Going in the right direction - Assistant Director Nielsen Merksamer Employee Review

Great Location on the water. Great people, build great friendly relationships. Very intelligent attorneys and employees. Great Firm to work for. Leading Political Law and Lobby Firm in CA. Fascinating work if you're into politics. Get to see view the political reporting world from the ground up. Reporting Unit Employees make lots of Over-Time. If you work late on weekdays the firm will buy you dinner or lunch on weekends. Kitchen filled with snacks and drinks. Breakfast on Friday's. Business Casual attire. Open Door policy with Attorney's. Able to take ownership of your client based portfolio but layers of review for support. Team Oriented Reporting Unit. Uniformity within the procedures so to be able to help those in need or when co-workers are out sick/vacation.

Election Years "even calendared" are a lot busier than Non. Time commitment is hard but you make over-time. Brings organization to the next level, but the process is in place to prepare for audits. Often times competing demands from clients, must have ability to pivot and communicate your work load. Must be able to view work as a job, clients don't always align with your personal beliefs.

Very interesting and challenging work. If you enjoy politics, current events and public policy this is a dream job. Everyone here is brilliant and they all help raise your game. If you are able to handle pressure and don’t take every correction to your work personally you will thrive. If you take every edit as a personal affront you are not a good fit. If you want to gain invaluable life and job skills this is a perfect place to work. Career/promotional opportunities are available to non-attorneys as the Firm always promotes from within for management positions. Other perks: free parking, beautiful location right on the bay, stocked kitchen, excellent retirement and health benefits, fun environment with nice (non-toxic) people to work with; varied and prominent clientele.

The time commitment in election years -but the overtime and bonuses help a lot and it pays off. Depending on where you live your commute could be tough but it is a great commute for SF, Marin, Oakland dwellers. You have to be able to thrive under stress and not crumble. You definitely can’t be a natural procrastinator because you will not succeed. You have to want to be the best and not just phone it in.