Rudeness, Small Law Firms

Small Firm, Big Ego: A Memo You Must See

Is it really necessary to tell everyone in ALL CAPS to keep track of their work? A lesson in how not to address lawyers at your firm.

By  
on

Running a small firm is hard. No one disputes that. Especially as they begin to grow. It’s one thing to run your own shop off of your laptop and sweat, and a wholly different thing to begin to acquire staff and associates. As more people (and more work) come on board, it can be difficult to juggle everything that is happening in the firm. This is where it becomes necessary to have policies and procedures put into place so that the staff and attorneys know their roles and duties at the firm. It’s equally important for the partners, especially the managing partner, to acquire solid management fundamentals so that they can delegate and supervise work without being an overbearing pain-in-the-***.

Which brings me to a memo that was anonymously sent to me this week.

As is often the case with small shops that develop a modicum of success, it can be easy for the original partner (or in this case the only partner), to let that success go their head a bit. It can also be difficult for the partner to relax a bit and let people do their work because the partner is concerned about their firm. Yet partners need to learn their place in the pyramid and focus on rounding up business and let staff do their work — not micromanage every single task.

But sometimes they can’t let it go. So instead, people at small shops get memos like the following. For some background, from the email I received, at this firm there is one partner, 3-4 associates, 4-5 staff. To be fair, the whole thing starts off fairly innocuously.  Specific tasks for specific staff, etc. But by only the second page we run into FULL CAPS and UNDERLINING. When this shows up on the second page of an 11-page memo, it does not bode well.

Is it really necessary to tell everyone in ALL CAPS to keep track of their work list? Before long we get to stuff like this:

Okay, that’s a reasonable thing to request, but again, an ALL CAPS paragraph? Even worse, one person was specifically called out for this. That type of thing is far better suited being handled one-on-one, not blasting the person in a firm-wide memo.

Then people get called out again when it comes to trial prep.

Sponsored

No over-bearing micromanaging memo would be complete without a “do what you say you’re going to do” section.

To further complicate the hell out of everything, the partner has every staff member and attorney email him everything they might possibly think might needs to be done — even if it supposed to be done by someone else.

I really love this next bit about Skype. ANSWER IMMEDIATELY, I MUST KNOW ALL.

Oh, the staff is leaving at the end of the day? Attorneys, start doing their job too.

And of course, the partner would be happy to tell you how to dress as well.

Sponsored

Look, I get that people want things to be done a certain way. But that can, and is, accomplished all around the world, every single day. At law firms, hospitals, fast food places — all without resorting to shouting at people and dressing them down in public. Not that everything needs to be tummy rubs, but there is no reason to be a jerk either.

At some point you have to begin to trust your employees to have the competence to do their job. If you can’t, then you probably aren’t hiring very well. Either that, or you need to take a step back and see if the problem is you. And if you’re an associate at a small shop like this one, God help you.

Read the whole thing on the following page.

P.S. If there are any other small firm associates who have gotten memos like the above, I DEMAND YOU EMAIL THEM TO ME AT THE BELOW ADDRESS.

Keith Lee practices law at Hamer Law Group, LLC in Birmingham, Alabama. He writes about professional development, the law, the universe, and everything at Associate’s Mind. He is also the author of The Marble and The Sculptor: From Law School To Law Practice (affiliate link), published by the ABA. You can reach him at [email protected] or on Twitter at @associatesmind.

1 2Next »

Topics

, , , , ,