Simpson Thacher reviews

1. Many of the firm's attorneys show up here for their first real job in life, which means they're learning how to behave as a professional for the first time. Many were no doubt excellent law students and almost all are extremely smart, but they are immature and inexperienced. For them, it's great to get the training that Simpson provides, but if you're not in their shoes, you will have to put up with being treated like a kindergartener like they do. 2. Many associates have no idea how to manage a team and are terrible at managing a project, but they are nevertheless given the responsibility for doing so. This is not a Simpson-specific problem but a general problem with lawyers. But the partners and management of this firm also do not have a good way of evaluating an attorney on these very important non-legal skills. 3. HR needs serious improvement. While some of the staff are quite nice and helpful, but others are unprofessional, unhelpful and condescending. Some of them actually seem to think that they are in fact the headmaster of a kindergarten.

Leadership of Legal Personnel office in NYC is incompetent and unprofessional. For a first-rate firm like STB, it should really do better. Branches (e.g., Palo Alto and DC) also inferior to HQ. Partners there are not as good, and neither are the associates. What's even more annoying and is problematic across the firm is that associates get compensated and are given tasks to oversee other projects based on seniority. The problem is that most of these people have very poor management and people skills. So if you worked for 5-10 years prior to going to law school and you show up at Simpson, you're going to have to regularly answer to pimple-faced 25-year-olds who have no idea how to run a team. Yet these inexperienced professionals are authorized by Simpson to make you stay in the office till the wee hours and away from your family, sometimes because it's necessary, but often because they have no idea what they're doing. It's an incredibly stupid system. Entrepreneurship and creativity are not rewarded here, nor are business development skills. Even for those who believe in hard work, you quickly realize that you're doing a thankless job.