This Is Not The Email You Want To Receive From Your Law Firm

Is this email anything other than a ham-handed way to get associates to start looking for a new job?

If the Chair of the Associates Review Committee sent an email to all associates, what do you think it’d be? Maybe a new format for your upcoming performance review or perhaps something generic like “thanks for all your hard work this year”?

What you probably don’t expect is an email with the subtext, “haaaaave you considered quitting?”

That’s exactly the email associates at Butler Snow, a National Law Journal 350 firm with 18 offices, received on Friday. A tipster alerted us to an all-associates email sent by Chad Hutchinson, Chairman of the Associates Review Committee, on Friday that forwarded an interesting article by our friends at Law360 titled, “4 Signs You’re Poorly Suited To Be An Attorney.” As our tipster put it:

“Advice” for Every Associate at a mid-sized law firm: Get a New Job

And lest you think the email is anything other than a ham-handed way to get associates to start looking for a new job, let’s take a gander at some of the “tips” Hutchinson is sharing:

“If people don’t like competition, don’t go to law school, it’s very cutthroat,” [Frank] D’Amore [founder of Attorney Career Catalysts] said. “If you’re somebody who just wants a life of being OK, then law’s not the profession to enter.”

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“Law firms are filled with high-autonomy people who don’t want to be told what to do,” [Larry] Richard [founder of the consulting firm LawyerBrain LLC] said. “The culture is … sink or swim, you’re on your own.”

Richard added that while being able to take criticism is essential in the “adversarial profession” of the law, many lawyers are “thin-skinned,” a trait he ascribed to lawyers’ natural skepticism and negative thinking.

“By definition, lawyers who are skeptical are not very optimistic,” Richard said. And pessimistic lawyers can feel like any negative feedback means they’ve failed at their job.

Keep in mind this article wasn’t forwarded to undergrads considering going to law school, but sent by one of the firm’s leaders to licensed attorneys with actual jobs. Great morale booster.

How bad does Hutchinson think the associates at Butler Snow are if he’s sending a mass email asking all associates to consider finding an entirely new profession? Associates who presumably have made an informed decision to practice law and are likely encumbered by educational debt, mind you. Makes for really awkward small talk at the holiday party.

4 Signs You’re Poorly Suited To Be An Attorney [Law360]

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