Historian explains the origins of the biglaw "sweatshop" in the 1980s

"The workers not only don’t own the means of production," one miserable associate said. "They are the means of production."

Today, I published an article in Aeon that explains why working as an associate at a big firm got so bad. It's an excerpt from my new book*,* Yuppies: The Bankers, Lawyers, Joggers, and Gourmands Who Conquered New York.

At mid-century, white-shoe lawyers billed ~1300 hours. By the mid-1980s, associates on the partner track were regularly billing 2500-3000 hours. Much of the work was surprisingly menial, and apprenticeship was nearly non-existant. As the ratio of associates to partners passed four to one, few associates had the chance to even see the lead partner at all. Instead, they took orders from a senior associate who played the role of foreman. It was a far cry from the clubby mentorship of decades past.

Why?

Spoiler: blame Wall Street. (The partners and their MBA "managing directors" aren't innocent, either.)

Read on to discover the full story.