alliantgroup, LP Associate Attorney reviews

What is this job like, overall? It’s like showing up to work everyday, talking to monsters hiding in place sight, with a painted on smile on their face, hoping you don’t see what’s underneath. Did you use a recruiter? YesI did, I used two recruiters. Unfortunately I later learned I used a recruiting company unbeknownst to me was paid for by alliantgroup. My recruiter told me not to ask about their negative reviews (because yes I did ask) or the 2022 raid. You want to know what this place is like, ask about both and watch how they treat you. You don’t want to work for a company that treats their candidates like trash for asking necessary and valid questions. Anyways, my recruiter only cared about getting paid off of the referral. Other local recruiters will tell you the truth about this company. Ask for retention stats and look at the company’s website “welcome to alliantgroup” posts. They are always hiring. Always, there’s a reason for that. Did you take a tour of the building? Yes I did and I wish I never came back. I asked several employees to describe a “day in the life at alliantgroup;” many outright refused to answer. Some said “no comment.” One girl said to me, “This place is for everyone, but I just need the money.” The ones who did answer me, gave me canned/practiced response. I wish I went with my gut instinct, but like you, you probably just need the money. It’s not worth it. What was your first day like? My 1st day, I received the same advice over & over again “Trust no one at this place.” I was immediately concerned because no one would elaborate, at first... These people do and say whatever they have to, to keep those golden handcuffs. The leaders turn new hires against each other. I was scolded for not opening up about my personal life. I ain’t know them people. It was weird as [expletive]. It’s truly nasty work. How did it feel showing up to work everyday? Uncomfortable. Like a weight of unnecessary pressure is on your shoulders. Mental and body fatigue because the work hours I was told during my interview was 9-5pm. However, I worked in ERC (Employee Retention Credit) and these people chastised us for attempting to leave at 5pm. They demanded we stay until 7pm-8pm or later however no one was working. Just talking about people. When I specifically refused to talk about other employees, I received a verbal lashing and personal attacks for “not providing feedback.” In short, it felt like waking up in a nightmare that only gets worse. What are the pods like? It’s so loud. You have to find a room, just to make phone call. They have dart play guns in the desk. Bean bag chairs. Large balls to throw around. Noodle straws to play and hit each other with. Bubbles. Hula hoops. They buy food, a lot. Which goes to waste due to overconsumption. It’s like a 5 year old birthday party and the adults are arguing or being passive aggressive at the party all day. A margarita machine was provided to employees at 6pm and that’s how they encouraged employees to “stay and work late.” I felt so unsafe around a bunch of belligerent drunks making lewd comments at my place of employment. Just think about that for moment, a margarita machine provided at work. Why. Do you have to take tests to remain employed? Yes. It’s actually crazy and legally questionable. They do not inform job candidates that they will be tested on a regular basis. Yes, an actual timed test, with proctors, and pass/fail grades. They do not adequately prepare employees for the tests nor allow employees to review the test for improvement. & fun fact, they will fire you for failing the test. There is no rubric. The “leaders” create the exam and make up the questions as they go. They do not have background experience in education/teaching which makes if harder as an employee to ask questions or to receive constructive answers. In my experience, these leaders found it funny when employees failed the exams. Again, it is mandatory that you take a series of exams, whenever they feel like it. Tests are only to be taken after client facing hours and this is the only way you can be “promoted.” They did not even have an outline of the test they forced me to take. I had more training materials studying for my bar exam than I did at this place. I cannot express how ridiculous these “tests” are. What are Cultural Values? 10 Words/Phrases the company holds over your head to socially & metrically measure you on. I have never been gaslit so much in my entire life. The “leaders” constantly used the “core values” to attack/chastise me. It was insufferable. EX1: Declined to go out for drinks one time? I was considered non-collaborative. EX2: Worked late (to get work done) and not socialize? I was deemed disengaged. EX3: Did not tell a leader I left my desk to go to the bathroom? I was not being transparent. EX4: Did not give bad feedback on other employees? I was deemed passive, not active. The list is endless... It’s a lose lose work environment no matter what I did. They invested more time in finding a problem with everything I did than they spent training me for the job. It felt like madness. What feedback do they give you? The “leaders” give feedback all day every over every little thing. The problem is it’s not constructive nor pertinent to your job. The “leaders” use this “feedback culture” approach to give verbal lashings, personal attacks on their subordinates, threats of termination, etc. The biggest issue is it’s your word vs. theirs. They do not have cameras in the pods nor private rooms. When I was groped by an employee, a leader told me, it was probably just a “love tap” and to remember we are “one big family” so I should not look too deep into people when I don’t know their personality. I cannot describe how disgusting that experience and “feedback” made me feel. This “feedback” approach is what makes this place what many call a "toxic work culture," which is defined as: a company environment dominated by practices, policies & management styles that perpetuate unhealthy habits and conflicts among team members. I experienced constant demeaning, hurtful, and unwarranted 'feedback.' Who shows up to a job to talk about “feelings” all day? There was no focus on the actual work or clients. There is a difference between constructive feedback vs. verbal lashings and verbal attacks. The employees at this company merge the two and call it feedback. It’s disgusting and immature yet no one is held accountable for the mistreatment. Do your mental health a favor and don’t even get involved. What is a Cultural Fit? Your guess is as good as mine. This is the most discriminatory phrase I have ever heard, seen, & experienced in my life. What does it mean? Whatever these employees feel like when they apply it to you. It’s racist & offensive in every way you can imagine. There is a lot of micromanaging and obsession with control. Impressionable people, many of which this is their first job post college/law school” are preferred employees because it’s easier to control that demographic. So, if you can’t be controlled, you’re not a cultural fit, and don’t waste your time here. What are some examples of experiences you had working here? The corporate gaslighting was the most draining. Corporate gaslighting is the denial of mistreatment by the gaslighter who then becomes defensive, contentious, dismissive, and/or evasive. EX.1 Leader intentionally excluded me from trainings. Then blamed me for not attending trainings when the leader never included me on the calendar invite. EX. 2 Leader spoke to everyone on the team and answered everyone’s questions, except mine. Then called a meeting to provide “feedback” using me as an example of employees who are not collaborative. EX. 3 Leader called a meeting and several employees were not paying attention to the leader speaker. Every employee was on a computer/cellphone while employee was speaking. I grabbed my device and this person lashed out saying she refused to continue speaking until I put the device down. Then later, when other employees admitted to being on their devices, this “leader” said she did not see anyone else on their devices because I was sitting right in front of her. EX. 4 Leader was speaking to an employee about negative energy in the workplace gesturing in my direction while my back was turned as I sat at a desk. Another employee recorded the Leader doing this/saying this and showed me the video after work. I addressed it directly and I was accused of recording client calls. It made no sense actually. It’s like a never ending episode of Black Mirror at this place and these employees find humor in making it such. I had to switch “Leaders” because the gaslighting got that bad. My new Leader was no better and went out of her way to make up things that never even happened. My new leader, in fact, was caught being dishonest about me upsetting a client. After it was proven I was on PTO that day, and the entire fabricated interaction was proven untrue. I was called in for a meeting, told “mistakes happen” and then she was promoted. Please be aware of the signs of corporate gaslighting and document everything if you still choose to work here. Do you need a law license to work here? No. You do not need a law license for this job, and many law school graduates here do not have one. Fun fact, you can search a licensed lawyer on the state bar website. Need I say more? Do your research on the lawyers before you get entangled with these people. This company allows law school grads to hold themselves out & call themselves “attorneys” when speaking to clients. A great interview question is asking what will your job title be once employed. Spoiler for the lawyers: everyone has the same job title. Be. Careful. The *leaders* require *subordinates* who never went to law school to write legal analysis on the credit qualifications and the *leaders* merely “approve or deny” the analysis. My “leader” bragged to me about “teaching” college graduates how to write a legal analysis so she did not have to. I was written up for questioning if that’s ethical. Is it Unethical? Unauthorized practice of law? Misrepresentation? Yes to all of the above. Five licensed attorneys quit back to back in a span of five weeks, all new hires over this issue. No amount of money is worth losing your license over. Do you practice law here? No, you do not practice law here, and there is no substantive legal knowledge or practice you gain here. In fact, nothing you do in this role is practicing law. You are consultant. Which is why they allow non licensed graduates to call themselves attorneys because they do not believe giving recommendations is considered legal advice. Please be very careful of your complicity in this if you choose to work here. Did you experience racism here? Unfortunately, yes. Glassdoor does not allow me to state which race so I’ve redacted such. During my third week, a [redacted] employee was on the list of people to be fired for not hitting metrics. This employee used my race to indicate that I attacked/threatened/made her uncomfortable. The employee came to my desk about a report we both worked on looking for me to approve the final edit. I was in the bathroom. Less than 5 min later I found her in a private room. I knocked. She waved for me to enter. I first apologized for missing her initial teams message about the report. I had a death in the family. She opened up to me about her personal business (that I did not ask for, to which I told her I would keep that confidential.) I was kind, gentle, and professional; reassuring that I would assist her with the report. Which turned out to be completed before her and I even had this interaction. The entire exchange lasted maybe 7 minutes. This was my second interaction with the employee. The first was literally an introduction. Why would I be anything else but kind? I kid you not, the very next day, she filed a complaint alleging she felt threatened, under duress, scared for her life. All types of nonsense. 
I was called into a room filled with [redacted] people who do not look like me, and who believed and validated every lie she said. In the middle of her giving a fabricated account of our interaction, she burst out laughing, and so did her leader. When I asked if she thought this was funny, she had the nerve and comfort to say yes. She was not reprimanded. I literally went into shock. My leader then had the audacity to tell me moving forward, I need to “read the room” and to conduct myself based on “subjective perspectives.” The statement alone made zero sense but I stopped hearing words after they laughed in my face. I refused to be in an enclosed room or alone with this person again. Three days later, the employee demanded I meet her in a private room upstairs. I refused citing the last interaction made me feel uncomfortable and I would like to meet publicly for all future interactions for both of our sakes. I was written up for “not putting the client first.” What in the [expletive]. I never felt more unsafe in my entire life. The power of a [redacted] person’s lie left an irrevocable ick that I still have not gotten past and will likely carry with me for the rest of my life. Why do people feel pressured when working here? Every single day I was employed here, someone was fired. I wish I was exaggerating. The “leaders” would gossip about it each time it occurred and did not care that people moved from out of state & relocated for this company had their lives ruined. It’s just disgusting and unprofessional behavior. I declined to participate because that’s childish, in my opinion. I was attacked in a meeting and told I was "too formal." Professionalism is “too formal” at this job. The most alarming terminations were employees who were fired after reporting racism/inappropriate comments/behavior, etc. What is more scary and concerning is reported three specific instances of mistreatment/misconduct and when I finally was “allowed” to speak to a HR rep, none of my reports existed so there was nothing for them to investigate. Interpret that as you will. How were you treated by the “leaders”? I was treated and spoken to poorly here. I witnessed and experienced numerous verbal attacks upon employees which included swear words, insults and direct threats on the employee. There is an unbelievable about of micromanaging here. Me, a parent and licensed attorney could not go to the bathroom to change my tampon without permission. Why exactly do they care or want to know that. Imagine being asked by a 20 something year old, “What are you going in the bathroom to do?” Uhh, excuse me? I was not answering that. It’s all about exerting control. It’s always about control with these people. I knew I could not stay here. They live and feed off of drama. Employees who do not want to be involved are targeted. The tense atmosphere alone made the workplace exhausting & unbearable, not the work itself. What is the leadership like? There is no leadership. You have a bunch of young people (21-36yo), with zero conflict resolution/mentoring/training skills telling grown folks what to do, how to behave/speak/act. Its absurd. It felt like a blind leading the blind situation. There is no one you can go to for support because no one knows what they are doing. It’s so much turnover this the “work” you are given has several issues or has been sitting for years untouched and you are required to fix the problems. There’s a lack of guidance/training in itself, it’s a very “learn as you go” environment however you can expect to make mistakes in a situation like that. But if the mistake is “too big” you’ll be fired. If you made it this far and you are still considering working here, your best bet is to suck up to the leaders and brown nose your way into favor so they look past the mistakes you are bound to make. How long were you in training? What was that like? Umm, I cannot call my experience training, at all. During week 1, I was told to Google Covid 19 statutes all day and save them into a shared folder. I was kept at the job from 9am to 7pm/8pm and told each day to read 150 pages out of a IRS handbook we never used. The second week I was assigned a ridiculous amount of projects and various states of completion. They were making up the job duties each week so no one in my new hire group knew what was truly going on. When this came out, they told us we need to give them grace because they are always coming up with new ideas. The ‘leaders’ fail to accept that they do not know how to teach their job. They fail to realize they are in a position to be teachable too. However, they operate on a ‘I’m better than you’ mentality which is counterproductive to their good old core values. They expect you to know the job almost immediately, despite the job post saying you do not need experience because they train you. In the beginning, they will tell you to let them know if you’re not understanding the job in the timeframe they think you should. (A timeframe they will never accurately tell you) But in reality, they will start conspiring against you. Do you have to attend a lot of meetings? Yes. They will hold a meeting about everything under the sun so long as it’s unrelated to the job itself. I never attended one meeting about the job I was hired for. It was always about things employees are doing wrong, complaining sessions, & workplace drama. Team meetings are for the “leaders” feelings & feedback bashing sessions on mentees. It’s childish and a waste of time. These employees are paid to talk about friends & foes all day long… but you can drink alcohol at work, so whatever, right? Do you have to bill here? Yes. I could write a book on the misrepresentation of billable hours requirements at this job. My leader screamed at our group for “not billing enough”. This is what I was required to do: 15 minutes for each = Open the file. Review the file. Compose letter/report. Review documents. Send letter/report to client. Communicate with client. Analyze correspondence. Finalize reporting. 4 hours billed for 15 actual minutes of work. My integrity would not allow me to do it. I literally took an oath not to do that. Yet, I was written up for not following the excessive billing requirements. Are you allowed to work from home? No. You are required to be in the office from dusk to dawn and stay for the “after hour” meetings. Employees sometimes sleep in the private offices. Is there a no fraternization policy? Not to my knowledge. However, there is a lot of dating going on between employees and rumors spread fast about STD amongst employees. I did not engage with anyone in this manner at this job, thus, I cannot comment further. Be vigilant. What equipment were you given to do your job? First, I am a licensed attorney however I was referred to as a consultant. I was given a laptop and a cellphone and I was added to a groupchat titled “Big D Daddies ERC.” I was also required to “contribute” to the groupchat. Which I refused to do outside of work related matters. A separate groupchat was made where several employees gossiped about me and another new hire. As a lawyer, are you required to suits everyday? No. In fact, my “leader” asked that I not wear business casual attire everyday because it’s making me stand out too much when the majority of my group wore athletic or casual attire. I was also criticized for addressing my colleagues by their last name in an email; I accused of being “too formal” and making the project managers feel like this was a law firm. My brain hurts trying to process that entire conversation; it was stupid. Is there a career trajectory available? No. There is no documented outline of potential jobs to be promoted to. They often create new job titles for people along the way however the job responsibilities then fluctuate. Do you believe this place is a cult? Yes and No. Cult defined is a relatively small group of people having practices regarded by others as strange or sinister. They want you to bow down to their way of doing things without question. They want you to care about what your leaders think of you. They want praise and worship. They want “raving reviews” about the most minuscule things so they can big up their group in a email blast. Example: If you call the IRS department and actually get someone on the phone. You are apparently doing such an amazing job, you’ll get shouted out in a email blast to the entire company. Half of your day is clearing out responses to the ridiculous email blasts. If you do not ‘buy in’ to the bull they spit at you, they start a “fire file” on you. Basically, be liked by these people, and if not, expect to be let go for not being a “cultural fit.” What was it like leaving? First, an employee had the audacity to escort me out of the building. I was in the middle of a call with a client when I was interrupted and terminated for no reason. No seriously. I asked what was the problem or what did I even do, and the employer stated, “You are not a cultural fit.” I asked what does this mean, [redacted] said, “You know.” I asked if it had to do with my race, [redacted] said “it depends.” I asked what did it depend on. The person did not give me an answer. I brought up how I always showed up to work 30 minutes early, how I hit every metric, and how I had “raving” client feedback, in writing, about my excellent performance. In the middle of me talking, [redacted] stood up and walked out of the office and I was escorted out of the building.To my surprise, it was like a breath of fresh air exiting that place, I literally beamed with joy. I had several offers and a new job by the end of the day. All of this happened on a Thursday, I started my new job the following Monday. They ain’t stop nothing. Side note: My jewelry, desk trinkets, and items out of my purse were stolen. HR refused to investigate and told me to call the police if I cared that much. Did you ask about retention issues here? Of course I did. If you let these people tell it, they could sell you a beach house in Alaska. You have to ask yourself, how is it that every leader here is the victim in every former employees story? Never the villain. No one is perfect. No one. So how is it, that these leaders are without any fault in every story they tell?