legal secretary

specialist

staff attorney

associate

associate attorney

BakerHostetler

I did patent prosecution at the Costa Mesa, CA office of Baker & Hostetler, for a period of three years.  My office was elegant and my wooden desk and shelves were made of beautiful reddish wood, perhaps mahogany.  The noise level in my office was extremely low, with the exception of sounds from brave window-washers, occurring every few months (my office was on 9th floor).  Every Friday was a free-breakfast day, and these rotated between breakfast burritos, oatmeal, yogurt, and pastries. What is most important, is that I learned new technologies:  MEDICAL DEVICE patents, STEM CELL patents, and TERPENE patents. In earlier patent work, my patents concerned biotechnology, vaccines, antibodies, and chemical engineering. And so, for me, Baker & Hostetler was a great place to learn more job skills, and these skills also included writing an opinion letter for an acquisition, and infringement analysis. Every month, the entire floor gathered together for a free lunch. The atmosphere was cooperative and friendly, with the exception of my secretary who was devoted to the craft of gossiping about other people.  Unfortunately, in the years after I left the firm, all of the associates that I was friends with (about six associates) left the firm, and found work in other cities in California or in one case, in Arizona. On the plus side, the computer expert, was helpful in keeping the server working properly, and in adjusting the internet searching device so that I could do my job (my job, in part, was to do patent work on technologies of a sensitive nature). During my time at Baker & Hostetler, I came in on weekends, in order to write articles on patent law. For one of these articles, I received the Rossman Award, which was awarded to me in a ceremony at the United States Patent and Trademark Office. And so, I got my proverbial 15-minutes of fame, and I thank Baker Hostetler management for letting me come in on weekends to write my article.

For three years, I did patent prosecution at the Costa Mesa, CA office of Baker & Hostetler. On the plus side, my office was elegant and my wooden desk and shelves were made of beautiful reddish wood, perhaps mahogany. Every Friday was a free-breakfast day, and these rotated between breakfast burritos, oatmeal, yogurt, and pastries. What is most important, is that I learned new technologies, namely, MEDICAL DEVICE patents, STEM CELL patents, and TERPENE patents. In earlier patent work, my patents concerned biotechnology, vaccines, antibodies, and chemical engineering. And so, for me, Baker & Hostetler was a great place to learn more job skills, and these skills also included writing an opinion letter for an acquisition, and infringement analysis.  Every month, the entire floor gathered together for a free lunch. The atmosphere was cooperative and friendly, with the exception of my secretary who was devoted to the craft of gossiping.  Unfortunately, in the years after I left the firm, all of the associates that I was friends with (about six associates) left the firm, and found work in other cities in California or in one case, in Arizona. On the plus side, the computer expert, was helpful in keeping the server working properly, and in adjusting the internet searching device so that I could do my job (my job, in part, was to do patent work on technologies of a sensitive nature). During my time at Baker & Hostetler, I came in on weekends, in order to write articles on patent law. For one of these articles, I received the Rossman Award, which was awarded to me in a ceremony at the United States Patent and Trademark Office. And so, I got my proverbial 15-minutes of fame, and I thank Baker Hostetler management for letting me come in on weekends to write my article.

I worked in the Conflicts department and if you need a paycheck, this is the perfect job, but if you want fair treatment, run away.  If you have or are going to law school, you basically can do whatever you want and get treated better.  Favoritism happens to the extreme here, meaning if you are liked you can get away with anything, but if you make the main manager mad, they'll stop talking to you and ignore, which is nice if you don't like talking, but if you care about your job this is bad.  Also, after a year you get one day a month to work from home and people who have been there for a while got away with working from home for a week at a time or more.  They'll teach you how to do your job, but five other people will tell you that you did it wrong and to do it a different way.  Honestly, this department is completely managed wrong and that's why people have left and why they always have openings.  Please beware, only apply if you need money asap and leave asap.  Hope the management team leaves or changes, it sad how bad management will treat you compared to others.  Also, the people who have been there for a while, are rude and will act like they are better than you.  If you are looking for a conflicts job, other law firms have openings and will treat you better!

Any positive interviews about BH are either several years old, from non-attorneys, or made from a niche practice group that is run by a rare gem of a partner.  Anything to do with data privacy should be avoided - hours are extremely high (2100 minimum expectation) but pay is identical to every other practice group (and all pay is well below industry standard for big law - and the gap between you and other big law associates at other firms only increases with more years).  DP is also a very toxic environment with high levels of burnout firmwide.  Management still tries to play up "midwest vibes in big law" but that is no longer true.  There is no work/life balance - it is all work, no life.  Associates often complain of being scared to take time off for fear of being let go.  Avoid this firm like the plague unless it is legitimately your only choice.  But keep your resume updated and polished.

Every day there is a threat to be fired.
Certain people get away with whatever they want while others are punished.  Too many irrelevant rules.  No room for advancement.  Not told the truth.  No support at all for support staff.  Management makes errors and covers them up or blames others.  Disrespect from some managers in IP.  Backwards processes.  Decisions made that make zero sense.  Pressure for numbers by management without the care of checking quality of work.  Degrading behavior by some managers in IP.  Stupid decisions made by management who think they are superior in knowledge but in fact they know half of what the support staff in IP know.  Napoleon complex for certain manager.  Supports men on all levels while ignoring women.  I would not work here.  You will lose every ounce of respect for yourself by obeying ridiculous rules that not everybody has to abide by, only some.  Horrible IP Management.  Promises are made but broken quickly.  There was no enjoyable part of the job under constant pressure not to be fired which was always threatened.  Extremely poor management of IP.  

This is not a good place to work if you are a working mother seeking a work/life balance. You are expected to churn out a ton of hours and you are still paid well below market. They excuse this by creating a "catch up" compensation system where you are required to work even more hours to get a "catch up" salary at the end of the year. Even with this additional salary, you are still paid well below market. This system is a big disadvantage for those attorneys who try to have a life outside the office because they don't even get the additional salary. End of year bonuses are stingy at best.

There is no associate's committee to speak of. The partners schedule the associate meetings, set the agenda for the associate meetings, and attend all associate meetings. So for all intents and purposes, there is no separate associate committee that looks out for the interests of the associates. Management is aware of this problem and have intentionally created this system to look over the shoulders of the associates.

People at Baker are very serious about their work product. There are many nice people at Baker. My co-workers have always been pleasant and will start work as soon as they arrive; I've learned different software; and the firm holds a few special events for the staff members during the year.

During the last two years, however, the administrative culture has changed, and staff is being watched like a hawk. One secretary who had worked there for only four months had been called into HR four times by her attorney. One of the reasons was that the secretary had not emptied the attorney's recyling bin, which had not been mentioned previously as a duty. HR took this criticism very seriously and the secretary was reprimanded.

My salary was based on 37.5 hours/week, however, I usually worked over and above that time. Sometimes I worked nights and weekends from home depending on the attorney's demands. The work was demanding and the attorney's retaliated against me when I stopped taking all the late night and weekend overtime hours as I started Graduate School, which they approved. I would work there again, but not for the same attorneys because I was treated so badly. The Firm is a good one, but the abuse from the attorneys can be too much at times. This my reason for going back into Technical Writing.

A typical day consists of assisting attorneys with different types of legal documents such as briefs, affidavits and daily time entries.  I’m excellent at multitasking and managing work effectively and efficiently.  I am a team player and it’s a privilege helping my co-workers with any tasks that they may require help.  I don’t consider my job hard since I enjoy what I do.  I’ve been a legal secretary for an extremely long time and the challenges and difficult encounters are all a great experience.

While technically in the bankruptcy department, the position is more in line with good/bad faith litigation dealing with SEC and other government agencies.  While the case to which I am assigned is unique, it is does not allow me to apply my litigation, organizational or e-discovery skills.

I have met some incredibly talented people and hope to maintain contact with them as I move on to enhance my skills and hopefully find a position that allows me to use my years of experience to assist and guide others as well as learn new areas of the law.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Legal secretary 12 salaries reported	$79,272 per year
Specialist 2 salaries reported	$77,500 per year
Staff attorney 5 salaries reported	$132,300 per year
Associate 6 salaries reported	$202,500 per year
Associate attorney 1 salary reported	$280,000 per year

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