Learning to Wait With Grace: The Art of Patience

I hate to wait. Really, really hate it. It depresses me, puts me in a funk, and sometimes makes me act irrationally. But, as a legal recruiter, I’ve started to accept the fact that waiting is a critical part of the process for myself as well as my candidates.

Hence, I learned that even the most fabulous candidates will take time to place and this is becoming especially true in our current market. To that end, I’ve provided a list of quotations below regarding patience. Give them a read, take a deep breath, and remember that good things come to those who wait!

“Patience is passion tamed.”
–Lyman Abbott

“Patience is the companion of wisdom.”
–St. Augustine

“Endurance is patience concentrated.”
–Thomas Carlyle

“The key to everything is patience. You get the chicken by hatching the egg, not smashing it.”
–Arnold H. Glasgow

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Goodbye Thelen

There is something rather sad about the dissolution of Thelen Reid Brown Raysman this week. It’s not so much the demise of a good firm as it is the evaporation of part of my past. Graduating from law school in the late 90s (and focusing on IP law), Brown Raysman was one of the hot shot, new media practices in NYC. Dynamic, entrepreneurial, and at the cusp of evolving Internet law, the firm offered something really different to Manhattan legal practice — in addition to its decidedly West Coast feel. While I never practiced law there, I always enjoyed seeing it from afar (the firm operated out of the building behind my firm). It was almost like something “magical” to wish for later on in life (whether real or not). Moreover, when other IT/IP firms like Brobeck Phleger tanked, Brown Raysman held on in NYC, and I kept hoping it would keep holding on.

Today’s announcement of Thelen’s dissolution reinforces, however, the idea that nothing is forever in today’s market. It also forces me remember that a “firm” doesn’t make the magic. It’s people do. Brown Raysman’s folks will move on from Thelen’s walls, join other firms, and take their brand of practice somewhere else. I suppose little bits of the new media magic will be scattered around New York, at other firms, and to other cities. Maybe this isn’t so bad. As a practitioner of IP law, maybe this is a good thing. So, while I’m feeling sad that something important from my early days of practice is gone, I suppose there is an upside to all of this. Maybe it is time to move on — for all of us.

I told this to a friend of mine who was laid off today from another firm. She was talking about how good things were — what a good group it was — and how nothing can compare. Maybe that’s true, but maybe for some of those who are getting laid off, it might be time to move on. Take your magic elsewhere. I do believe that something good will come from all of this reshaping of national law firms. We just have to look for it and realize that we are part of it.

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Stay the Course

I received one piece of useful advice last week which is applicable (and appropriate) not only to the financial markets but also to your job: “Stay the course.” Sitting across the desk from my financial consultant last Thursday, I was reminded again and again to “stay the course,” not dump my stocks, and trust that my 2006/2007 planning would pay off and be able to ride out 2008 without too much damage. It is hard to be patient when your 401K is tanking, but it is worse to panic and make hasty changes in order to satisfy your need to “do something.”

The same can be said about your job. Many associates, partners and counsel are facing layoffs or fear of layoffs as the year comes to a close, and there is a natural need (especially amongst lawyers) to “do something.” Don’t. If you have spent the past few years working hard, networking, pitching in, taking on new work, and operating at a high level of performance, stay the course. Continue to do the same. Trust that your reputation, which you have spent the last few years building, will protect you through the rough times at your firm. When rumors of layoffs are around, people sometimes panic and otherwise high performers can freeze in fear. Some will stop attending networking dinners; others will generally stop performing at their best because they become distracted by the market. It’s very much a deer in the headlights reaction. Don’t pick this approach. Likewise, be careful not to pick an approach which makes you appear panicked Instead, do your best to take note of what is going on in the marketplace, and then continue forward with confidence. Not only will this propel you through the bad times, it will likely propel others who interact with you — peers and clients.

A large part of what is going on in the marketplace is out of your control. Thus, if you have structured your career over the years in such a way that you currently maintain a strong reputation in your group, stay the course. There is some value in continuity. Keep moving forward with the faith that your “life plan” (like your financial plan) — if well structured over the last few years — will carry you through this rough patch.

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Sudoku is a japanese puzzle…

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…

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