I remember my first failure at a big firm very clearly.
Let me set the stage: I was new to Big Firm, eager to prove that I was a smart hire. Before Big Firm, I had been at a really small firm (think: I was the only associate for 2 partners). I was especially eager to prove my worth because they started me as a first year, when I was in my fifth year of practice. Yes, you read that correctly.
During my first week, a shareholder in another office had a project for me to do. She asked that I create case binders for her from various resources from the firm intranet and hard copies in the office. When I asked her when she needed it by, her response, “Oh, no hard deadline. I’ve been putting it off for months. Just whenever you can get it to me.” I dutifully put it on my to-do list and started working on it immediately.
While I worked on her project, I began receiving other assignments with strict deadlines from other shareholders. I completed my project for her in about 4 weeks, and it resulted in 6 huge, color-coded and indexed binders that had to be shipped to her in 3 boxes. I asked her for her feedback, and she thanked me profusely, adding that I did a great job.
Fast forward to review time, almost a year later – when I found out how she really felt. She shared her extreme disappointment that I didn’t solicit her for a review (the firm system allows you to choose who reviews you based on the amount of work you do for a shareholder). She gave me a scathing review anyway – about how long I took in completing her project.
My associate-self was 100% dumb-founded.
- I asked her for a deadline, and she said there wasn’t one. If she had something in mind, why didn’t she just tell me?
- When I gave her the finished product, she only said nice things. Why wait a year to give me feedback, when I can’t fix it?
- Why insinuate that I purposefully didn’t solicit her for my review when she only gave me a single administrative assignment?
Looking back, I was so naive. The fact that she didn’t give me additional work was telling, in and of itself.
Here are some “Do as I Say Now” and “Don’t Do as I Did” tips for handling assignments as a young lawyer:
Clarify the Scope of the Project
While the Associate-Me was frustrated for getting dinged for not meeting an unclear deadline, especially when I asked for one, the onus was still on me. There are lots of reasons why she probably didn’t want to give me a deadline. The first was probably because there really wasn’t one, and she didn’t want to give me a fake one. Another reason may be that she didn’t want to be unreasonable, she had no real idea how long it would take me, and she didn’t think that it was in the realm of possibility that it would take me that long. Or she was just too busy.
What I should have done instead was to say something like this, “Thank you so much for the flexibility. Even though there isn’t a deadline, do you have an ideal time when you’d like to review this? Perhaps a block of time in your schedule that you plan on devoting to this or a client meeting that you’d like to get refreshed for?”
What I’ve learned is that even if people don’t verbalize their expectation, there is one – and a valued attribute in a lawyer, is when you are able to not only meet the needs of your clients but exceed their expectations.
So it truly behooves you to do your best to clarify the project or assignment, or better yet, intimately understand your client’s why so you can anticipate their needs.
Communicate Early & Often
The Associate-Me also did a terrible job in communicating to the shareholder that I had pressing deadlines and failed to manage her expectations. With no communication to her, she was left with the impression that I was either really slow / incompetent or that I didn’t care – neither of which was true or great impressions. Yes, she could have made the effort to assume positive intent and a perfectly good reason for why I was taking so long, but generally, lawyers are negative and are trained to presume the worse.
What I should have done instead was to communicate with her as I received pressing assignments to see if her expectation of when she could receive the binders could be moved. I also could have tried to manage the other deadlines (and if I had a deadline in the first place, I would not have accepted the other work), or probably, the most realistic: pulled an all-nighter or worked all weekend to get it done.
What I’ve learned is that at a big firm, perception can be more important than reality and your brand is everything.
The economics of Big Firm are clear: as an associate, you have to bill a certain number of hours to justify the overhead. To be able to meet your billables, you need to have work to do, which means that either you are a “rainmaker” and have external clients who give you legal matters directly, or more likely as an associate, you need shareholders/partners to trust and like you enough to give you work to do. And blowing deadlines (even fake ones) or not meeting expectations (even those unsaid) can sink you in a hole that is hard to overcome. In my almost 15 years of practice, I have seen a number of lawyers get “starved out” of a firm simply because no one will give them work, and they don’t have business of their own. Which is why it is so important to learn how to clarify assignments and communicate early on in your career.
Communication is a competency or skill, like any other, that can be learned, practiced and mastered – and improved still. It’s just one of many tools that you need in the practice of law.
