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Hi Cece,

Congratulations on your new stages of life: marriage, writing a book (can't wait to read), weddings, IVF (?), and all the small things that bring you joy! I have been following your content since you were still in BigLaw.

I know you might not want to discuss your relationship, but I have a question that could involve it. I grew up with the narrative that relationships (or love) are an obstacle to my dream. "Boys" are to be avoided if I want to get an A. But then again, my parents have this mentality like I should stay single until I am 25 (until I finish …

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You touched on this previously, but would love to get your current thoughts on prestige/status. It’s such a fundamental part of the human experience, but also a large source of our strife. What are your thoughts on it, why we work so hard to have it, and how to detach from it? Especially from someone who has had traditional “high status” roles, but is now on a less traditional path.

- Alex

Hi, Cece. If you were to do this all over again with all the knowledge you have now, would you? Why or why not? Would you once again chase the prestige?

- Skye

Ahh, prestige… eve…

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i've been seeing a lot of discourse online about new york city transplants: particularly young, often rich, white women (many of whom are aspiring content creators) who live lavishly in upscale neighborhoods, only hang around trendy spaces, and generally treat the city as their playground with little regard for native new yorkers. a recent discussion online revolved around a transplant who said she felt the fruit vendors on the streets were unhygienic, prompting strong responses from native new yorkers (a link if you're unfa…

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Hi Cece,

I struggle with speaking up for myself at my nonprofit workplace. My manager is passive aggressive, does not advocate for me, and underestimates my capabilities. I am saddled with responsibilities above my job description (wearing many hats as nonprofits demand) and feel undervalued by my manager. I love the work and all of my other colleagues, but I rarely see them and have to work closely with my manager. I've been advised to either privately talk to my manager to let her know how I'm feeling to ask her to ch…

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As many of you know, I have huge guilt about creative labor vs. service labor and spend a fair amount of time thinking about ways to offer more to y’all—because I really wouldn’t be here without you. A recent post on one of my fave publishing newsletters inspired me to do my own AMA this week. May is one of those months with a fifth Friday—which means I don’t have any posts planned—so what better time to have an open Q&A/chat thread for paid subscribers!

Feel free to use the comments to:

• Introduce yourself! I love reading about you and why you’re here.

• Ask me questions about work, life, whatever’s on your mind!

• Ask the rest of the readers about work, life, whatever’s on your mind!

• Answer other people’s questions!

• Link to articles or posts or other internet artifacts you’ve been thinking about.

I’ll respond over the next few days and answer as many as I can (but given that there aren’t too many paid subs yet, hopefully all!), as candidly as I can (given that it’s still a semi-public forum). If y’all seem to enjoy this, we can make it a monthly or semimonthly date! I like Of Counsel because I get to deep-dive into advice—but I also recognize that sometimes you want answers and you want them now, and it doesn’t need to be ~a whole thing~

Three guidelines to keep in mind:

1. Be respectful and civil. If you feel the urge to insult, disparage, or belittle, ask a question instead to try and better understand where the other person is coming from!

2. Lead with curiosity, not fear or greed. Please don’t ask for reassurance that is more appropriate for LSD.law or solicit me or others for jobs, application reviews, and the like.
   
   If your question falls in one of those buckets, take a moment to think about how to reframe it in a curiosity-led manner which will also impart value on others reading. Ex. “I have a 3.9x GPA and 16x LSAT. What are my chances of getting into Columbia?” → “I’m really anxious about how much more competitive law school admissions has gotten. What are some things I can do to improve my prospects and my anxiety?” (This is also generally a good tactic for engaging others in relatable conversation instead of alienating them with a seemingly hyper-specific anxiety.)

3. Respect the privacy of others. This includes your friends, colleagues, neighbors, etc. While these comments will only be viewable to other paid subscribers, they will still be viewable to other paid subscribers.

And the usual disclaimer: I reserve the right to delete any and all comments, as judged in my sole discretion, including for violations of the above guidelines.

I’ll kick us off with a few things I’ve been thinking about!

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Hi Cece, I am curious about how you manage your time, energy, and projects when it comes to pursuing a non-traditional career path/self-employment. I admire how you are pursuing so many endeavors, but I can imagine it is not easy to handle. Do you have advice for those of us who are also interested in building a career consisting of many different parts, rather than something more linear/direct? Thank you!

- Annie

Great question, Annie! Did you know I actually hated the idea of a non-traditional career when I was in my early twenties? I wanted to be One & Done in…

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Hi! I'm a UK resident about to start my first seat in a BigLaw US firm in London. I'm so excited, the culture really suits my personality and I have a few areas of law I'm already interested in. The question I have is whether you've got any tips for someone who is an early bird by nature. I understand that there's a lot of 'face time' culture in BigLaw and staying later often gets more recognised than starting early. It's more noticed if you stay until midnight, but getting to work e…

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Hi Cece, could you please share how you stay organized as a big law lawyer? I'm having trouble keeping organized and track of all my clients and work. Would greatly appreciate any tips you can share :-) Thanks so much for all of your valuable content - I always recommend your content to law school students and other fellow big law associates!

I am all about keeping things simple, especially when the rest of work can be quite chaotic. I would love to have a beautiful bullet journal, but Biglaw just isn’t made for that kind of life—so I instead created a …

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ICYMI: I finished the first draft of my book’s manuscript!! I’ll be writing more about the first draft process in next week’s newsletter for paid subscribers, but for now, my mind is in a Biglaw hangover after spending the past seven months reading, writing, and thinking full-time-and-half about Biglaw. Which makes today’s Of Counsel question extremely apt:

I feel like if one is in big law it is only worth it to be a partner. how are big law partners compensated? what is usually the compensation/structure?

- Anonymous

If you were raised by parents who extolle…

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I’m 1 year out of my undergraduate degree and I hate going to my current job in research. I’ve always been the do-good student and I think it’s led me to a field that I have no passion for, and I’m not particularly good at. I’m afraid to take a leap because I’m not experienced. What do you recommend I should do?

- Anonymous

Take the leap! Take the leap!! If the only thing holding you back from taking the leap is fear, take the leap now. But if you have larger hesitations about leaving your current job that you hate—maybe you don’t know what you would leave your current job for—I recommend commit…

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It’s also my one-year anniversary on Substack! To celebrate this anniversary and the holidays, I’m running an exclusive holiday promotion until January 1, 2024:

Get 25% off forever

Becoming a paid subscriber gives you access to my inner sanctum—essays and private podcast episodes on nascent ideas that need to be nurtured like newborn kittens. Subscribing also helps ensure that my informational and educational content on Substack and all other platforms remains freely available to all. Thank you so much for reading—I am so lucky to have you here.

Hi Cece! I know you've spoken about always "moving the goalposts" on yourself (i.e., being a star associate, equity partner, etc). Could you speak on how you deal with this perpetual dissatisfaction? I've been e…

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Hi Cece! This question is more to dissuade my own insecurities or ground myself a bit. I attend a SUNY that is considered prestigious WITHIN the SUNY hierarchy but not outside of it. I am a little concerned about applications to T10 law schools, due to the fact I won’t have as much prestige factor when it comes to applications. I could have attended NYU or BU, however it was not financially viable, but now I only wonder that I’ve set myself back in the long …

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Hi Cece! I have been a huge fan of your content (TikTok, YouTube, podcast) for awhile now and I stumbled across your website. I had no idea you were from the Bay Area! I was born and raised in San Jose, CA and I was wondering what is your perspective about growing up in the competitive Bay Area as an Asian-American and the difference in your lifestyle/socialization as a university student / young professional in the East Coast (New Haven, Boston, NYC). Thank you so much!

- Anonymous

Yay Area!! Yes, I spent most of my formative years in San Ramon, Califo…

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I solicited potential new names for Ask Cece last month, and y’all definitely delivered! Major thanks to Jimmy for inspiring the new name of my advice column: Of Counsel, in which I dole out advice of all varieties—except for legal. (If you want legal advice for your creative business, you can contact me through Studio Legal LLP, my law firm. If you want tips for surviving biglaw or another intense corporate environment, check out my latest YouTube video. And if you want legal advice for other events in your life, try searching for [your city/county/state] legal aid or [your city/county/state] bar association legal services and checking out the comments on this video.)

Before we get to the actual question for today—about if I’m happier/more fulfilled post-biglaw—I need to share two articles I’ve devoted a…

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Duh! I love reading your questions and helping you think through your life. But previously, my ability to do so was hampered by my own writing paralysis when it came to essays (and my book, and articles, and really everything). So as part of my Behavior Elimination Diet™, I’m revamping my Substack.

Going forward, you will receive two newsletters a month: one will be an essay; and one will be the Ask Cece column (and if you have a better name than tha…

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Hi Cece, I would love to hear your thoughts on journals/ particularly whether you think it is important to try to do Law Review. My ideal career path is big law -> impact litigation. I found 1L to be very stressful, and I am dreading the extra work of being on a time intensive journal in addition to a clinic next semester. I know that some of the other journals have much lower time commitments then does law review, but am I selling myself short by not ranking law review #1 in my school's matching program? Thank you for your candid videos and for all of the great advice!

- Anonymous

So much of initial legal employment is rooted in prestige. Law Review is, at the end of the day, a prestige point. Other prestige points include your law school ranking, your college’s ranking, good grades, RAing for a prestigious professor, and federal clerkships. If you take a look at your prestige points and conclude that it’s not enough for your target job after graduation, then Law Review is one way of a…

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Hi Cece! I watched the videos in your playlist for interviewing and was curious if you had more insight on interviewing for jobs post-law school. I have been in my current government attorney role for almost 5 years and recently decided to pursue new, more stimulating opportunities in the private sector. I feel that my interview skills are rusty and was wondering if you had any tips on how best to prepare for interviews if it’s been a minute. Thank you in advance for your help! I really enjoy your content :-)

- Claudia

Hey Claudia! Apart from conducting as much public research on your interviewers as you can, using the STAR method in responses, and rehearsing a narrative that connects your past experience with the role you’re interviewing for, I would say that the elements of interviewing which are specific to non-entry level interviewing are:

• Be prepared to answer why you’re looking for a change. Ideally, this should be a part of your pre-planned narrative/“tell me about yourself” that …

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Hi Cece, I like your videos about biglaw life and have two questions. First: You mentioned that you were on reduced hours (80%) in the last two years of your practice. I am a third-year associate in biglaw. I want more time for myself out of work so I have been thinking about working part-time (80%). But I have heard several part-time lawyers saying that part time is tricky because you still have to work the long hours when there is need and as a result, you are working almost the same hours for less pay. How was your experience? How did you make part time work for you? Did you bill more or less than 80% of the billable requirement?

Second question: I am exploring ways to improve my life as a biglaw associate. My main issue is that I want more time to myself out of work, which seems impossible under the billable requirement (2000 for my firm). I talked to my coach about this issue and she said that I should forget about the billable requirement and what other people are doing and just …

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Hi Cece, I'm incredibly impressed with how you were able to work a full-time job at a Big Law firm while also lecture at Yale (I suffer from procrastination every weekend). Can you share how you time manage / stay motivated? Additionally, how do you stay organized on your tasks and to-dos?

- Lily

Calendar, calendar, calendar! I try to sit down for an hour before every week (it used to be Monday mornings; now it’s Friday mornings) and plan the following week or two weeks, depending on how much visibility is typical in whatever I’m doing at the time. (In biglaw, it would typically only be one week. In self-employment, it tends to be two weeks.) Bullet journaling frustrated me and felt like it took too long, so I came up with my own modified system:

1. Weekly to-do list. I write down all of the tasks I need to get done that week in a list and then allocate those tasks among the days of the week, leaving the day I teach free from biglaw tasks because I know I’ll be focused primarily on teaching…

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As a software developer interested in transitioning to a career in technology policy, and potentially attending law school, I was wondering your thoughts on alternative ways to pursue tech and law besides the traditional law career? Perhaps pros/cons, given the opportunity cost?

- Anonymous

There are certainly avenues to pursue tech policy outside of going to law school! I feel like one of the greatest misconceptions I hear is that law school is necessary for any career in policy (whether health, tech, social, etc.). Could it be helpful? Sure; I learned a ton in law school and made a lot of connections that would be helpful for working in tech policy. But is it definitely worth the hefty price of law school and the three years? Eh.

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One thing I love doing when trying to figure out what qualifications are needed for a role is to stalk the bios of employees at an organization I want to work for. For example, reading through EFF’s staff bios suggests that a graduate degree isn’t really neces…

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