follow up

Thank you (well mostly thank you) for the comments.  Aside from useless personal attacks, I do welcome comments.  I did want to set a couple of things straight.  I do not condone cursing or insulting associates.  I would never treat someone that way.  You've heard from some people who do know me and they can attest that while I may have had some hard bosses, I chose not to model my behavior after them. I believe people work best if they feel that they are appreciated, and like who they are working with, and I try to motivate through positive reinforcement. Always have.  That is my management style.

That said, I am telling you what I see and what I hear from many of my peers.  And that is that many in the more junior classes do complain too much and don't want to work hard, but want to make a lot of money. They dump projects back on the other attorneys because they have some other thing to do (social, etc), and they do not take ownership.  In whatever workplace you work, and more so in the demanding Big Law world, you need to put in the time and make yourself present, to get the job done. Deadlines suddenly appear when you otherwise had plans. It sucks, but it happens.  No one likes it.  But you need to deal with it.

Do I give associates assignments on a Friday night because I want to see them suffer ?  Of course not, and I would try to avoid doing that.  But if a client crisis comes up and the most appropriate person for a particular task is the junior person, am I going to call you?  Yes, I will call you on Friday night, I may email or call you on Saturday too.  And you need to get it done.  I will be doing my part as well.  This is the world in which we work.  If you don't like it, then you can go elsewhere - oh, you say, there's no jobs out there now.  Well that's why you should take the assignment, do a great job, meet the deadline, ask if there's anything else you can do, and keep your head down.  When the market picks up, maybe you can find something more to your liking. But, as I have said before, would you rather work hard or be on the street?  I think most would rather work.  

I'm hoping to start posting about getting ready for the summer in the next upcoming posts.