What shocking news about Tim Russert! This election season will not be the same without him. The news of his death has hit all of us so hard. For those of us in our 30s, we rarely remember a day when Tim wasn’t a permanent fixture in news broadcasting.
It is a testament to the man that the world over is saddened by his passing. He was a class act, a phenomenal journalist and a devoted family man.
RIP Little Russ.
Like other businesses that compete for talent, law firms continue to add to their pool of benefits. Several firms have now begun to offer college coaching. This benefit is a way to assist busy lawyers who are trying to help their college bound children navigate the competitive field of college admissions.
But are better benefits the key to retaining talent? I’m sure that offering good benefits is one important way that firms compete for talent. But isn’t offering constructive feedback much more important? On-site day care is not going to keep an unhappy associate from pursuing a lateral move if she isn’t being managed properly. Providing college admissions guidance to a partner will not stop her from moving her portable book of business across the street if she does not feel that the firm is supporting her practice.
Now that I’ve become a recruiter at BCG, all of my lawyer friends who I thought were happy (or at least not miserable) at their current jobs have suddenly confessed to their discontentedness at their present law firms. My question is “why”? If you ask them, they will confess that nothing has really changed at their respective firms over the past 4 or 5 years. Same job, same people (at least mostly), same gawdawful hours. So why am I just now hearing about all of this misery?
Law firms, it seems, breed a culture of negativity. You’re unhappy, but then so are the poor guys in the offices on either side of you. You perhaps rage against it during your first few months at your firm, but then you assume that you have to accept your lot in life. Heck, you worked hard to get where you’re at, and the money is nothing to sneer at, so might as well just plod along. Besides, no one really wants to hear about it (unless the unhappiness stems from something fairly salacious). Looking back at the happy hours with my friends during my years at various law firms, no one really discussed how they felt about their jobs, what they were doing at work, or how their jobs fell short of their expectations. It was too depressing to relive over drinks, and that’s why we were drinking anyway, right?
On the other hand, ALL the associates at your current firm no doubt complains ALL the time to each other about how miserable they are. Here, though, no one is really listening. No point, really, everyone is working for the same people and have to attend all the same annoying dinners/events, so it’s really just a waste of breath.
Why the culture of negativity exists is perhaps a bigger issue than I want to address right now. I’ll save that for my first novel. But I guess I am more interested in knowing why attorneys accept misery as a fact and don’t really try to change the situation. So many of my now-I-realize unhappy friends have been at the same firm their entire career. I have asked many of them why they stay if it makes them that unhappy, and the constant reply is this: all big firms are the same. Why go to the trouble of starting over again, trying to establish good will with a new group of partners, if the effort is just going to get you exactly where you currently are?
The thing is, having been at three firms over the past five years (that’s right–3 in 5), they really are not the same. Yes, you do have the same lack of control over your schedule, and you will no doubt encounter annoying or even evil people in any law firm environment. At least that was my experience. But, the culture, the work, and the amount of mentorship you receive can vary greatly among firms. Each firm I worked at was distinct. Hated the people at one, loved the people at another. Received great mentoring at one, realized the concept of mentoring was a new one at another. Sure, I never found a perfect fit, but my problem was that I never really wanted to be a lawyer. Perhaps that is your problem. But, if it is not, why on earth accept misery? Maybe it’s too much to ask that work be fun (although my job luckily is), but there are many emotional states that exist between misery and happiness. Do some soul searching and try to find out exactly what is making you unhappy, do some research into other firms, and then put your misery behind you (after some exit therapy). Strike out and find something new.
loosely translated as “only single numbers allowed,” at least if you believe an August, 2005 article about the craze, published by the New York Times. Will Shortz’ article entitled “A Few Words About Sudoku, Which Has None” described the increasingly popularity of the game.
Catching on, indeed. CNN reports today (http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/06/10/sudoku.jury.ap/index.html) that a mistrial was declared when it was discovered that some of the jurors had been playing sudoku during the trial. The trial, which had gone for 66 days before the discovery, cost the government in the neighborhood of $950,000 (US).
I’m torn. I love sudoku, but I’ve been in front of juries. It’s hard to know whether you are convincing a jury–keeping them focused is a whole different hurdle. And the lawyers and judge’s staff who now have to start from scratch? That’s the kind of massive frustration that only a good mind numbing game of sudoku could soothe…
Playing in the “right” league can have a big impact on your career satisfaction. Before I elaborate, I wanted to share a quick story about my son, Ari.
Several months ago, I took Ari to his Little League tryout. Secretly, I was hoping for the worst. While I would have been proud if he could have been one of the few fifth graders to make it into the Majors in my town, I knew that he would have much more opportunity to play (and pitch) if he stayed in the Minors for another year.
As fate would have it, he had a good tryout; but several other fifth graders had a better tryout and Ari ended up playing AAA ball once again.
We are now in the post season and this father couldn’t be more thrilled. Ari has been a star on his team and yesterday, he drove in the winning (and only run.) He has also been given many opportunities this season to pitch.
The point of this story is not to brag about my son (though being the kid who was stuck in right field growing up, I must say that I’m very proud.) The point is to know which league suits you best. Do you fit in at a large firm? Does it feel right? Or maybe a smaller firm is a better environment for you. Does government seem like a place where you can shine amongst your peers? Perhaps in-house is where you can make the greatest contribution.
The Little League analogy is not perfect. I’m not trying to say that large law firms are the majors and everything else is minor league. Rather, I think it is important to know which is the best “league” for you and your career. That can change over time. So taking the time to reflect at least once a year is a good exercise.
A few months after I became a legal recruiter in Washington, D.C., in early-2004, I wrote an article based on a tongue-in-cheek phrase some of my former colleagues and I used: “Battered Attorney Syndrome.” The article was published in the Legal Times in November 2004 and has sort of taken on a life of its own over the past few years.
Just yesterday, in fact, I cold called a candidate at a large firm in D.C. and this person said, “I recognize your name – did you write that ‘Battered Attorney Syndrome’ article? Somebody just forwarded it to me.” It was quite surreal, but it really made my day that this this article is still being read several years later.
This article resonated with so many associates (and partners) because almost every one us has at one time or another felt inferior, alone, stupid, incapable of possibly exceeding expectations, unsure of our future direction, and a failure (I’m hoping you’re not nodding your head affirmatively at every single one of these). But if you are … that’s … okay. (Sorry, couldn’t resist the Stuart Smalley reference.)
As a recruiter, it’s amazing how often assocaites and partners–many of whom are high-profile and recognized as leaders in their field in Washington, D.C.–confide, in private, that they can relate to these feelings. In many cases, the most successful attorneys are those who are most petrified of failure, which fuels the desire to be “successful” (however that is defined) at all costs. Fear of failure can be a tremendous motivator, but if not kept in check, it can make you a lunatic. (Think of that partner with the huge book of business that everybody–including other partners–hates working with.) Or, if it does not drive you to lunacy, it can just result in you being very unhappy with your career. As such, when attorneys feel like they are failing in any sense of their career (e.g., a client fires them, a partner does not like their work, etc.), it often hits home like a ton of bricks. Sometimes this stress is self-imposed, but sometimes it is imposed by other attorneys. But in either case, it ain’t fun and is particularly painful for type-A, over-achieving attorneys.
Ok, this is starting to seem like an unnecessarily long introduction to this article and is actually straying in a random direction, so I’ll stop myself here. Here’s a link to the article, and feel free to share any comments you might have. http://www.bcgsearch.com/crc/battered_attorney_syndrome_legal_times.pdf
IP Law 360 examined why we are seeing more layoffs in law firms recently, in an article titled “Lawyers Fear Layoffs” and published on Friday, May 30th (subscription required). When I was interviewed, I suggested that lawyers should be aware of the link between high associate salaries and the probability that more law firms will announce layoffs in the wake of a market compensation increase. I personally feel that the last so-called salary wars in early 2007 were so aggressive that a scaling back in personnel isn’t surprising, although it is certainly unfortunate.
Others in the article said that recent layoffs can be linked only to the lack of demand for legal services in particular practice areas. There is no denying the impact of the credit crisis on the market at large and law firms specifically. Do you think that associates’ increased salaries play any part in the current belt-tightening environment?
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