What Does a First-Year BigLaw Associate Actually Do All Day?

If you picture your first year in BigLaw as making arguments in a courtroom or negotiating billion-dollar deals across a mahogany table, adjust those expectations now.

Your first year is about learning. Here's what that actually looks like.

Corporate Associates

If you join a transactional practice (M&A, capital markets, banking, real estate), your days will be heavy on:

Due diligence. Reviewing hundreds of contracts to flag issues, fill out checklists, and summarize key terms. It's tedious. It's also how you learn what good contracts look like.

Redlines and drafting. You'll get a markup from a partner or senior associate and turn it into a clean draft. Eventually you'll draft sections of agreements yourself, ancillary documents first, then bigger pieces as you prove yourself.

Closing mechanics. Organizing signature pages, managing closing checklists, coordinating with paralegals and other counsel. It's logistical, detail-heavy work. Messing it up is noticeable.

Research. Partners will ask you questions they don't have time to look up. "Can we do X under Delaware law?" You find the answer, write a short memo, and send it over.

Litigation Associates

If you're in litigation, the first year is different but equally junior:

Document review. Reviewing thousands (sometimes millions) of documents for relevance and privilege. Often in a windowless room. This is the reality.

Legal research and memos. You'll research case law, draft sections of briefs, and write internal memos analyzing legal issues. This is where strong writers stand out early.

Deposition prep. Organizing exhibits, preparing outlines, summarizing prior testimony. You'll attend depositions but probably won't ask questions for a while.

Discovery. Drafting and responding to interrogatories, document requests, and subpoenas.

The Universal Stuff

Regardless of your practice group, every first-year will:

• Spend a lot of time on email (more than you expect)
• Join calls mostly to listen and take notes
• Track their time obsessively in six-minute increments
• Get feedback that ranges from helpful to cryptic
• Feel lost regularly and pretend they're not

When Does It Get Better?

By your second year, you'll start drafting more substantive work product. By year three, you'll run smaller matters or workstreams. The jump from year one to year three is enormous.

The first year is an investment. It's not glamorous, but the associates who learn the fundamentals well are the ones who get the best work later.