by biglaw atty » Thu Jul 11, 2019 1:44 pm
(Some info slightly tweaked to avoid outing)
I'm a 2016/2017 law school grad. Earlier this year, I was stealthed (with severance and web site time) from my first firm, where I was a summer. I was told it was for performance issues (e.g. making too many mistakes and not doing a good job of incorporating feedback/comments) and it was suggested that I find a firm that is more "structured". In law school, I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. My medication helps, but I still have manic and depressive episodes pretty frequently. Throughout my time at this firm, I had a few really bad manic episodes in the office that resulted from very stressful matters and I missed a lot of work time due to my disorder. This firm has a rep for being a sweatshop, and the people that I worked with often got angry about my absenteeism. I never told the firm that I was bipolar, but I told some colleagues who I worked closely with, and most of the senior people I told didn't seem to care and I got phased out of a couple of those matters.
Luckily, I was interviewing with other firms when I got stealthed and got an offer shortly after at a firm that was definitely more structured and seemed like a better fit. Unfortunately, I had the same performance issues, but my disorder wasn't affecting my work as badly. I never told the new firm that I'm bipolar. I got fired very recently from the second firm after 5 months with no severance and no website time, but I'm still trying to negotiate. My performance issues were mentioned and the partners and senior associates in my group said they couldn't trust me to perform at the level they needed me to perform.
I have no idea what to do. At this point, I feel like I'm just a lemon. I was fired from both of my high school jobs, a couple of college part-time jobs, and got no-offered at a college internship. I did hold my first job out of undergrad for 3 years, but I was going to get fired at the end of the year if I didn't go to law school, and I got "resourced out" of the first group I was in at that company due to performance issues. Academically, I've been very successful and had good grades at a top 3 law school.
I still have about $100k in student loans, but I do have enough cash to pay my bills/expenses for at least a year. I'm too afraid to go back to school for anything because I don't want more debt and to end up not being able to hold a job in that new field. I have a lot of medical expenses, so no health insurance would suck, but I can pay for COBRA for a little while.
Any advice would be extremely helpful. The only people I know with bipolar disorder either live off trust funds, work for their parents, or work minimum wage jobs. None of these are options for me. I plan on applying for unemployment and disability. I spent about 6 months towards the end of last year trying to transition out of law, and had 1 first round interview after applying/networking for about 200 jobs.
(Some info slightly tweaked to avoid outing)
I'm a 2016/2017 law school grad. Earlier this year, I was stealthed (with severance and web site time) from my first firm, where I was a summer. I was told it was for performance issues (e.g. making too many mistakes and not doing a good job of incorporating feedback/comments) and it was suggested that I find a firm that is more "structured". In law school, I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. My medication helps, but I still have manic and depressive episodes pretty frequently. Throughout my time at this firm, I had a few really bad manic episodes in the office that resulted from very stressful matters and I missed a lot of work time due to my disorder. This firm has a rep for being a sweatshop, and the people that I worked with often got angry about my absenteeism. I never told the firm that I was bipolar, but I told some colleagues who I worked closely with, and most of the senior people I told didn't seem to care and I got phased out of a couple of those matters.
Luckily, I was interviewing with other firms when I got stealthed and got an offer shortly after at a firm that was definitely more structured and seemed like a better fit. Unfortunately, I had the same performance issues, but my disorder wasn't affecting my work as badly. I never told the new firm that I'm bipolar. I got fired very recently from the second firm after 5 months with no severance and no website time, but I'm still trying to negotiate. My performance issues were mentioned and the partners and senior associates in my group said they couldn't trust me to perform at the level they needed me to perform.
I have no idea what to do. At this point, I feel like I'm just a lemon. I was fired from both of my high school jobs, a couple of college part-time jobs, and got no-offered at a college internship. I did hold my first job out of undergrad for 3 years, but I was going to get fired at the end of the year if I didn't go to law school, and I got "resourced out" of the first group I was in at that company due to performance issues. Academically, I've been very successful and had good grades at a top 3 law school.
I still have about $100k in student loans, but I do have enough cash to pay my bills/expenses for at least a year. I'm too afraid to go back to school for anything because I don't want more debt and to end up not being able to hold a job in that new field. I have a lot of medical expenses, so no health insurance would suck, but I can pay for COBRA for a little while.
Any advice would be extremely helpful. The only people I know with bipolar disorder either live off trust funds, work for their parents, or work minimum wage jobs. None of these are options for me. I plan on applying for unemployment and disability. I spent about 6 months towards the end of last year trying to transition out of law, and had 1 first round interview after applying/networking for about 200 jobs.