“At Paul, Weiss, I feel like I am important to the functioning of the firm in my own small way. I have friends at other firms who feel like they could move out of their offices and no one would know or care that they left. But, I feel like I’m part of this place.

It’s the culture. It’s how people make you feel about being here and no one — no partner at Paul, Weiss — would hesitate to say that he or she relies on the judgment of associates and the work that they do. And for an associate — well, it’s a landmark moment when the partner pulls out a draft outline you’ve written and just starts reading from it: You’re standing there in court and a particular question comes up. The partner flips to the page of your outline and uses your bullet points to respond. It makes you realize that you’re integral to the firm.”

“I have an associate mentor, and she’s great. She was actually one of the people who interviewed me. When I arrived as a summer associate, we hit it off. When I was accepted as a full-time associate, she requested to be my mentor. So I already felt very comfortable with her.

The help she gives me is really valuable; it isn’t just a once-a-week lunch chat. At all times, she’s available to answer my questions. And when I first started she frequently checked in with me to make sure I was comfortable with what I was doing with my assignments. She still shares her knowledge with me: If she knows of a precedent or if she previously worked on something similar to my current project, she’ll pull out any work she’s done and walk me through it.

On an informal level, there are partners in my department with whom I feel comfortable enough talking to about anything. For instance, the assigning lawyer in my department is very friendly and very nice. He speaks to you like an equal and he’s never turned me away because he was too busy. His door is always wide open.”