What Does a Litigation Associate Do?

If you chose law school because you imagined yourself arguing before a jury, BigLaw litigation will be an adjustment. The work is important and intellectually demanding, but it looks very different from courtroom dramas.

The Real Day-to-Day

As a junior litigation associate, most of your time goes to:

Document review. In large commercial disputes, millions of documents get exchanged during discovery. Someone has to review them for relevance and privilege. That's you, at least at the beginning. Many firms have shifted the bulk of this to contract attorneys and technology, but associates still handle the more complex calls.

Legal research and writing. You'll research legal issues and draft sections of briefs, motions, and memos. At first, a senior associate or partner will heavily edit your work. Over time, you'll own larger sections and eventually whole filings.

Deposition prep. Before a deposition, someone needs to organize the key documents, draft potential questions, and prepare the witness. Junior associates help with all of this.

Discovery management. Drafting and responding to interrogatories, requests for production, and subpoenas. Managing the flow of information between parties.

What Changes as You Get Senior

By your third or fourth year, you start taking depositions yourself, arguing discovery motions, and managing smaller cases or workstreams within larger cases. By mid-level, you're running cases with partner oversight and getting real courtroom experience on smaller matters.

The path to actual trial experience is long. Most BigLaw cases settle before trial. When trials happen, they're major events that everyone on the team works on, but speaking roles go to senior associates and partners.

What Makes It Appealing

Litigation is intellectually stimulating. You're constantly solving puzzles: what does the evidence show, what's the strongest argument, how do you undermine the other side's position? The work also has natural variety since different cases involve different industries and legal theories.

There's also the adversarial element. Some people thrive on competition, and litigation scratches that itch.

What Makes It Hard

The hours are long, though generally more predictable than transactional work. The hard part is the slow burn: large cases can last years, and your contribution as a junior can feel small relative to the whole.

Document review is genuinely tedious, and there's no way around it as a junior. The key is doing it well and earning the trust that gets you staffed on more interesting work.

Skills That Matter

Strong analytical writing is the core skill. You also need research ability, attention to detail, and the stamina to work through large volumes of material. Good litigators are also creative thinkers who can see arguments others miss.

Explore which firms have top litigation practices in our firm directory.