Biglaw

Firm Promises New Focus On Mental Health... Then Demands Young Attorneys 'Provide Evidence' They Can't Work All Night

This is dumb.

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Whenever a firm recognizes the dangers of mental illness and the corrosive effect that stressful, occasionally belligerent working conditions can have on people, it’s a positive sign. When one unnamed London firm (UPDATE: To be clear, this means a “London office” — it’s clearly a “global Biglaw firm” and we’re talking about its London office) made a public show of its commitment to employee well-being on World Mental Health Day — October 10 — it earned the goodwill of its attorneys and the greater legal community alike.

Which made it all the funnier when they blew all that goodwill to hell a mere two days later by sending around a bullying email demanding trainee attorneys cancel their frivolous weekend plans and work around the clock over the weekend.

Legal Cheek has copies of a pair of disturbingly tone deaf emails sent around last Friday at 4:43 p.m.

Sometimes work just needs to get done. My first day as a summer associate was relatively uneventful until 5:30 p.m. when I got staffed on an emergency TRO and worked until 4:30 a.m. But due diligence is not a TRO. Where’s the tone of contrition from the partners who have clearly botched this whole process to find themselves realizing for the first time at close of business on Friday that they have tons of documents to review? An email begging for help with a bit of mea culpa for good measure might engender more support from the rank-and-file being asked to sacrifice because they had the foresight to plan their work week more efficiently.

The partner chose… another route. A mere 20 minutes later…

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“[P]lease be prepared to provide evidence to me of your inability to help….” What a way to manage a professional organization! Apparently, the trainees who did stick around to help worked until 4:30 a.m. before coming back at 8 to finish up. Yeesh.

In fairness to the firm, Legal Cheek reports that it was already investigating this follow-up email before it was leaked and has spoken to the partner in question. That’s a good start, and what appears to have prompted Legal Cheek to protect the firm from the sins of one of its members. And that’s all a firm can really do after the fact. But ultimately, what firms need is a fundamental mindset shift among the partnership — a realization that their demands for instant gratification can’t be a replacement for proper project management and a commitment to earning buy-in from colleagues. The law’s embraced tinpot dictatorships for decades. It’s time to break that cycle for the good of the profession as a whole.

Exclusive: City law firm asks trainees to pull all nighter days after promising to support lawyers mental health [Legal Cheek]

HeadshotJoe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news.

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