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Some problems I have identified:
1. Lack of interaction with partner: While our head partner has a brand name, and is an excellent lawyer, since there are too many people in the team, there is hardly any direct interaction with him. So there isn’t much direct value add except for the brand name of having “worked under him”.
2. Lack of team spirit: While team spirit may sound like an unnecessary luxury, when you are spending 12+ hours on the job everyday with the same people, it becomes crucial to have a sense of trust and community, to know you have a support system in place. While all team members are decent folks, since there are so many of us, there is a lack of “bonding” among colleagues, which I have seen is present in smaller teams. I have spoken to people in smaller teams and felt it does help in different ways.
3. Communication issues: Since seniors are involved across several matters with different sets of people, sometimes they may forget to communicate/ not realise that they have not communicated certain things which they have told certain juniors (matter specific or maybe even general advice)
4. Workload distribution: This is probably the most important point. Because there are so many of us, I feel even seniors have a difficult time tracking who has how much work. Sometimes you are just getting crushed under work, other times it’s a dry spell (but you are also constantly worried that you might suddenly be called onto several matters at once). Again, not great for your mental health either.
My biggest takeaway has been that once you go higher up the corporate ladder, the job isn’t just about lawyering. It’s probably 60% law and 40 % management. So great management becomes crucial.
While my team does have few practices to tackle these issues, they aren’t always very effective. Would love to hear from some senior folks or others working in big teams how they have solved these issues.
Thanks.
Someone should interview doyens of Big Law in India on this issues. I wonder if their fat egos can spell some worthy management advice.