Negotiation Law Blog - My Boss is an Asshole and Other First-Year Associate Laments - Comments http://www.negotiationlawblog.com/ Southern California Arbitration Mediation & Conflict Resolution: Settle it Now Dispute Resolution Services: Serving Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, Century City en Copyright 2012 Fri, 23 Mar 2012 01:07:40 -0800 Fri, 23 Mar 2012 01:07:40 -0800 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/?v=4.32-en http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Chris Annunziata Great advice, Victoria. My inability to tolerate these types of ridiculous questions is probably why I was not a successful BIGLAW associate and have gotten into mediation. ;-)

In my experience, however, this type of question was second only to the directive that typically came from some senior partner older than dirt, "I remember (from law school, clerking for Learned Hand, helping draft the Constitution) that there was SOME case out there that supported my ridiculous, untenable position - go find it."

]]> http://www.negotiationlawblog.com/advice-for-young-lawyers/my-boss-is-an-asshole-and-other-firstyear-associate-laments/#22102 http://www.negotiationlawblog.com/advice-for-young-lawyers/my-boss-is-an-asshole-and-other-firstyear-associate-laments/#22102 Advice for Young LawyersLegal PracticeNegotiationTruth Justice and the American Way Wed, 29 Aug 2007 18:18:00 -0800 Victoria Pynchon Vickie Pynchon Thanks for adding a true type A Voldemort to the list, Chris. Hilarious and true. Anyone else? (and here I'm hoping NOT to solicit examples from attorneys who were once MY associates --but have at it! -- I must include myself among those who did not take kindly to "no" as an answer to my research questions).

]]> http://www.negotiationlawblog.com/advice-for-young-lawyers/my-boss-is-an-asshole-and-other-firstyear-associate-laments/#22103 http://www.negotiationlawblog.com/advice-for-young-lawyers/my-boss-is-an-asshole-and-other-firstyear-associate-laments/#22103 Advice for Young LawyersLegal PracticeNegotiationTruth Justice and the American Way Wed, 29 Aug 2007 18:18:00 -0800 Victoria Pynchon Chris Annunziata Put on your mediator hat for a second and answer me this question:

Can a lawyer who refuses to accept take "no" for an answer on a research project where the overwhelming case law is against the position (s)he wishes to take be an effective/constructive participant in mediation?

I understand the point you are trying to make, and young lawyers in firms big and small DO heed her advice to save your own career, but I think that its that type of inflexibility that frustrated me most as an associate and now as mediator.

These questions are usually the result of the Voldemort partner opening his big mouth and telling the client "Yea, we can pull your butt out of that fire" before knowing the answer. And then being unable to swallow his enormous pride and suggest alternatives when proven wrong.

And yes, that may be too deep a thought for the Friday before Labor Weekend.

Maybe we can collaborate on a discussion of sorts among the other mediator bloggers.......next week.

]]> http://www.negotiationlawblog.com/advice-for-young-lawyers/my-boss-is-an-asshole-and-other-firstyear-associate-laments/#22104 http://www.negotiationlawblog.com/advice-for-young-lawyers/my-boss-is-an-asshole-and-other-firstyear-associate-laments/#22104 Advice for Young LawyersLegal PracticeNegotiationTruth Justice and the American Way Wed, 29 Aug 2007 18:18:00 -0800 Victoria Pynchon Vickie Pynchon I meant this to be humorous, of course, as well as true. My experience (as a partner) with first through about third year associates was that they (by and large) gave up too quickly on the type of innovative, creative, out-of-the-box solutions that any sucessful legal OR mediation practice depends upon. If a litigator can't take "no" for an answer when all creative avenues have been explored and exhausted, s/he wouldn't last long in a business that requires him/her to understand the strengths and weaknesses of both sides of every case. Then again, I've seen a thousand litigation ships against insurance carriers launched because someone believed they could prove that the term "sudden" as used in a CGL policy didn't mean "quick" but only unexpected. This brainstorm required its "inventor" to research the factual history of the clause using documents from the Insurance Services Office and from legislative hearings. The California Court of Appeal finally disagreed, illustrating its point with a cartoon of Snoopy typing atop his dog house "gradually a shot rang out." By that time, however, insureds with environmental liabilities had been paid hundreds of millions of coverage dollars based upon the possiblity that "sudden" might not have a temporal meaning in the context of the pollution exclusion at issue. So my suggestion to look under every stone to answer a research question was and is seriously proposed. Were I still practicing law today, I'd continue to prefer that my young associates exhaust themselves trying to give me a "yes" answer to providing me with the hasty and easily achieved negative. It requires a particularly acute kind of intelligence, creativity and persistence to find a way to say "yes" to an improbable means of addressing a legal problem or, at a minimum, suggesting a better way to skin the same cat.

]]> http://www.negotiationlawblog.com/advice-for-young-lawyers/my-boss-is-an-asshole-and-other-firstyear-associate-laments/#22105 http://www.negotiationlawblog.com/advice-for-young-lawyers/my-boss-is-an-asshole-and-other-firstyear-associate-laments/#22105 Advice for Young LawyersLegal PracticeNegotiationTruth Justice and the American Way Wed, 29 Aug 2007 18:18:00 -0800 Victoria Pynchon