Medical Malpractice Attorney Representing Plaintiffs in Virginia and in Federal Tort Claims Act Cases Nationwide
Two case studies of lawyer/office ridiculousness: WING CHAIR PRIVILEGE. When I was a young associate, a big group of attorneys left our firm. There was a surplus of offices, including big partner offices with great river views. Lucky me, I got one. Moving from a smaller office, I didn't have much office furniture - certainly not enough to do justice to the nice space. There was a lot of surplus stuff floating around so I just appropriated some, including an upholstered wing chair. Still being fairly new, I was ignorant of an understanding/rule that associates were only supposed to have "captain's chairs.” Wing chairs and couches were exclusively for partners. Of course, one of my peers became enraged by my temerity. At the time, I was unaware, but I later found out meetings were held and memos exchanged. It was a scandal - and one that went on for some time. Apparently, my colleague wouldn't let go and kept demanding that this injustice be remedied - and kept getting an audience. Of course, no one had the backbone (or other applicable anatomy) to speak to me about it. The firm went out of business six months later. No surprise. And, by the way, that wing chair remained in the office until the end OFFICE EQUITY. When I was a young partner, my firm needed to move. There were five partners. Our new space had a corner office - and everyone agreed who should have it. There were four other partner sized offices, all with nice river views. Three were identical. The fourth was about a foot narrower. The "smaller" office became an issue. I suggested that we just draw straws. To move the wall would end up costing at least a couple of thousand dollars, especially considering the painting and new carpeting involved. That seemed silly to me - and I suppose I wasn't subtle expressing my opinion. Notwithstanding the fact that my colleagues often got bent out of shape about $25 expense reimbursements, their view was that whoever got the lesser space would be resentful. All offices must be the same. I offered to take the outlier office. Oh no, that would not do. (That one still makes me scratch my head.) The wall had to be moved. It was, and it was expensive, and I was gone a year or so later - albeit not exactly by choice. So, what’s my message this Saturday morning? Both tales of mine are ancient history, but I am confident such silliness is not hard to find these days. I still hear stories of this sort from younger lawyers. Talk about making work unnecessarily miserable. Be happy to move on from places where pettiness and small thinking are the institutionalized culture. Good riddance. If you're in leadership, don't tolerate such nonsense. Smack it down; don't let it grow. It’s a cliche, but declaring that life is just too short is a very true assessment. There is a reason I like being the captain of my own ship - and, incidentally, there are no "captain's chairs” at Rawls Law Group. #lawpractice #lawyerlife #lawfirms
Deb S.
4mo
Oh the silliness!!! And the silliness that rolls down hill to me!! One attorney telling me that if jury selection went more than 1 day, as I had estimated for, that he would not pay me for anything more than one day since my bill was already substantial (in his opinion) and he needed to make sure I was ok with that before he engaged. Now mind you, he was not paying my bill. The State was paying as it was a court-appointed case. I asked him if the other trial team members would get paid. And told him no, I was not ok with working for free. He fired me immediately via email on a Friday night at 9pm when he was probably drinking and headed to Italy the next morning. This was an attorney that I had assisted in getting a full acquittal on a murder charge 2 yrs prior and as a result his business has blown up. Then told me not to tell the court clerk or the State he had fired me. Then came back Saturday morning and said he was sorry we wouldn’t be working on this one together but maybe the next one. Hahaha. I will never work with the narcissistic, misogynist, bully again. And I did let the State and the Court Clerk know I wouldn’t be working on the case and why. He just wanted to control the narrative and leave the door open?
There is no remedy for the two examples of pettiness you describe. To avoid the second issue, some firms in building out their new spaces in the last decade have offices the same size for all attorneys, partners and associates.
Bob Grinsell
4mo
Glad to say it was many years ago, but a previous company (that no longer exists) had a policy that your desk chair couldn't have arms unless you were a manager or above. Guess they didn't want the drones taking time off to rest their arms for a minute.
Stephen D.
4mo
I managed the tenant improvements for a law firm occupying three high-rise floors in Los Angeles. Doing an end of move-in day job walk, I found one of the lawyers measuring his office with a desk ruler. I guess he forgot his measuring tape. 😂
Joe Pickard
4mo
Thank you for making me feel better about none of that ever happening to me!
Graeme J.
4mo
The extent of status anxiety and sensitivity-to-status-signals among lawyers is such an interesting phenomenon. I became fed up with it all as well.
Shelley-Rose M.
4mo
Thank you for sharing this message, Brewster. I've encountered petty behavior on a number of occasions, and it always baffles me, especially when it has no impact on actual results or outcomes. Oftentimes, the petty culture only drives a rift between people, and can actually negatively impact teamwork and productivity, as well as client or stakeholder relationships.
Andrew Downs
4mo
These things can become a great source of parody. When I was an associate the building had to remodel the restrooms to make them disability compliant (this was pre-ADA), the result of which was three stalls became two. When we first "toured" after completion of the job one of my colleagues looked at the new set up and said "A partner sized stall!"
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4moYou made me laugh today, thank you! I have always worked directly under senior and managing Partners. It's how I learned, expanded, and grew as a legal assistant. And I was lucky to have the good ones who were also mentors. Titles i.e. receptionist, legal secretary, legal assistant, paralegal (I've worked as each of those) never mattered to me as long as I was happy with what I was doing. When I was that "legal assistant", and we ALL worked mandatory overtime, I will never forget the night an Associate working with us complained and demanded rules be changed because we received OT pay and he did not. "It wasn't fair to him as an attorney" that we would be paid more. But were we really? I reminded him of the tiers and how we legal assistants were beneath the attorneys and unless he wanted to switch ranks and demote, be happy with his salary and bonuses. It's funny how words like "rank" and "demote" will quiet the many. He never spoke of it again and I eventually left the firm.