A bit of Backstory

How did I get here? I graduated law school with dreams of helping inventors protect their inventions or working in technology helping research and development move forward. I passed the bar and landed my first job. One recession later, I am laid off with no real prospects. I job search relentlessly for months and am finally offered a "non-partner track, non-associate job" that I am assured has no hope of promotion. The salary is half of what I used to make ($40K) but I figured its better to work while I look then sit on the couch watching Oprah & eating bonbons. Don't get me wrong. I am not sniffing at $40,000 a year. I was making that before I went to law school. But one law school degree and $165,000 in debt later, I thought a Juris Doctorate and bar admission would mean something --preferably in cash. Joke's on me.

So I enter the world of document review. This firm has a separate area for document review staff (called 'Staff Attorneys' rather than associates so no-one in or outside the firm would confuse the real lawyers from the temporary staff). We cannot use the phone, copy machine or fax without client codes--and since we have no clients, we have no access to any office machinery. The attorney's in the main office treat us with snide remarks and condescension. They actually won't ride the elevators with us or fraternize in any way lest 'staff attorney'-ness rubs off on them like Ebola.

The Firm counts every office supply from pens, paperclips and thumbtacks right down to the toilet paper. Yes, they ration the toilet paper. Here Big Law has special locks on the toilet paper rolls so you cannot take more than a few squares without special efforts. How nice. Don't think Big Law is eco-conscious because that would just mean you don't work in Big Law. BL is run by the all mighty dollar. This firm doesn't even recycle (which in our state is the law). They save bottles and cans that have a deposit on them & throw the rest in the garbage. There is no recycling for paper or cardboard either. All tossed in the bin. Because our work is all electronic online review, no one has any office supplies. My office-mate and I share 1 pen and there is only 1 person on the floor with a pair of scissors so if I need to cut something, I wait til I get home.

As for office arrangements, they pack us in 2-3 to an office designed for one. These offices are windowless boxes with little circulation. At least I don't have to worry about sun exposure from a window--but vitamin D deficiency is a problem. We're probably susceptible to scurvy too--I'll have to Google that...