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I recently read Company Man, the memoir of John Rizzo, who was an attorney for the CIA for more than thirty years. Rizzo’s career spanned the covert war in Afghanistan helping the Mujaheddin fight the Soviets, to post-9/11 scandals about CIA enhanced interrogation techniques. Rizzo shares unique insight into his role giving legal advice when there was very little precedent or guidance to go on.

One particular sentence in the book struck me as being widely applicable in a business context. Rizzo asked the director of the CIA about his relationship with the directorate of operations. He received a response very much like this: They didn’t like me, and I knew they never would, but they were forthright with me. What a great reputation that is for the people he was speaking of! They didn’t like the CIA director. Apparently, they didn’t hide that from him. But they didn’t allow that dysfunction to get in the way of their integrity. They were honest and forthright in spite of an otherwise broken relationship.

Having a Reputation for Integrity in the Face of a Fractured Relationship

Most of us operate in relatively small legal communities. We are going to be working with, against, and alongside the same lawyers for decades. Odds are fairly good you aren’t going to like a good many of those people, possibly the majority of them. Yet you are going to rely on each other to get your work done. Discovery matters, settlement discussions, and even trial preparation are more easily accomplished when their is mutual trust.

Your personal feelings of affection or animosity should have no bearing on whether you comport yourself with integrity. President Eisenhower said of integrity: “The supreme quality for leadership is unquestionably integrity. Without it, no real success is possible.” A reputation for integrity takes the entirety of your practice to build and maintain, but you can lose it with a single indiscretion.

Unfortunately, your reputation for integrity and being forthright is affected not only by your own actions but by the reputations of others in your firm. I have had opposing counsel who doesn’t know me tell me, “I’ve known Partner X a long time. He’s one of my favorite people. If there’s anything you need in this case let me know, and we will sort it out.” I’ve also known of opposing counsel telling an associate at another firm that until proven otherwise, they assume the associate to be a lying, dirty dog because they work for Partner Y. Neither I nor the other associate did anything to warrant either response. But on the one hand, I did my best to maintain that trust, and on the other, the associate did what he could to distinguish herself from the mistrusted partner and endeavored to repair the gaping fissure of distrust.

Regardless of the status of your relationships with co-counsel or opposing counsel, you would be well served if when that walk away from a case you have worked together, they can tell others, “They were forthright with me.”

Photo by William Beem.

In the summer of 2004, two friends and I backpacked Europe for ten weeks on a shoestring budget. Knowing this opportunity wouldn’t come again, I carried my camera with me everywhere. I burned through dozens of rolls of film. In fact, I only remember going out once without a camera, and I remember it well. It haunts me. We were staying at a cottage near Chamonix, France. Late one afternoon, as the light was beginning to falter, I began walking from the cottage to a pay phone a mile or so up the road. As I looked up at the mountains, a rainbow was reaching from one peak to another through the backlit, dusky mountains. It’s the greatest photograph I didn’t take. I was entirely unprepared to take advantage of my unexpected opportunity.

Spotting an Unexpected Opportunity

More recently, I was assigned a case. I discovered the trucking company had excess insurance coverage, so I called the excess carrier to put them on notice of the claim, even though it was a minor claim that I didn’t expect to get anywhere near the liability limits. I left a message for a claims adjuster, and the next day got a call from the VP of Claims. We talked through the facts and potential liability, and at what I expected to be the end of the conversation, he asked, “Do you have time to talk about something else?” “Sure.” He responded, “We just started writing coverage in Alabama, and we are looking for additional panel counsel. Are you interested?” I was driving the back way from Talladega to Birmingham, and nearly drove off the roadway. Once I recovered, I affirmed my interest. We had a long and interesting conversation, not only about the types of businesses they write coverage for, but also (and more importantly) about our case management philosophies, the importance of working efficiently and effectively, and the value of attorney-client collaboration.

I was prepared to meet this unexpected opportunity head-on. I had thought and written about these topics at length. When it came to practical aspects of Alabama law and answering questions he had about coverage and liability questions, I was prepared there too. I had made myself knowledge about recent developments in Alabama tort issues by doing the extra reading, non-billable reading necessary to keeping abreast of my practice areas.

Be Prepared, But Know Your Limitations

A significant part of being prepared for an opportunity is knowing your limitations. Limitations in knowledge, in experience, in authority. It’s easy to deceive yourself into believing those around us have all the answers. But they don’t, and they don’t reasonably expect you too either.

You’re going to get phone calls from clients that go something like this:

Our insured’s son’s girlfriend borrowed the insured vehicle without the insured’s knowledge or permission. She wrapped the car around a tree after being out at a bar all night. She’s dead and her friend, who was a passenger, is hurt pretty badly. Does our insured have any liability? And do we owe any defense or indemnity?

You may or may not know the answer to this right off-hand. If not, don’t just hazard a guess. There’s nothing wrong with responding, “Let me do a little research and get back to you.” What’s important is that you know where and how to find the answers, then get back to your client with the correct answers.

In this business, you never know when an unexpected opportunity might arise to meet someone’s need or form a new relationship. You’ve got to put in the time and effort to be prepared when those chances arrive at your doorstep.

I don’t want anyone to misconstrue this as encouraging you to sit back on your laurels for those things you consider strengths. To the contrary, you need to continue to hone those skills to best employ them to your clients’ advantage. On the flip side, you can’t just resign yourself to being bad at some aspects of practicing and write them off as losses.

Two Components of Civil Litigation

You can break litigation practice down into two components: written and oral. It’s been my experience that most lawyers are good at one or the other. Those who excel at both writing and speaking are unicorns. I only need one hand to count the lawyers I know who are good speaker and writers – and I secretly hate them. The rest of us have to analyze our our strengths and put them to work for us.

If you’re a regular reader of this blog, I hope you’ll assume that I’m a more compelling writer than speaker. For me that means every time I’m putting something in writing to the court, I want it to be completely dialed in (except for that time I failed to proofread). Because whatever I am submitting to the court is going to be more effectively communicated on paper than in oral arguments.

Playing to My Strengths

I recently argued a motion to enforce a settlement agreement. First, I filed a motion, of course, then the court set the matter for hearing. The day of the hearing arrived without the plaintiff having ever filed a written response. So I prepared my arguments and worked through all the counter-arguments I expected the plaintiff to make. At the hearing, I was up first. I concisely made my points and sat down. The plaintiff meandered through his points, read some case law (as in actually read large chunks of text even though he hadn’t provided copies to the court to help it follow along), and verbally recited to the court his case sites, which he had to repeat several times. He made all the arguments I expected of him and had prepared for, but I still didn’t feel good about my rebuttal argument, which I could have boiled down to – “What he’s arguing doesn’t apply. I’m right and he’s wrong. And if you want to be right too, you’ll rule in my favor.” But of course I didn’t say that. Then I fretted over it until the court ruled in my favor the next day.

I have no doubt that I won that motion (not just because the law and facts were on my side, since that doesn’t always ensure victory) because of my written motion. It helped too that the plaintiff, despite being much more at ease and having the potential to be a more effective speaker, fouled up his end of things. That always helps.

Improving my Weaknesses

Knowing that I’m a better writer than speaker doesn’t let me off the hook. I am actively working to improve my speaking. I seek out and have even created opportunities to speak in front of people. And it’s uncomfortable (maybe even for the audience too) but essential. There are times I know when I’ve connected with my audience, and other times when everything just falls flat. In trial a couple of weeks ago, I delivered the opening statement. My little joke during the introduction evoked not even a courtesy chuckle. The jurors may as well all have been wearing Guy Fawkes masks for all the expression they showed throughout the short presentation of the case. It was not reassuring. But then they responded the same way to every other lawyer for the duration of the case. And that was a little more reassuring.

As you’re reading this, you are likely doing some self-analysis and identifying whether you are more naturally a speaker or writer (or a unicorn). For those who don’t feel that you’re not inherently good writers, know this – most everybody writes crappy first drafts. Anyone who doesn’t write regularly isn’t going to be good at it. Improved writing requires intentionality. And reading, lots of reading.

Don’t just allow others to take the lead on components of your practice that make you uncomfortable. There’s no better way to promote growth than to put yourself in the precarious position of possibly failing. Similarly, the component you consider a strength needs continual attention too, or else it will stagnate and begin to lag.

A while back, Keith Lee wrote about lessons he learned from chopping down a tree with an ax. I will not deny that is a very impressive thing to do. But when I had two dogwood trees that needed to be cut down, I didn’t reach for an ax. I called my brother-in-law, who came over with his chainsaw, and we made relatively quick work of it. My reason for using a chainsaw in this situation is efficiency. I have an ax. I could have invoked my inner Paul Bunyan. But that was not the most efficient method of resolving my problem. Here are lessons I learned from a chainsaw that you can apply to your law practice.

Know What You’re Getting Yourself Into

Organization is a key to success, whatever the task. You’ve got to be in the right frame of mind and focused on the task at hand. You have to make sure to have the correct tools and know how to implement them. That said, my experience is that there’s a large percentage of time in litigation in which you can only be moderately prepared for what’s going to happen, and the rest is just thinking on your feet and responding.

One way to organize and prepare for what’s coming down the pike is to have a case management checklist. Most of my cases start off the same way with little variation, and I’d venture to guess that’s true of most civil litigation. So it’s easy to know what needs to happen in any one case, but when there are several dozen such cases in varying stages of litigation, managing all that information can get a little unwieldy. It’s important to be organized. Since I’m nerdy and like spreadsheets, I create them at every opportunity.

My spreadsheets enable me to handle a large volume of cases without getting lost in the quagmire … mostly. The hard part isn’t creating the spreadsheet and doing all the nifty color-coding, it’s keeping the thing updated. But when a partner or client comes calling and wants to know the status of the case, what’s been done, and what needs to be done next, I want to be in a position to provide answers.

But not only that, my case management checklist keeps me oriented and focused on the tasks ahead of me. It helps me to keep from having cases that get lost in the shuffle and sit untouched for months on end. I want to eliminate those poor, little orphaned cases that go forgotten until someone accidentally trips over the shuck and realizes that we exchanged written discovery four months ago, and no one has so much as inquired about dates for party depositions.

Even if spreadsheets aren’t your thing, have a system, be organized, and manage your cases effectively.

Sink Your Teeth into Your Work

[I want you to take a second to enjoy that pun]. This one’s easier than you might initially think. All it requires is mindfulness, attention, and caring. A large percentage of lawyers (like people in any number of other professions) show up to their job every day just to collect a paycheck. They’re not particularly interested or invested in their work, and as a result, they’re not very good lawyers.

Caring about your work has many facets. They include not only being attentive to your caseload but also putting in the extra work to continue your growth and education. Read about your practice area, read about business leaders, listen to podcasts that challenge your beliefs and expand your knowledge base. Refuse to accept contentment and stagnation. Doing these things takes effort and dedication, but it’s not difficult, especially once you get into the practice of it. The more you grow as a person, the more you’ll grow as a lawyer, and further distance yourself from the average lawyer, who really just isn’t that impressive.

Make Efficient and Effective Cuts

If you’ve been a reader of this blog for any length of time, you’ll know that efficiency is a point of emphasis for me. One way to efficiently manage your time is to have forms and templates. For much of civil litigation, the pleadings and discovery are fairly similar from case-to-case. There is no reason to start from scratch in drafting most documents. Once you’ve built up a good repository of templates for motions, pleadings, discovery, and objections to discovery, you’ve put yourself in place to capitalize on your efficiency.

Efficiency isn’t an end unto itself, but it rewards you by enabling you to focus on and spend valuable time developing those parts of the case that aren’t cookie-cutter. Those parts of the case that do require you to be crafty and analytical, that remind you of why you love litigation. Those parts of the case that engage you and bring out the best in your work-product.

But if you’re inefficiently whacking away at the giant discovery tree with your ax that’s dull from overuse, you never have the time to do the rewarding work. Instead, get out your chainsaw so you can get to the heart of the work that’s really important.

Post-Script

Since writing this post, I went ahead and used an ax to cut down a couple of smallish trees on my property. It only affirmed my belief in what I wrote in this post. I was standing awkwardly on a steep incline with the trees above me. Other trees were in close enough proximity that I could not get good swings in and had to strike from odd angles. I wondered if trees are sentient beings and we just haven’t discovered it yet. Then I drank some water because I was concerned that line of thought might be coming from me being dehydrated. Then I dragged the trees down the hill toward the bottom of the ravine where time and fungus could slowly eat away at them.

Here’s my recommendation: If you have trees that need cutting down, just use a chainsaw. Your hands and forearms will owe you a debt of gratitude.

Photo by Intensivtäteraggressor.

About ten minutes from my office, there lies a winding road that leads to an abandoned bridge with rotting wooden planks. The bridge spans a large creek that babbles and gurgles through riffles as it runs toward the Cahaba River. It’s a green and quiet place with only the occasional canoe passing through. Sometimes at lunch, I’ll go there to do some fly fishing. There aren’t many fish there, but being there isn’t really about the fishing anyway.

It’s much more about the being among the trees and boulders and water. And taking a brief reprieve from the day’s work and billable hours. It’s actually been a long time since I’ve been there. I’m writing this in part as an admonishment to myself to remember to occasionally take time away from things for myself, and to encourage you to do the same.

The Florida Bar recently wrote about a study that reflected some really disturbing statistics about lawyers:

Being a lawyer often results in doing important work that directly affects the lives and businesses of clients. Being diligent in our work is important so that we can tend to the needs of our families and our other obligations. That work can be pressure-filled and stressful. But our entire identity shouldn’t be wrapped up in being a lawyer. There are (or should be) more important things than the work we do.

I’ve known of a lawyer who regularly bragged, “When I get up in the morning, I’m a lawyer first.” Those who were supposed to feel indicted by that statement received it in a different vein than it was intended. That’s not a healthy perspective. Now don’t get me wrong, I enjoy what I do and I work plenty of hours, but being an attorney isn’t the largest part of who I am. When I get up in the morning, I’m a husband and dad first. And even if I weren’t those things, I’d be a guy with other obligations and interests than just what work awaited me when I booted up my computer.

Here’s my point: As important as your work is, as are meeting expectations and accomplishing all those things that have to get done, your well-being is more important. Don’t refrain from making time for yourself. All that pressure and stress builds up, and you’ve got to have a constructive way to bleed it off. Or you’ll be more likely to turn to one of those destructive vices that have become so prevalent among lawyers.

Go for a run. Go to the range and drive some golf balls. Or go fly fishing at a nearby peaceful river. Whatever it is that recharges your batteries, take the time to do it. A refreshed you is a more effective you.

After my 1L year at Cumberland, I clerked for six weeks with the St. Clair County District Attorney. St. Clair County lies east of Birmingham and is home to the Coosa River. I expected my time there to be fairly quiet, because what could really be going on in a quaint, rural county? Answer: All the things!

Aside from the story I’m going to share today, here are some other cases I worked on while I was there: a guy who sexually tortured then murdered a girl he met at a bar, then dumped her body in the woods; another guy who murdered an old woman, partially undressed her and dumped her body in the woods; and an interview with a man in his fifties who was suspected of having a hand in more than a dozen gang-related murders over his lifetime (and he was a surprisingly nice guy). My quiet summer in St. Clair County was anything but. And true to form, the county saved the best for last.

“You’re going to want to come with me on this one.”

In the final week of my clerkship, I showed up to the office right as the courthouse opened at 8:00am. A call came in, and one of the Assistant DAs half-shouted, “You’re going to want to come with me on this one,” as she rushed past me. As we drove out to the river, she told me what had happened, and we followed the plume of smoke rising through the treetops.

About 6:30 that morning, a man called his buddy who was a State Trooper, saying only, “I can’t take her any more. I’ve had enough.” The line went dead. The Trooper’s callbacks went unanswered, so he immediately called 9-1-1. Shortly after that, a volunteer fireman happened to be driving past a residence when he saw smoke rising from the home. He too called 9-1-1, but the fireman quickly discovered there was no one that needed saving.

Between the phone call and the appearance of the fireman, Mr. Doe had gone into the bedroom and shot his wife, who was still in bed. He doused the place in fuel then set it ablaze. Mr. Doe next walked over to the horse barn and penned a note with instructions about what should be done with his dog, her puppies, and the horses. After completing this task, he took his office chair into the stall where he bathed the horses, and positioned the chair over the drain. Taking the same .38 that he’d shot his wife with minutes earlier, Mr. Doe sat down and shot himself in the chest. Realizing either that his intended death was taking too long or that he had missed any vital organs, Mr. Doe shot himself in the head.

By the time we arrived on the scene, the fireman had put out the house fire. The place was a ruin. We looked through the opening that was once a window to see the charred, still smoking body of Mrs. Doe. Afterward, we proceeded over to the barn. Mr. Doe still lay where he had fallen out of his office chair. Flies had already begun to congregate.

The whole sordid affair was a surreal experience. But it wasn’t the cruel displays of human frailty and fallibility that convinced me I didn’t want to do criminal work. It was the petty, unending stupidity of people spending a lifetime in the system, doing the same things at age sixty that they’d been doing the past four decades. That and the weight of taking years of people’s lives away from them, even if deserved. Now I just peddle in other people’s money and sleep much more easily at night.

Other stories I’ve told on the blog:

Losing Control of a Client During a Deposition

A Heavy Dose of Irony: Nearly Clobbered by a Tanker Truck

When There’s Nothing to Learn from Failure

An Unannounced Visit to a Client’s (Trailer) Home Is a Bad Idea

Recalculating Your Course: Opportunity or Imposition

When a Potential Juror Says, “Judge, I Have to Pee.”

Photo by Ada Be.

I’ve always had goals for my life. I’d venture to guess that most of us have. But until last year, my goals were always amorphous, non-specific, undeveloped creatures that had little bearing on my daily activities. That has changed, thanks in large part to reading and listening to Michael Hyatt and others like him. In 2016, I sat down and started setting goals for 2017. Specific, well-stated goals. Some of them were intimidating. But I wrote them in such a way that I knew what steps I would need to take in order to achieve them. And now I’m a believer in setting goals.

How to Write Effective Goals

In Michael Hyatt’s “Beginner’s Guide to Goal Setting,” he sets out five steps that enable you to write effective goals. I’m going to outline them here, but I encourage you to go read the guide, because he fleshes everything out very well.

1. Keep your goals few in number
2. Set “smart” goals: specific, measurable, actionable, realistic, and time-bound
3. Write your goals down
4. Review your goals frequently
5. Share your goals selectively

My Goals for 2017

I’m going to break that last guideline by sharing with you some of the goals I set for 2017. I don’t do this to brag or boast (and certainly most of them are not worthy of that, regardless), but rather to show you that applying the principles outlined above will encourage you to take actions to enable you to achieve the goals you set.

• Establish relationships with 2 new insurance clients
  • It is not coincidence this is at the top of my list. I have long heard in this business, if you don’t have your own book of business, you are completely dispensable. So on average, I spend about 2 hours per week with marketing related activities. Here’s another thing I’ve heard: Good luck can often be chalked up to putting yourself in a place to be successful or take advantage of an opportunity when it arises. With that in mind, I have put in the work and had the good fortune to add two insurance companies as clients with my firm.

• Active participation in 2 trials
  • I have not yet achieved this goal, but we have about a dozen cases set for trial between now and the end of the year. So this is still in the probable success category. I have tried one case, so all I need is one more to fall the right way. Next year I will likely differentiate between jury and bench trials. But at the rate these things settle or get continued, it’s largely out of my control.

• Publish at least 1 article
  • In retrospect, I should have set this number higher. I have been averaging 2-3 per year. So only counting articles in trade publications, like the ADLA Journal or CLM Magazine, I will have had three articles published when the fall edition of the ADLA Journal comes out. If I’m counting guest-post articles on other websites, that will bring my yearly total to 6.

• Launch 2 e-books
  • This one was going to rest squarely on my shoulders. Unlike speaking at an event or publishing an article, there was no one who had to invite me or accept my submission. In January, I released my first e-book, From Wreck to Check: Alabama Personal & Commercial Auto Defense in a Nutshell. I released my second one in June: Your Non-Compliance Can Cost More Than You Think: Legal Consequences of Federal Motor Carrier Safety Violations. (You can receive both of these by subscribing to this blog at the bottom of this post.)

• Speak at 1 conference/event
  • For the last two years, I have spoken at one CLE seminar each year. This year, despite my goal of only one, I wanted to increase that number. In order to do that, I created a couple of opportunities. I reached out to a couple of local law schools to see if I could present to their students – they accepted. In another instance, I was invited to speak at a trucking litigation seminar at the end of the year. And I’ve received an invitation of a webinar early next year. So I’ll likely increase this goal for 2018 as well.

It’s Time to Start Setting Goals for 2018

Since it’s important for goals to be specific and ambitious, it’s important to start thinking early on about setting goals for upcoming year. Setting goals can be a powerful method of propelling yourself toward future success and is the best way to know how you are defining that success. I encourage you to do as I will and over the next three months put pen to paper and set goals for what you would like to accomplish in 2018.

Photo by humbletree.

We have this purple plant sitting beside a west-facing window in our house. It only gets a couple hours of late-afternoon sunlight per day, and otherwise it just receives the ambient lighting available in the room. I gave it to my wife for Mother’s Day, so it’s been with us for a few months now. The plant is doing okay. We mostly remember to water it about once weekly. And it’s surviving. That’s about it. Surviving. There aren’t any new blooms. It isn’t growing significantly. The plant is just subsisting. We haven’t put it in an environment where we can expect it to do more than that. We haven’t put it in a place where it can thrive. Where it can reach its full potential.

People Aren’t So Different

Like the purple plant in my house, people have needs that must be met in order for us to thrive, rather than just survive. A. H. Maslow set forth his theory in 1943 of people’s “hierarchy of needs,” and others have since put it into a business context. Here, I want to discuss it in the context of putting the lawyers in your firm in the best environment to succeed.

Physiological Needs

Physiological needs are our most basic, instinctive needs because all our other needs become secondary until these are met. Maslow described the four bottom lawyers of the pyramid as deficiency needs – we feel nothing if the need is being met, but become anxious if it is not. In a business context, these needs largely relate to our financial well-being.

The financial stress on new lawyers coming out of law school is tremendous. According to a 2015 article on Above the Law, the average law school graduate in 2012 had student loan debt of $140,616. While the job market has recovered somewhat from the lowest ebb earlier this decade, it is still a grim place for new graduates. According to American Bar Association data, as of April 2016, only 59.2% of 2015 law school graduates had obtained a full-time job as a lawyer within 10 months after graduation.

For many of those fortunate enough to have obtained a job, the majority were likely disappointed upon hearing the salary offer. They knew the stat that the median starting salary for new associates was $115,000 annually, but no one had bothered to explain the bimodal salary distribution curve. Most new graduates have no idea they’re far more likely to start near $50,000 per year, than $125,000.

And with that, you can see how that base layer, the foundation of our well-being, is already disrupted. But for those of us who have obtained jobs as lawyers, we figure out the right student loan plan. We adjust our expectations. And we begin to build toward our future.

Safety Needs

Safety needs can be ascribed to things like a safe job environment, available benefits, and job security.

What is the work environment like at your firm? Are staff and associates on edge, thinking they might be fired at any moment? This is not a recipe for thriving or for producing good work-product. There are employers who think that keeping everyone uncomfortable is the most effective means of getting the best out of everyone. They couldn’t be more wrong. This kind of environment paralyzes people. It inhibits risk-taking and growth. Rather than prodding people toward their best, an insecure environment cripples motivation and stifles innovation.

On the contrary, when lawyers feel secure in their jobs, they are more inclined to be emotionally invested in their work and loyal toward their employers. A secure lawyer will be comfortable shouldering more responsibility and taking measured risks. She will know that a mistake won’t necessarily result in a job loss, but instead an opportunity to grow. She will be in an environment where she can grow intellectually and professionally. By fulfilling her safety and security needs, this lawyer will continue her journey toward thriving, and what Maslow called self-actualization.

Social Needs

As a born introvert, I feel a bit out of my depth writing about social needs, because mine differ from the majority in a profession that is teeming with boisterous extroverts. But here are some things I do know. In order to meet people’s social needs, an office doesn’t have to be a place where everyone gets to work with their best friends. But it does need to be a place where there are people with amicable and supportive relationships.

You should be actively cultivating an collection of people who are willing to go out of their way to help one another out. This is done in part by hiring people for qualities over skills. And more importantly by those in leadership positions exhibiting a spirit of cooperation and collaboration, not only to those who are on a lateral plane but also to their subordinates.

A hostile work atmosphere in which everyone is only seeking his own best interests can quickly become toxic. Certainly, there’s a middle ground between hostility and friendship, but being ambivalent toward those with whom you spend half your waking hours does not breed the sort of environment that enables a firm or its lawyers to thrive. So the next time you run the coffee maker and leave the reservoir empty – fill it up! If there’s a fax on the machine (yep, people inexplicably still use these), take a few extra steps to drop it by the intended recipient’s office. If someone needs a couple of minutes to bounce around an idea or work out a problem, give them your time. Small gestures are the stepping stones that can put you on the path to a culture of amicable collaboration.

Esteem Needs

You’re likely thinking that based solely on the bravado and entitlement you’ve seen other lawyers display – whatever their station – there’s no way the “esteem” need (which envelops job title, prestige, and status) requires much curation. But you’d be wrong.

When new associates enter a firm, they often hear, “Fake it ’til you make it.” Unwittingly, they have entered a world for which law school has only minimally prepared them. Some will land at supportive firms, where a partner another associate is able and willing to guide them. Others will be left to flounder.

In order to thrive, young lawyers need structure and support. A mentor who has a vested interest in their development and success. They need feedback on the work they’re performing – instruction, reinforcement, and criticism. This level of development aids in laying the foundation for a successful professional career. The early years of practice will effectively mold the lawyer into the practitioner she will be for the next forty years. A proper support structure will enable the lawyer to launch into self-actualization.

Self-Actualization

Psychology Today describes self-actualization as “a state in which people are at their very best.” Maslow believed the self-actualized person is one who is fully realized: “I think of the self-actualizing man not as an ordinary man with something added, but rather as the ordinary man with nothing taken away. The average man is a full human being with dampened and inhibited powers and capacities.”

What our profession doesn’t need is more “average” lawyers, who have diminished abilities. To quote Keith Lee of Associate’s Mind (and I bet I’ve read or heard him say it a dozen times), “The average lawyer isn’t very good … and fifty percent are worse than that.” Rather we need lawyers who have been put in positions to thrive. Others have put in the time, energy, and devotion to stretch their intellectual limits, critique them to higher performance levels, and generally prod them to caring and achieving more than the “average” lawyer. We need lawyers who are “at their very best.”

But in order for a lawyer to be more likely to advance and achieve, she needs her baser needs fulfilled. That takes consistency and intentionality. She requires those around her to commit to creating an environment in which she can not merely survive, but thrive.

In many law firms, there is a sharp line drawn between lawyers and staff (i.e., everyone else). There are rules about co-mingling. Significant differences in pay structures. Disparate expectations for hours worked. And there are often good reasons for some of these distinctions. But not uncommonly, there is also an unacceptable distinction between the way lawyers communicate with each other as compared to how they treat their staff.

Too many young lawyers begin practicing without ever before having held a real job. Their visions of importance and self-aggrandizement have been allowed to percolate unfettered for seven years of undergrad and law school. They place themselves and those of their ilk on a pedestal, and anyone who is not similarly situated is subservient. They do not act respectfully or mindfully toward those who work for them. And these young lawyers grow up to be the same intolerable, ill-mannered older lawyers.

Here’s an illustration I’ve seen numerous times: A client comes into the office. The lawyer wants to impress the client, so he steers him around to the offices of all the other nearby lawyers. Everyone puts his best foot forward, greets the client cheerfully, and has wonderful things to say about the host lawyer. Each time the host lawyer walks into and out of a lawyer’s office, he walks past an assistant without introducing her or even recognizing her existence. This is terribly uncomfortable for the client who recognizes the rudeness but isn’t really in a position to remedy it. The client then gives the assistant an apologetic looks and is swept off to meet the next attorney.

Lawyers who behave in this way are not ingratiating themselves to their staff and are failing to set themselves up for the best possible success. A loyal, supportive, and proactive staff is the difference between an optimal and dysfunctional practice.

But rather than me continuing to discuss the subject, here are some Twitter responses from when I sent up a flare to #paralegaltwitter recently, with this query: “I’m writing a blog post about how lawyers do themselves a disservice by treating staff poorly. Penny for your thoughts?” Every lawyer should heed these responses and experiences, and proceed accordingly.

From @ParalegalRant

“Okay so I’m actually gonna answer this in a thread because it’s a challenging one on many levels not the least of which being that I don’t presume to speak on behalf of legal staff everywhere. Also, I don’t want to pigeonhole lawyers[.] So here’s my disclaimer: these comments are based on my broad observations. Further, 98% of the lawyers I’ve met treat their staff well.

“Your staff can make or break your practice, whether you like to admit it or not. First person a potential client talks to. 1st person on the phone with the bar when membership dues get lost in the mail. 1st person calling the clerk after the botched filing.

“Staff who feel respected and valued will go to hell and back for you. Legal staff are helpers, office moms, protectors [generalization]. That’s simply the type of person attracted to this kind of work. It’s a servient position. And we are loyal as fuck.

“I cannot tell you how many times I’ve heard “I hate this firm and my salary but I just can’t leave my lawyer”. Hell, I’ve said it. But this puts us in a precarious position – it really opens us up to hurt and betrayal if you mistreat us. And those breed bitterness. Please don’t throw us under the bus to a client if things go south. We’re already berating ourselves even if it wasn’t our fault.

“Please don’t yell. We work WITH you. Talk WITH us, don’t yell AT us. It’s a surprisingly important distinction. If you have an issue, bring it to our attention. We can’t fix it if we don’t know about it. If you go straight to HR, it can affect our raises, future opportunities, even employment status. It kills confidence and morale, and our trust in our relationship.

“It 100% comes to respect. If you treat staff with disrespect, you’ll get disrespect back. Which finally gets me back to the question. Unhappy staff stop caring. They don’t do extra research. They don’t stay late. They don’t placate clients. They don’t cover your ass. They get bitter. “Not my job”. Start arguing with each other. And then your office becomes dysfunctional, and you may not even notice until it’s too damned late and you’re having a “staff cycle” and 1/3 of your staff are out interviewing because they’re miserable.

“Insert conclusion here? Respect is key.”

From @RogueParalegal

“How support staff are treated is part of what creates the culture of an office or organization. It takes a long time to build up a culture of mutual trust & respect. On the flip side, a positive culture will VERY quickly deteriorate . A poisonous work environment takes an immediate toll, but also has long-term psychological effects (I can’t overstate this).

“My confidence & self-esteem were decimated working for an abusive boss. I left that industry because I was so demoralized. Staff who are respected and well-treated will go the extra mile, happily work extra hours. And they have your back. In my experience, a great boss is one who encourages me to expand my capacities and to grow.

“Specific to paralegaling, my lawyer gave me free rein to work in areas I was unfamiliar with, gave me feedback, helped me succeed. He’s THE reason I’m in school now & working toward getting licensed. He cultivated my confidence and passion to work in law.

“Never underestimate the impact your actions and attitude can have. You’ll always make a difference for someone. Will it be good or bad? How we treat others MATTERS. Being kind to one another is a powerful kind of karma, maybe the only kind that truly counts.”

From @AspieGrrrl

“When it comes to staff, you get what you pay for. We are adult humans with lives outside the office and we are not expendable.

“Also, please take some management courses. I’ve known so many great attorneys who were completely incompetent managers.

“NEVER say [‘So hard to find good help these days.’] to potential employees (especially during interviews.) It’s insulting and doesn’t look good on you.”

From Martha Orlowicz (@mreno79)

“Late nights happen. Do not expect every night to be a late night for them just because it is for you.

“Repeated rush projects and miracle completions stress the staff. They should be rare occurrences and not the normal course of business.

“Value & respect the experience your staff has. Combined they probably have more than you. Listen to them, they may be trying to save you.

“If your court runner tells you 4:10 is latest to get to court to file, do not come in at 4:20 And ask if she can make it. She does not fly.”

As with most relationships, respect goes a long way toward keeping everyone happy. Often the simple rules we learn as children, like “Treat others as you would like to be treated,” should continue to guide us throughout adulthood. But apparently, we attorneys don’t always set a very high bar for how to treat folks, as told by one of the attorneys who responded to my Twitter question (below).

Treating your staff badly can have disastrous results both for your practice and in the office environment generally. Some of the responses to my query have highlighted exactly what form that can take. The above response from another attorney further emphasizes the point. So to quote @ParalegalRant: “Insert conclusion here? Respect is key.”

Photo via Metro Library and Archive.