associate

legal assistant

associate attorney

records clerk

paralegal

Goldberg Segalla LLP

The firm spends a tremendous amount of money enticing new hires by flying them to the main office in Buffalo, NY where they drastically exaggerate their TEAM GS propaganda. Later, employees find out that "team-work" to GS is simply a tool for manipulation. The firm is not managed by legal professionals, but instead by human resources "generalists" who have ZERO legal experience. Yet these individuals set policy and procedure for legal practice. The attorneys have little to no say when it comes to fighting with HR, and I say fighting because that is the ONLY relationship possible. HR exists at Goldberg Segalla solely to stifle and micromanage. The company fosters a culture of backstabbing, manipulation, lying and sabotage. Don't be fooled. There is NO TEAM at Goldberg Segalla. 
I will say that the attorneys at GS are phenomenal. Kind, thoughtful, extremely smart, patient and truly interested in the growth and success of their support - but unfortunately that means nothing because HR and management will stifle and sabotage every single attempt they make for recognition.
There is a very vague employee handbook that lacks policies and procedures for crucial elements, yet HR and management are extremely liberal in handing out punishment and reprimand for policies that don't exist - or that they make up as they go along. Furthermore, the Hartford office has installed cameras to monitor the employees. The office is on the 11th floor of a secure building so there is no risk for danger or violence and has never once had any incidents. The cameras are there only to micromanage. 
The medical coverage costs are OUTRAGEOUS, parking isn't reimbursed (and very expensive in downtown), there is no case management system, the computers and network are a decade behind the standard and there is NO useful or relevant support. 
Goldberg prides itself by "doing things differently" than other firms of its size but have failed to recognize that in their pursuit of individuality, they have overlooked and forsaken very crucial, very pivotal pillars of legal practice. You'll get bagels on Friday, but that is ALL you'll get.

Ahhh, where to begin. I loved it here! A truly magical place. A place where half measures, and the corporate facade, nervously make out with each other. In the minds of upper management, the year is 1982, and blatant law office cliches are very much a thing of the present. 

Now when you first get there, you might be wondering why there are  huddled masses of employees, scattered around the building, chain smoking cigarettes like Soviet prison guards. Don't worry! This is perfectly normal. It's just because they're having so much fun working for the firm, and sometimes they need a break from having...fun. 

One of the great things about this place, is MAN, do they feed you. They really like to hammer this one home in the orientations. Sometimes it's breakfast pizza, and sometimes it's a nice, delicious, backhanded comment from a managing partner, on your ride up the elevator. Totally comes free of charge too. Even better, HR will literally hurl a bagel 90mph at your head every Friday. YUM.

The girl sobbing in the cubicle next to you will take some getting used to, but luckily some of the more incumbent attorneys will make sure to take zero regard of your best interest as well, and this will allow you to more quickly bond with your coworkers. 

All in all, life is short. Do something else.

There is a great lack of management and professionalism. The benefits are extremely poor and very expensive. The staff cannot afford the medical benefits so many have no coverage and have families without coverage. The company is well aware of it and will not make any changes. The company seems to invest more in the technical needs then the employee needs. Many of the employees are sick and stay sick because of the lack of medical. There is also no room for growth if there are opportunities they are not offered internally. The end of year bonus is extremely low. The hardest part of the job is the lack of management not having anyone to go to for help. The work load is distributed unevenly so the busier people are candidates for errors because they are trying to meet deadlines. There is no help nor responses when employees have issues or general questions. Employees must fend for themselves. The co-workers are absolutely wonderful. Friendly and very enjoyable to work with.
I have learned how important management is and how much it is needed. How important good management is and how important it is to understand labor laws.

A typical day was scanning and saving mail and cds to IM & the Tdrive sending copies to WC and Litigation team. Checking supplies/order cleaning stocking kitchen.  It was ok at first but when I notice that’s pretty all I was doing everyday with other minor things like sending letters and fedex pkg out.  There was no training everyone was extremely busy or not there. The company is an error free so watch yours errors because they are documenting everything even if you don’t know something and ask, you are being documented. They expect everything you do from scanning a paper to doing a discovery to be done quickly everything is rush or hurry up I need it now. Very high pressured. They show you stuff once or twice that’s pretty much it. Even the training dept don’t have time to repeat themselves 2x after that they’re irritated. Poor to no training in office. They expect you to be very seasoned asst. No standing talking to other asst long or much at all everyone head is down in there computers not a very friendly feel strictly work majority of time. 

Typical day at work is dealing with large amounts of work with no help or management assistance.  I learned what poor management means and how important education is.  The hardest part of the job was managing the work load, the long hours and dealing with very expensive benefits with a low compensation and no bonus or raise. 
I cannot express one enjoyable part of the job as the current employees are so unhappy that you are made aware of their unhappiness on your first day.  There is also large amounts of discrimination, innappropriate behavior and managers make decisions based on hearsay and gossip.  The managing partners are also uneducated and are unable to spell.  The HR department is based in Buffalo and the administrator is a young secretary with no formal or professional training.  There is also a high theft rate internally and no career advancement.  

Basically there are too many attorneys and not enough staff to support them. There is never a want for work, and everyone has a slightly different way of doing things. At least onboarding wasn't stressful at all, everyone is very supportive and communicates often to make sure I'm not overwhelmed with the workload. But everyone is overwhelmed and stressed out. I hear that workplace culture was great before COVID but since I was hired during, I haven't been able to experience it. There's nothing, no attempts to build community at all. I was really surprised by that. So, the only people I really know are the ones I interact with on a regular basis. Honestly the hardest part of the job is just staying on top of things. Being remote is great, but we already know it's not going to last. It makes sense, it's one of those fields that can't really be fully remote. IT is very responsive, and actually really good at diagnosing problems to fix (especially with the remote desktop environment, because it is very problematic). 

I enjoyed my position and the work I was doing, and I believe I was paid fairly. The spirit on my team as a whole was very low and this was due to management. Supervisor liked to pick on certain people for nothing more than a personality conflict(not myself). It drove some to leave, and others to get fired. Management could not see that this was a pattern and it happened on multiple occasions. I enjoyed my other coworkers and the interactions we had. The company offered time for us to participate in charity work, and that sets them apart from other employers. I think there is room for growth , but it depends on your department and your supervisor. Not everyone is treated the same no matter how good a job they do. I made many friends in my time here, so overall I have no regrets.  Sometimes cutting ties is a blessing in disguise. 

I had a tremendous workload and was compensated nicely for it. I enjoyed all of my co-workers. One noticeable problematic area is that the better you are at your job, the more responsibility you are given and the workloads are not fair at all.  You've got some people breaking their necks to meet deadlines and then you've got other workers who are able to "chat" with co-workers for great spans of time throughout the day.  Management is ok, but could be a little bit more "in touch" with the day-to-day workings and not just have an attitude of "it must get done, or else!"  I learned quite a bit while working there, but there is not a lot of room for growth unless you come in at a very young age and/or work for a equity partner.  I'd say benefits are comparable to other large firms in the area.

I haven’t worked here in almost ten years but a typical day was drafting subpoenas and following up on records. 
What I learned was not to trust anything that comes from anyone, management, peers, etc. 
Workplace culture was, behave well and no one will complain about you, that is of course, until you make a mistake, then you will most likely get fired. 
Hardest part of the job was getting measley raises, literally cents for a yearly raise. It’s nice to come into work at a fancy downtown building but not so nice when you get minute raises once a year. 
The most enjoyable part of the job was the view of the intercoastal and getting to park in a parking garage every day. 
My final thoughts: management will promote you and say they will move you back to your old position if it doesn’t work, but then when it actually doesn’t work, they will let you go and give you severance pay. 

I never thought that I would see Top 200 law firm without legal management software (which has been around since the 1990s).  All documents go into a stew called DocView with no way to create subfiles for pleadings, correspondence and discovery. Finding a document can take forever.  Sending a document to an outside office involves a several step process to “clean out the macros”.  Setting up a new file takes forever because the new file needs to be listed on several Excel spreadsheets and captions and certifications need to be created from scratch.   There is no online phone book and no way to see if an attorney on a file was also on another file.  If you (likely) come from and office with software this place will drive you around the bend.  However, you do get bagels on Fridays. 

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Associate 3 salaries reported	$115,000 per year
Legal assistant 3 salaries reported	$45,667 per year
Associate attorney 3 salaries reported	$83,333 per year
Records clerk 1 salary reported	$41,000 per year
Paralegal 1 salary reported	$30,000 per year

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