associate

associate attorney

partner

desktop support technician

HINSHAW & CULBERTSON

My workload was fairly stead though I was busier when I first started.  As the years went by and attorneys left, there was a bit less work but still quite enough.  The firm was pretty good about training us on new software but they took their time upgrading the system so we were a bit behind the 8-ball in terms of keeping up with technology.  Although my office in L.A. was managed fairly well, the home office was in Chicago and they made what I felt were a ton of short-sighted decisions that negatively impacted all of the satellite offices.  It was as if a Ma and Pa type shop outgrew itself, but they were still making decisions as if they were a small outfit rather than a medium-large sized outfit.

The workplace culture was pretty good at my office.  There was a good work life balance and although there were a small handful of difficult personalities, that type of behavior was looked down upon.  

The hardest part of my job was dealing with the healthcare department attorney who did not follow protocol so his documents were usually corrupt or difficult to format because he kept pulling in stuff from other systems.  The most enjoyable part was my coworkers.  The working environment was quite family-like in many respects.

The most enjoyable part of the day at work is to assist the attorneys with their receivables.  Setting up a quick meeting prior contacting the client can be important and helpful, since every client/account has a different story. Being a positive and reliable employee is beneficial to my colleagues as they know they may count on me for assistance or guidance. At typical day at the firm consist of speaking with clients,colleagues, office managers, and attorneys. Aside from answering and researching emails to handle. This is were multitasking comes handy, however, one must be careful to pay close attentions to a project this is important. Not having enough time in the day to complete every task, email, and/or reconciliation would probably be the hardest thing to leave behind for the actual work day.

If you're in Los Angeles and looking to join the business litigation group, avoid this place like the plague. It's not only unreasonably long hours, but partners have unrealistic expectations for turnaround time on assignments. For instance, I was given 8 to 10 hours to review and summarize over three thousand pages with only roughly four hundred pages of duplicates. I don't know about you, but those expectations are highly unrealistic if you're new to a practice area. One partner, in particular, has zero patience, is unwilling to train, and is eager to belittle you if you make a mistake. Every file that I worked on had a different associate's name on it, so you know they're burning through people like crazy.

All in all, it's a beautiful office space filled with ugly personalities and miserable people.

There were many opportunities at Hinshaw & Culbertson, I like the different sections of law in which I worked and all but one of the attorneys I was assigned to.  One attorney was a bully, hostile, rude and she was kept on because she was a Partner even though a few of her clients reading her emails to me requested that she apologize for the way she was treating and ended up dismissing her as their attorney.  I ended up leaving the Company because it caused me chest pains each time I dealt with her and even though I was reassigned to other attorneys she continued.  After I left the firm she was fired for doing the same thing to another worker all because she wanted to bring her old paralegal from her old firm.

This place is a joke. If you want to be treated like a number and not a human being apply. They de-value and disrespect their staff members.  I wouldn't bother wasting my time here as an attorney either.  Your reward for doing a good job is more work without compensation.  The management has no clue what they are doing. An IT person who has no idea how to run a law firm is in charge and hiring all of her out-of-work friends and giving them titles and bonuses they do not deserve while neglecting to give any current employees raises. The new management has been driving the firm into the ground and it will be very surprising if the firm makes it another three years.  The entire HR dept has either been fired from their previous jobs or were about to lose their jobs.  Forget if you are having an IT issue. “Call the Help Desk” more like the helpless desk.

The culture is so cutthroat and the billable time is cut so badly by the client and accepted by upper corporate management that it creates a hostile work environment between attorneys and each other as well as between attorneys and their paralegals.  It also creates undue pressure on non-billable staff when attorneys have them perform tasks that they are not prepared or educated to perform so that the attorneys can take their time as well as the paralegals' time. Attorneys are not trained how to handle staff and it's who you know in order to get promoted.  

On the other hand, it is par for the course at EVERY law firm where the bottom line is billing and they "say" work/life balance is everything.  It is, to the attorneys ONLY.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Great place to work if you like to do nothing new! All the management is perfectly happy with status quo. Mostly heavy technical debt!

If you want to retire and or are 70, great place; but if you have your life ahead of you don’t!

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Nothing new to do! Or in most cases nothing to do!

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
People are friendly because they have nothing to do really. So not enough to bring out their true work ethic where they can afford not to be ruthless!

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Come , check emails, shoot some emails and watch a movie or two

Didn't like you to have a life outside the office.  New kid(s) on block would get all blame if something went wrong.  Started off great but lose a case that is unwinnable (on appeal) and they question your degree and experience.  Case load was manageable but so many rules (can't do depo summary until 2 weeks before trial no matter how many depos there are; can't bill more than 1.5 hours for plaintiff, 3 for expert no matter how long the depo is - near impossible) all while preparing trial exhibits and keeping up with other case load.  Didn't want overtime but had to get it all done another near impossible feat.  There two years just couldn't deal with it any longer.

I enjoyed my stay with Hinshaw and if I had it to do over again I never would have left.  I enjoy keeping busy and one of the attorneys I assisted left the firm and he was a heavy producer and I had not work after he left.  It became hard to come to work as I had no work to look forward to.  The associates I was assigned to did not put out nearly the amount of work that he did.  I had to try to make myself look busy and I am not very good at that.  I went looking for something with a steady work flow.  If I could I would hold out and wait for my desk to pick up instead of leaving.  Management was good, co-workers good.  Overall a pleasant working environment.

Average place to work.  Nothing special.  No Christmas bonus.  No real Christmas party.  Company offers bare minimum to keep employees.  Lets older people go.  Gearing towards a younger firm.  We are in the second year of the merger.  There are a lot of rules, but I guess that goes along with being a large firm.  If you are having problems with an attorney, there is no way to move around within the branch offices as they are too small and specialized (unlike a firm like O'Melveny & Myers).  Home office is clueless about litigation work in Los Angeles.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Associate 8 salaries reported	$141,250 per year
Associate attorney 5 salaries reported	$126,000 per year
Partner 3 salaries reported	$171,667 per year
Desktop support technician 3 salaries reported	$20.00 per hour

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