Anyone else noticed that female associates tend to be treated less harshly by partners? It's like this Gordon Ramsey meme where if I make a mistake, the partner calls me a 'fucking donkey,' and if a female associates makes the same mistake, it's "oh dear, oh dear. gorgeous".

Partner scheduled a call this morning and during the call referred to today as a "holiday" with air quotes 🙃

Do folks pick up calls from unknown numbers on their work line? I typically ignore because it’s always spam, but today I missed a call that turned out to be from a partner’s cell and they’re upset that I didn’t pick up. If they had messaged me on Teams first or called from their work line it wouldn’t have been an issue. Is it expected to take every call on your work line or is the partner being unreasonable?

Is anyone dealing with summer associates whose entire work product seems to be AI generated? (And the work product is not good.) What are your firm’s policies on summer associates’ AI use (already assuming if they allow it, it’s firm-approved legal AI)?

How does working reduced hours at a v10 actually work? You don’t need to respond to emails Friday - Monday? Someone else from the team is just happy to always take over when you’re out? Kind of seems like a hack to get 60% SA salary and work less but cant see how it actually works without risking the pay cut to still work 2000 hours because the team is busy.