Anonymous Lawyer

I'm not looking forward to tomorrow's firm hike. This is the first year we're doing this, and it wasn't my idea. Some hotshot young partner knows someone who owns a corporate retreat cabin up in South Dakota, and he brought the idea up at a meeting and everyone thought it was terrific. We're taking the summer associates and a handful of partners up there to hike in the mountains and do team-building events for two days. There's already a pool going around on the partner e-mail list about who's going to make it to the top of the mountain first and who's going to fall off and die. The senior partners, for the most part, begged out of the activity and forced the junior partners to go instead. There's a junior partner with asthma who doesn't think he's really up to it but someone had to represent Trusts and Estates and the senior guy didn't want to go, so Wheezy's going to have to do it. Whichever department representative finishes last has to pay a thousand bucks to the winner, just to make things interesting. As far as the summer associates go, as long as most of them don't get hurt we're in good shape. I've already decided which one is going to get to carry my pack up the mountain. I know they all want to. Imagine the goodwill that comes from carrying a partner's pack all day. Well, they'll imagine the goodwill. I'll forget all about it.

I hope this doesn't end the way the trip to the shooting range did.