I'm sure many blawggers start the way I do, seeing if they enjoy non-legal writing enough to become the next Scott Turow or Greg Iles (if you haven't read him, you don't know what you are missing!). I'm new enough not to have developed any specialties apart from "general litigation" the death knell of any attorney looking to change firms. I know that skills at this level are largely transferable and I'm learning at a highly regarded firm so taking next steps in my legal career, whether within the firm or with another firm or governmental agency should be fairly easy, what with the constant headhunter calls etc. I'm just not sure about practicing law with people who, when they make mistakes, use that as an excuse to monopolize other attorney's time trying to fix those mistakes. And unfortunately, when the laws change (which is often) unless one is keeping current, those mistakes are bound to happen. The hope of course is that they are minor and don't hurt our clients - it's our job, after all, to provide the best service we can to those clients. Resting on one's laurels, as some senior attorneys seem to do, just isn't good enough.
I would encourage attorneys, now that they are out of law school or "Training for Hierarchy" to really consider what they want out of their career. If you aren't doing something that you love (and no junior associates really are) then it's time to reassess and see what you can do with your degree that dovetails with something you love. I'm just not sure how the law dovetails with that, for me, right now, although in time perhaps something will be revealed. The city's legal community is small but growing and the half-ass measures of the past just aren't cutting it these days now that the "big boys" have shown up in town to try and do business. If I were a business, apart from lower rates, why wouldn't I want a firm with the power and expertise of 1,000+ lawyers behind me? The flipside of course is that a local firm is likely to know more about local economic conditions, power players, and which levers to push. And of course, more likely to return your calls, charge you less money, and actually have your best interests in mind...
I'm still in that early 3 year or so stage where life consists of a lot of legal research and writing coupled with the occasional hand-off from a partner that leaves you scratching your head and thinking, I'm qualified to do this? I don't know.
Then there is the whole balance issue - technology can be a friend or foe depending on whether you control it or it controls you. I vote (and practice) the former. There is no reason (unless I'm expecting a client call) to have my pda on during the weekend or after 7 pm at night. That's why phones have answering machines as part of the package!
All right, enough of the rant for a Sunday. I'll just keep doing the best I can for my clients and doing the best I can to hold off the senior attorney who made a mistake and whose work thus seems like an emergency to her but really isn't and get to the other projects with actual deadlines. It's all about balance. But, how does an attorney really maintain such a thing? Is there a way to obtain such a thing? I don't know. Family and health comes first. Then clients. Then firm politics.
The "old guard" doesn't get that. For them it was "Firm first," with everything else a distant second. They may say otherwise but their behavior doesn't point to that dynamic. They are just going to have to figure out how to deal with Gen X'ers and Gen Y'ers and those generations realization that they don't want to repeat the mistakes of the past and sacrifice family for a career. They realize that they can have their cake and eat it too.
What that means is that law firms will have to sacrifice some of the "profits per partner" but I'm sorry, if you can't live on an income of 200K+ per year then somewhere, somehow your values are out of whack - sorry boomers. But it's true. A reasonable salary for an attorney is $150K, that should really be sufficient (unless you live in LA, SF, or NYC) to pay the bills, take vacations, save for retirement, and put the kids through college while living in a nice house. I think that's where the gap lies - the younger generation doesn't care about "making partner" or making "a lot of money." They are interested in mental well-being and in being there for their loved ones.
Some good starts would be actually giving attorneys vacations - i.e. say that you have to bill 50 hours a week to make your minimum but take a week of vacation. A real vacation would mean that you get 50 hours of billable credit for that week. In reality, no law firm would buy that (currently anyway) but perhaps a credit of 25 hours for each vacation week would be a reasonable substitute and reduce the anxiety about taking vacations, medical leaves, and other time off for family or personal reasons. It isn't really a vacation if you have to make the time up later!
A wide ranging bit of topics in there - we'll see if anything strikes a nerve, among either the young or old!
Best,
An Anonymous Attorney
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2 comments:
I have heard a lot about the conflict between older attorneys with "firm first" attitudes and younger ones with "family first" attitudes. It's interesting for an outsider (who hopes eventually to get in) to look at the legal world and its various machinations.
One thought for you on going to law school and then a career. Do your due diligence for both. Know what to expect going in. Just doing that will put you 80% ahead of the game. Also, do what is suggested, keep up on the reading and seek out your professors. They are the ones with contacts and who will recommend you when you do good work. And, if you succeed wildly in law school the career office will push you hard toward a big firm career, which, depending on how much debt you have you may or may not want to do. Someone the other day, when they found out where I work said, "Oh, you got the golden ticket." Despite not having liked the most recent Wonka movie, I got the reference and indeed I did. In all the ways that implies. If you are able to follow YOUR dreams rather than become forced into another hierarchical system replicating law school, I'd highly recommend it. There is an area or space out there in the legal world where I'll love my job and want to go to work. I just don't know where that is yet. I have some suspicions but you never know until you've experienced it.
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