD."  Here are a few of the problems identified (via):

Early in their careers, far too many associates are given a steady diet of drudge work: reviewing documents; reading e-mails; organizing schedules for transactions; researching small, tangential issues. 

Partners may not take time to communicate the overall issues and strategy in a large matter, but just send younger associates off to till a small part of the North 40. Too often the junior associates have to work for senior associates whose goal in life is their own advancement, not the well-being of their younger colleagues.

Partners, who have huge workloads and unceasing pressures to produce, do not spend much time worrying about the professional development of young lawyers nor provide adequate mentoring, education and training.

Meanwhile, Eric Johnson over at PrawfsBlog is urging associates to unionize:

Think about it. Associates at big law firms are perfectly suited to unionize. They are overworked and underpaid. And partners utterly depend on them. If associates actually used their latent collective bargaining power, it seems to me they could extract huge concessions from partners.

Underpaid?  Really?   

[JJ]