Lawyers of Atlas -- does this sound normal to you?

[Indy Texas]

I'm the assistant to the managing partner of a civil litigation firm. My primary tasks are overseeing firm operations and helping his paralegal as needed. At this point, I dread going to work. I dread other employees shouting at each other and in some cases being reduced to tears. I dread spending an absurd portion of my day writing and responding to emails involving really petty disputes that reflect an almost adolescent mindset and way of behaving.

There is one woman who spends the entire week letting us all know how many days it is until Friday. Someone else who keeps miniature liquor bottles in her desk. It doesn't seem like anyone there actually likes doing what they do. I'm not one of those people who expects everyone to fall in love with their job and never have any stress or bumps in the road, but there is so much negativity in that place. Lawyers rank as one of the unhappiest professions on workplace surveys and I'm wondering if any Atlas lawyers or other legal employees feel this way or have experienced this kind of work environment.

[tik 🪀✨]

Sounds awful. I'd find a new place to work.

There will always be stress and office politics, that doesn't mean it has to be a constant barrage of negativity.

By the way, totally not a lawyer.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     My mom used to be a lawyer and she has frequently said that it was the worst mistake she ever made. She worked for the Los Angeles city attorney's office for most of her career, where she was frequently given cases to prosecute that were plainly unwinnable. The head prosecutor's only instruction was "do whatever you want, but don't dismiss it".

[dead0man]

That sounds horrible.  My sympathies.  I have no advice other than GTFO of there, sorry. 

[Kushahontas]

I can confirm that working in a law office sucks. Glad to be leaving in 3 weeks. Won't miss that trash pay either.

[DemPGH]

My very first career job was in a real toxic environment very much like that, and I can tell you that after a while it'll start to affect your health, blood pressure, etc. On top of the situation I was in was a very poor relationship between management and everyone else that was generally exacerbated by the actions of a single individual. People would be pitted against each other, people were at each other's throats, occasional rumors were spread. It's best to get far away. You're better off doing nearly anything else provided that it pays the bills.

[Badger]

I can only say that work environments are as much a nature of the individual employer's/firm's culture than due to the profession itself. Even firm types (big firms, small offices, etc.) have large differences between them.

I'm sorry to hear you apparently work for $hitheads.

That said, I love being a lawyer.

[Lief 🗽]

I work at a big law firm (as a summer associate, I'll be an actual associate once I've graduated and taken the bar next summer) and everyone is super friendly and cooperative. Worst case scenario, someone will be a little brisk with you because they're very busy, but even that's rare.