Stroock Reviews

Pros

Stroock has a family atmosphere. Most employees stay for long term.

Cons

They are presently doing layoffs and seniority does not matter.

Advice to Senior Management

I have none.

Pros

The company pays very well, it has nice perks like a free laptop every so often, trips to New York once a year, free lunches, etc.

Cons

The company uses young lawyers for backup work (research, writing, document review), but you won't gain much of a skill set beyond that while you are there. There is a lot of territorial fighting amongst the partners as to who can assign which associates work and not much caring or respect for the careers of the associates.

Advice to Senior Management

The company needs to pay more attention to developing its associates' career by letting them take depositions, appear in court, have some client contact, etc.

Pros

For a large law firm, it is relatively informal and there is an ease of communication between attorneys, paralegals, secretaries, word processors and proofreaders, in that they can pick up the phone and consult each other when it is important in getting work done correctly or meeting a deadline. Employees are given a lot of leeway to take charge of projects. Benefits are very good, vacation time is generous, the location near the South Street Seaport is pleasant with an abundance of restaurants and delis. Bonuses during normal economic times have been generous, but less so recently.

Cons

As with most law firms in the Wall Street area, hiring is still extremely limited during the current recession. Administration and human resources departments work in mysterious ways, perhaps in an effort to avoid confrontations. If someone makes a complaint about another employee's work, often the other employee is kept in the dark as to the source and specifics of the complaint, but is only informed in general terms. This makes it almost impossible to defend oneself in the case of false allegations or blame mistakenly placed on the wrong individual. During the recent economic downturn many perks were reduced or eliminated including access to car service and petty cash. Staff and associates were laid off en masse with no regard for number of years of service or relative merit, and no consultation with employees' immediate supervisors prior to terminations. Termination decisions were made by managing partners who had no knowledge of individual departments' workings.

Advice to Senior Management

Make clear what official policies and procedures and expectations are in each department, keep them consistent, and have regular conferences or presentations (say, every six months) with groups of employees in specific departments, to remind them what official procedures are and what is expected of them, in each department. There is a sense that management is too hands-off, and that memos (which often contradict previous memos) are the only way expectations and rules are communicated. Also, rules keep changing rather than being consistent, which confuses employees, so make them consistent. Also, rather than keep facts secret when there are complaints made about work not done ideally, allow employees to know more of the specific facts about complaints and how they relate to specific projects, even including the sources of the complaints. Rather than attempting to avoid confrontations, encourage open dialogues.

Pros

Stroock pays about the same as other big New York City law firms. That being said, the pay, as compared to working in another type of environment, is very good. The attorneys I worked for were nice and generally appreciative.

Cons

As far as hours worked (as a legal secretary), it all depends on the attorneys you work for. I worked overtime about three times a month, usually for no more than two hours. But I did stay till 10 one night. One of the attorneys I worked for had a reputation as being hard to work for. All the other secretaries couldn't stand him. I got along with him well, after I learned that he had certain annoying traits that I had no power to change. Once I accepted the traits, it was fine.

Advice to Senior Management

I have no comment for Senior Management