I want to apologize to an old colleague of mine. He’d just gotten married and took a 10 day honeymoon (wow!). A month later he did a weekend ski trip (oof!) and couldn’t get WiFi for a closing that got moved up 4 weeks. I filled in for him. I remember the partner saying he was a total ‘liability’ & that he sucked. I laughed and said “yeah - doesn’t want it.” I believed it too. I spent the whole weekend playing ‘hero’ for Deal Team Six. You can ALWAYS count on me. Meanwhile my relationship was on borrowed time and hair thinning rapidly. I’m V10 baby! He got ‘stealth’ dismissed that Monday. They let him keep his website photo for 2 months while he found something new. He did. Fast forward a few years - I see it way different. He was bright, and hard working, and put his ppl first. He liked his life. He had balls. But I was racin’! - king of the rats. And my apartment in midtown actually had vermin. A totally delusional period of my life. One of those lessons you learn in hindsight. Hope you’re doing well brother.

Yes, I’m choosing to be baseline kind to this man (and woman) ive never met bc I have zero clue what their situations are at home or who they even are. The ambush recording “in the wild” is a wild play. No one wants that. Got dinged 🛎️

NYC is a tricky place. Has like no footprint - few miles long/wide. But a crazy fingerprint - insanely unique. Was running thru the “it costs too much” and “taxes are insane!” discourse with someone recently. Guy said: “Make it more.” I said “come again?” He doubles down: “should be more, yeah, demand is insane.” Honestly changed my mind a bit. I agree a Benjamin of bread is loonie tunes stuff - but if ppl want to live here, need to be here, buy into what it is culturally … it’s not for me to hold a ted talk on personal finance. Let it rip It should arguably be even more. Relevant isn’t rational

No offense, but MRT is *literally* first year associate stuff. SMG does a ton of ranting and raving against elite legal - but doesn’t know domino #1 for real property in NYC. Fascinating

Happening as we speak Contractor acting like we, owner, have put personally offensive terms in a document. Brother, we are the owner’s lawyer. You are free to use your big boy brain to revise and negotiate. You can also hold your own positions. We’re early in the process. Your dramatic outburst is making it look like we are playing deal killer to our client, who is impressionable. Stop.

Big law is lucrative in a way that demands merit and manpower. It also rewards creativity. Billboard law is a different kind of bag grab. There is no risk profile and no risk tolerance. It’s a fail forward “shit-to-wall” effort for the sport of seeing what sticks. You are incentivized to file and force a defense. As a young scribe, I was a paralegal at an insurance defense shop. I showed up early, stayed late, worked waaaaay harder than my pay stub warranted. I wanted to do it well. One day the lawyer I worked for pulled me aside and said to stop making everything perfect. “You’re polishing some guy’s turd - they just file this shit and forget about it til we respond.” The injury matters more than the lawyer. M&M is the PERFECT firm for iRobot legal

You’ll notice my posting has ratcheted down This is intentional. The community is fighting a demon. Letting it pass thru Lawyers are incredibly trigger happy late 2026 Everyone’s spent, I get it.

I went to preschool for private credit

I left CRE largely due to this vignette🤣 After a deal closes, every one thinks they were the main character. By the next day, there’s a new term sheet on your desk. More the merrier, guys! “Love the returns on this one.” (You’re a lender?) The juniors have zero substance The seniors have no compassion The clients have no desire to help ProjDev is basically a new frontier. Older phased out energy clients over their skis on substance and modern demands, so the lawyers have to teach them and drive outcomes. Extremely creative drafting - no “precedent” to cling to or mezz sets to “dupe out” from senior. Juniors are often former engineers and review technical scopes to give real insight. Sigs are handled thru docusign. No corny tack on pages. “Get that footer right kid!” ProjDev is a feeding frenzy at the summer associate levels You get this: “wait that sounds interesting!” Not: “hm real estate I think is where I land”

Hard to believe this was real. Straight out of a sketch

He was on the mound - like toeing the rubber Totally different throw. Downhill. Amazing

I remember bits and pieces of 9/11 (was in elementary school), yet very little else going back that far. I can definitely say that this year, 2026, was the most impacted I’ve been by 9/11, and the most connected I’ve felt to NYC. Having grown up around the city I never thought much of it - it was just a place we sometimes went for holidays or events. Lots of traffic. Tall buildings. Loud. I much preferred the rural suburbs. Crickets all night, big green yards. The less street lights, the better. Peace. I was a ball player and loved the space. Playing at Yankees Stadium as a top prospect in high school was a highlight - but only bc I can talk about it today. At the time, I was mad bc I didn’t get any hits with a packed crowd of scouts. Drove home in silence. Didn’t appreciate it. After baseball, it became law. I began my career in NYC before burning out halfway up the ladder. Hair thinned, drowning in fake deadlines. I had “made it here” but that meant I could “make it anywhere (else)” too - why not. I spent time in TX and FL. But it was different. Something was missing for me. It wasn’t home. I recently returned to NYC. All the things that burned me out late 20s are the things I value most. It’s the speed walker capital of the world. For god’s sake, we jog up n down escalators here. Moving toward that next place to go or person to see. Urgency. Intention. That’s New York. The relevance is palpable. It’s also the undisputed legal capital of the world. Sure, there are some goofy self important ppl (no doubt - bonkers), and there are plenty of other awesome regions to be a law guy/gal (truly - no knock), but there is an *astounding* amount of merit in NYC. I love being part of the machine that is Manhattan. So many of the 9/11 heroes who took their last breath full of smoke and debris were (much) younger than I am now. They had so much life to live. And if not for little coward men afar, we’d be sharing the city today, as we speak. I will never forget who they were or what they lost. I finally get it - we were attacked because we are exceptional. As New Yorkers, sure, but as Americans. We are the envy of the world. They ran up, so I can show up. RIP heroes

I did not resign from my job today. I have spent the last decade doing 10x as many billable hours as my peers. The clients are not acting responsibly. They are racing straight to record deal volume and gambling with the sanity of their lawyers’ lives. More thoughts below.

My associates charge 1500+ It sucks bc the docs are so ironclad you’ll make money hands over fist (that little lawyer fee is small beans for the big fish) and never need our lit guys. You’ll come back for more just to see it come together again. Service is a sport As I tell my clientele seeking beige or brown glove service: I’m not your guy!

Law has a lot of great legal dramas but we need an A1 “this one’s a sociopath” documentary. Service gigs tend to service the socio - but they’re out there. More than ever with god complex bot legal. Everyone’s a wunderkind. I feel more like Liz lately tbh - you have to talk an incredible game in 2026. Can’t think of another time where the lawyer had to level up so hard to get by. Post ‘08? No. Lawyers took a vacay. 2020? Nah. Lawyers went ham. Today you better bring the mf’ing heat or Jon Bot Esq. gets a bite of the pie

No it’s not. You do abstracts and sig pages. You’re a lawyer remember

Doomer voodoo like this is out of vogue. It’s boring and incorrect. The second half of 2026 has been a tsunami of law. It’s gotten to the point where ppl reach out TO ME to (1) unfuck them (excuse my french) from the legal tech labyrinth or (2) beg me to do a new project on a hyper condensed timeline (& we don’t talk fee). Very little pitching. Also, to level set, reminder I’m not a wrinkled old partner in a robe. I’m part of the new gen of big law merit that climbed a post covid ladder - every rung drenched in crisco oil. This has nothing to do with me being good at my job - I def have merit. This is about big law having more leverage than Bear Stearns in 2007.. without the crash. What hex is next?🪄

Destroyed…. with new business. Never seen so much institutional onboarding It’s amazing - only issue is staffing Super hard to staff with good ppl Just too many good clients now Law is raw. But law is soaring 🦅

My first mentor was a great man whose marriage crumbled before my very eyes. Terrific father to his kids. Wife just hated him grinding up the law ladder for 8-10 years. Made partner at a V10 in an exclusive box out group. Overcame a lot to get the nod and get in He did many hours for many years Called it “deal mileage” - said it compounded It does. It’s also taxing. But like any tax, it compounds! He was also famous for saying “gotta cozy up with the crazy!” Which pissed me off why I had to accept it Fast forward, I guess I did