Pros
I worked as an entry-level temp in the New York office for a month. The employees, individually, are solid people; there are some neat perks (mostly related to food); and you learn a thing or two about business immigration.
Cons
From what I experienced, there is virtually no communication, no coordination, and no organization between the various levels and departments of this firm. The job started with an orientation, at which it was made very clear to us new, entry-level employees that there was a learning curve, and it was expected that we would make mistakes and take time to adapt. Of course I made mistakes, but I corrected them all and elevated them when I needed to, and I was improving to the point where my supervisors were about to entrust me with drafting support letters for some of the firm's biggest clients--and this was just as the firm's busy season was beginning. I even caught some mistakes made by higher-ups--really obvious typos, for instance. (Bear in mind, the government looks for any excuse to reject a visa application.) Then, out of nowhere, I was let go for "making mistakes on [my] cases" that were allegedly taking up extra time to correct. (Not to mention, no one at the firm had the guts to break the news to me in person; I went in one morning and my keycard wasn't working, so I got a pass for the day, and when I went up, the HR person came to my cubicle and said, "I was told yesterday was your last day.") Was I so incompetent that I had no value as an employee even with a learning curve in the middle of the busy season? I doubt it. My guess is that, in addition to other new employees coming in, the busy season turned out to be not as busy as they thought it would be, so they sacked me and used my earlier, novice mistakes against me as an excuse. This firm embarrassed and disrespected me. All I was to it was a body. Some other interesting tidbits: * I was taking direction from a peer of mine, a paralegal AND an associate, and there were no other new employees on this particular team. * There was training, but it was curt, rushed and inadequate. For instance, I would be told to do things a certain way every time, and the exceptions weren't made clear to me. There's also a lot of wonky calendar math involved in immigration law, and I was not given an adequate point of reference in that regard. Still, I imagine that I was the one who was blamed and looked down upon for the resulting errors, in the end. * My supervisors insisted multiple times that my next big task would be to draft said support letters, but that they weren't ready to be drafted yet. As a result, there were long stretches of time where I was left with nothing to do. Ultimately, I felt led on. * To kill time, one of my supervisors instructed me to take seminars that turned out to be the SAME seminars I took during orientation. * Work-life balance? Please. If this firm asked to have me back, I'd turn it down.