Litigators

Remember What Your Job Is: Beware The Trappings Of Experienced Lawyers

The perks are just that -- perks, extras -- they are not the core of the job.

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Don’t get too excited about those perks…

Some of the perks of being an experienced lawyer can be nice, but remember what you’re supposed to do as a lawyer.

Years ago when handling a false claims matter (when our firm was much smaller than it is now, and I had no gray hairs in my goatee), I had to travel for an argument for a complex qui tam case. I stayed in a hotel in a far away, very expensive urban center the night before the argument. We were fronting expenses. But money in our small firm was very tight. I found a room online for $59/night. It was conveniently across from a print shop (I think called Pete Prints, or maybe Pete’s Prints, or something close to that). There was no bathroom in the room (it was down the hall . . . and down one flight), but I really didn’t care: we had two very small children at the time so it was a treat just to be able to watch some television (or so I had hoped; the TV didn’t work). While falling off to sleep I was pretty sure that I heard someone in the hotel room below me singing Def Leppard’s “Too Late for Love” (with its distinctive/annoying/haunting/absolutely fantastic refrain). When I mentioned that to the clerk as I checked out the next morning (before grabbing some food from a place across the street) to then walk to the nearby District Court for my argument, he said, “Oh, yeah. That’s Max.” Not only was Max (who I realized probably shared the bathroom with me the night before) apparently a longtime resident of what I thought was a hotel, he was well known for singing power ballads from the early 1980s.

Now when I travel to that same city, my stays are a lot easier. We have a rewards program with a nice business hotel chain. They have big pillows (exactly the same pillow in every hotel with that name), and business centers (so no Pete Prints, though now all my docs are in DropBox anyway), and gyms with pools and all that. I almost always eat at the hotel in the morning to save time, even occasionally ordering room service. And if I forget a razor or anything they will provide it at the hotel, as signs all over the place incessantly remind you. Simply, it’s easier.

But my job then and now is the same: win for my clients. I have a lot more perks now — besides the hotels, we can afford decent meals, cabs when it makes sense, and, in the cases themselves, top-of-the-line investigators, experts, and vendors. I admit I enjoy these, if for no other reason that I have more time and energy to focus on my actual work. However, I have seen more than one lawyer get comfortable and even dependent on these perks, especially at the bigger firms. It’s fine to enjoy these perks (even if you miss out on the Maxes of the world), but lawyers must beware of caring too much about the perks. The perks are just that — perks, extras — they are not the core of the job. The job is the same for any trial lawyer: win for your clients.

And this is not just a risk for private lawyers, or those who work on big matters. Government lawyers can get used to perks as they advance. I was a young assistant district attorney at a time when New York was awash in crimes and arrests. We had so many cases to process we had courts open 24 hours a day to arraign newly arrested defendants. As a prosecutor I have to admit it was a fun time — the TV show NYPD Blue was an accurate representation; Judd Apatow’s Girls would have been unimaginable — even if the dad writing this, with a lot more gray hair in that goatee, admits the current City is a lot better for raising my kids. At that far distant time I had what might generously be called negative resources, with clerks who actively sought out to undermine us, never enough paper in the printers, and cops avoiding coming to court since we were “only” working on misdemeanors. Only after I left the office years later did I realize that the prosecutors could ask the secretaries to assist us on cases (not like they would have helped out).

Later in my prosecutorial career I was lucky to be in a new organized crime unit in the Attorney General’s Office. I had auditors. I had experienced investigators who generally had already worked for years as detectives. I had my own printer (though the secretaries still didn’t help out). One day I was able to direct the arrests of dozens of people in raids throughout the five boroughs, and get statements from most of them because I had two dozen investigators at my disposal, and we had holding pens available to us in police headquarters to assist in processing and interviewing. It was fantastic (and better than being able to get room service at a Hilton).

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I’ve seen government lawyers get used to these perks, too. You have resources now. Others seem to care about your cases. You can investigate leads in ways you simply never could as a fresh young lawyer with too big of a docket to manage. As with the decent hotels and nice meals, all these benefits that come with experience help in doing the job (if in a different way). Simply, it’s easier. And I have seen some government lawyers stay in their jobs way, way too long because after those tough early years they get used to how easy it can be.

Whether you’re a business trial lawyer like me and my colleagues, or an experienced prosecutor, or any lawyer who has that gray hair, the risk of enjoying too much the benefits you now have is there. Beware of that. Remember why you became a lawyer in the first place, and stay a trial lawyer because of that, or do something else.

Keep your focus and win for your clients.

john-balestriereJohn Balestriere is an entrepreneurial trial lawyer who founded his firm after working as a prosecutor and litigator at a small firm. He is a partner at trial and investigations law firm Balestriere Fariello in New York, where he and his colleagues represent domestic and international clients in litigation, arbitration, appeals, and investigations. You can reach him by email at john.g.balestriere@balestrierefariello.com.

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