When I was a summer associate over eight and a half years ago, I received my first smartphone. Even though I was only going to work at a firm for a few months, the firm decided to issue me a brand-new Blackberry, and since I only had dumb phones up until that point, I was really excited to finally get that phone. When I expressed excitement at receiving the device, the technology person at the firm told me that having a smartphone was a blessing and a curse. Although I would now have the convenience of a smartphone, people at the firm now knew that I could be reached around the clock and would expect me to respond to emails outside of normal working hours.
In the present day, pretty much every attorney has a smartphone, and communicating with people outside the office at all times of day is easier than ever. As a result, partners may wish to send emails to attorneys after hours so that associates can begin working on matters as soon as possible. However, barring truly extraordinary circumstances, bosses shouldn’t send emails over holidays or weekends, and that includes the holiday breaks many people in the legal industry take at the end of the year.
It may seem like common sense that bosses shouldn’t send unnecessary emails over weekends or holidays. Just because someone works for an employer does not mean a boss should expect their employees to be on call all the time, and managers should determine if an email is important before sending it over weekends or holidays. However, I have worked with many partners at several law firms who feel it is okay to send nonemergency (and sometimes completely unnecessary) emails whenever they wish, including weekends or holidays.
One time, earlier in my career, I had to attend a virtual training run by one of our firm’s biggest clients. A handful of associates and I attended the virtual training on a Friday, and the training was like pretty much any other type of workplace training in the legal profession. It lasted about an hour, and afterward, all of the associates went about their day.
The next morning (a Saturday), the main boss in our office decided to send an email to the attorneys who attended the training. The partner asked what everyone thought of the training and if there were any suggestions for improvement for future trainings. I was on a run at the time, but because I wanted to impress the boss by showing I was accessible on a Saturday, I stopped jogging and typed out a response on my phone. Within a half hour or so, most of the other associates responded to the partner, since they also probably wanted to impress the boss.
However, one attorney did not respond that day. This associate didn’t even respond to the partner the next day (Sunday). Rather, the attorney waited until first thing Monday morning to respond to the partner. This delay became the scuttlebutt around the office, since the other attorneys wanted to know if that associate had failed to review email over the weekend or if the associate was trying to make a point by not responding sooner.
However, the partner was in the wrong here, and thinking about this story now, I have a lot of respect for that associate. There was no compelling reason for sending that email on a Saturday, since there was absolutely no advantage to receiving feedback about the presentation over the weekend instead of during the workweek. Maybe the partner wanted to send the email out while the presentation was still fresh in everyone’s minds, but that seems like a poor excuse for interrupting everyone’s weekends when we could have provided this feedback on Monday or after the presentation on Friday.
Not all bosses flippantly send emails over holidays and weekends. One time, at a different firm, a partner emailed me on a Sunday about an emergent matter that needed to be handled the next day. An answer needed to be filed in a case, and the partner related some important details about the lawsuit and told me that he had placed relevant materials on my desk. This partner apologized profusely for disturbing my weekend, and I of course understood that the nature of the matter required that the partner email me over the weekend. It was extremely rare to receive an email outside of working hours at that firm, and partners respected their associates’ time off.
In any case, just because associates are accessible through email pretty much all the time does not mean partners should send emails to associates whenever they want. Employees deserve time off, and receiving emails from work can make it more likely that an attorney will burn out and provide less dedication during normal business hours. If a partner wishes to send an email to an associate over a weekend or holiday (or even at night during the workweek), the partner should evaluate if the email is absolutely necessary to send at that time or if it could wait until normal business hours. In that way, partners can respect the work-life balance of their associates while ensuring that emergent matters are handled as soon as possible.
Jordan Rothman is a partner of The Rothman Law Firm, a full-service New York and New Jersey law firm. He is also the founder of Student Debt Diaries, a website discussing how he paid off his student loans. You can reach Jordan through email at jordan@rothmanlawyer.com.
