The hardest thing is appearing interested as partners drone on and on about the virtues of their particular firm, or the practice group they lead. As the day drags on, it becomes increasingly more difficult to maintain alertness, and to follow what someone is saying if it isn't a completely casual conversation.

The partners are the worst, and I met three -- three! -- in my afternoon callback, all in a row. They're more likely to be lazy and stop participating in the conversation after 10 minutes, letting you frantically search your brain for questions to ask as they explain about their particular practice area, or the firm's future. As if it isn't hard enough to be interested in talking to pasty old white men who take their power elite status for granted and who have precious little in common with a young KA woman. There are so few who appear to take a genuine interest in who I am.

The two young white male associates I met at that afternoon callback were incredibly nice, though, and easy to talk to. But the line-up of five white male lawyers left a far more negative impression on me than I would have thought. In actuality, this world is dominated by white men. While the number of men and women hired as first year associates is probably equal at most large law firms now, as time wears on and people leave a firm (one associate said about 10-15% of any given class per year), the circle tightens. And if you look at partners, industry-wide, there is a large gap between the genders. Part of this is that women didn't seriously start entering the profession until the 1970s. But all the literature seems to point to a trend of women leaving the profession more than men.

Anyway. The Mighty Big Firm I saw this morning was, as all rumors had it, very nice and genteel. I really liked one woman I met there, a KA who had been a classical musician before going to law school (she said the decision to leave music was "heartbreaking"), and seemed to know a lot of people who left and were doing cool things (she knew someone who used to work there who is now working for the UN Commission on Human Rights, for example). The first partner I saw apologetically had to take a call from a former Director of a large federal agency, who was asking for his advice on a report to the UN. The last partner I saw seemed deader than a dead fish, except when he showed me the guidebook he'd helped to write about his particular field.

I thankfully had not scheduled a lunch, so I walked back to the hotel, which I am beginning to actively dislike. I hate the two restaurants, I hate the fact that it takes so long to get to my room on the 40th floor, I hate the fact that they wouldn't let me charge room service to the firm.

The second Mighty Big Firm I saw today was White Man Central, as I mentioned. I don't know why that bothered me so much. One partner I talked with, a sprightly and very sharply dressed older man (who retired because that Mighty Big Firm has mandatory retirement at age 65, but is somehow still practicing), in a charming, gentlemanly way said that pro bono, like diversity, was a big selling point for recruits and clients. He asked me how I thought working in a firm would contribute to society (because I stupidly mentioned that as a motivator for going to law school), and I quickly ad-libbed that I could take care of my family, donate a lot of money, and contribute to the great capitalist machine that keeps the global economy chugging along.

Hey, I thought it was pretty good for a spur-of-the-moment answer.

Spry Retired Partner Man then told a story of how a lawyer he knew was telling some people at a party this very line about the great capitalist machine, and how his wife very loudly said, "That is the biggest BS I have ever heard!" Which, let's face it, it totally is.

Oh, Mighty Big Firms! Oh, Spry and Spright Retired Partner Man! Oh, Pasty White Man Firm! Oh, Genteel and Nice MBF! Oh, rotten hotel! It is all so weird and such a charade. The market here is very good this year; as one of the associates at Pasty White Man Firm said, there are a lot of jobs opening up for people this year, which means that associates who had been holding out for a couple years are now jumping ship, which means the firm has to recruit lots of warm bodies to fill their places.

You need a warm body? I gots a warm body! What I ain't got much of is my soul.