I am an old school pre-smart phone Era lawyer. Things that old school has to realise:
1. Life is all about evolution. Do you guys follow what your parents tell you? For all the PAs and partners in their 30s-40s, chances are you were quite the rebel in your younger days and continue to be so, wrt your parents and their advise. So please don't do this- "oh we had it so difficult, this how we grew, this how you must also grow" shit. Life and work is ever evolving and we must always adapt. Not be boomer-dinos.
2. Granted that useful skills such as proper proofing, research, formatting, etc is important. But guys come on, living in the times that we are in, all of this can be outsourced and to a large extent is now being done by the computers and AI. Given that most associates atleast in their first two years only do this, no point harassing them about this beyond a certain point.
3. When we started working, there was no concept of work life balance. Working from home. Not Even bloody HSE (health safety environment) clauses in contracts. These days firms send weekly updates on these topics. Who's to blame? The very fact that firms are writing this is because of the lessons learnt from.the horror stories that our generation went through. To then say that oh you must also go through this cos we went through this is pure crap. It must be quite the contrary- because I went through this and it affected me, I won't let you go through this- should be the Mantra that all PAs and partners adopt.
4. The very topic assumes that we as old school lawyers had to go through shit and the genz doesn't and that is somehow wrong. Perhaps a little self reflection on why you went through shit is necessary. Cos if you were super good, you wouldn't have gone through shit in the first place. You weren't good either in your younger years- so accept that lawyers will evolve with age and can't expect them to be superstars right out of college.
5. An average law school kid probably spent 10-12 hours a day sleeping. To then shock his body suddenly with a 4-6 hour sleep schedule (and in some cases, worse than that) is Gunatanamo bay level torture. This needs to be worked up gradually. This is also a factor of an associate being involved in his job and liking it- things which are very difficult in the abstract without context and not having any foresight of why they are doing what they are doing. How many of you boomers take a first year associate to a negotiation? Hence,please understand that it is not fair to expect 23 year old kids to fall in love with their jobs and blindly do everything without question.
6. Drafting is a skill that evolves with age and life experiences. Hell,even commitment to a job is directly proportional to the personal commitments that you have. How can you expect a 23-25 ywar old without any familiar commitments to have a high sense of responsibility and commitment to the job?
To all the genz lawyers- hang in there, these horrible bosses and boomers notwithstanding. Lawyers evolve with age. You'll only be good at what you do if you like doing it. That usually comes with more responsibility and visibility on the impact that your work has. And also being given importance. All of this will come. You need to ask as many questions as you can- be as involved as you can, so that you get to the place where you start liking the Job. In fact in my view, the sole purpose of getting to an SA must be to get to a place where you have little more responsibility and ability to fall in love with the job. All the very best- 2012 lawyer. Have been both in house and in a law firm (currently in a law firm- before the boomer defending folks start jumping at the in house reference).
1. expecting better systems/devices? A one time investment of 50-75K extra is a big ask in a sector which sees 80-90% yearly ROI?
2. Doing two jobs (given that most people well work beyond the 8 hours) and getting paid for it, handsomely? You don't even offer any retirals (PF, gratuity etc). Now take the case of IIT-IIM grads and I take them cos our nat law/tier 1 schools who make the majority of law firm resources, make the same or in some cases more money on graduation. They do one job (most of them have 10-6/7 job, unless they with one of the investment banks or EYs/PWCs).
3. Asking for the best deals and best work? Surely, nobody is interested in doing some meaningless work. Hell, the more complex and Sevier the transaction- the more you learn. Sure, you need to have the skills to be able to deliver- but as long as that's there, why shouldn't kids be demanding for this?
In my not-so-humble opinion, there's absolutely nothing wrong with the bright-eyed newbies of the legal world. On the flip side, it's the creaky old-timers, who seem to think that a good old battering from their seniors was the golden ticket to legal brilliance. How cute!
Their go-to metaphor? "You need the blazing heat of a furnace to purify gold" or perhaps a "stretch to judge how flexible the rubberband is" I'd say it's more of a half-baked excuse than a nugget of wisdom, an attempt to paint their old-school hazing as a badge of honour. I bet the fresh lot can value genuine mentorship and a dash of tough love. However, there’s a difference between that and a senior mistaking their gray hair for a license to play the nightmare-inducing boogeyman.
Cutting to the chase: every profession has its pompous balloons waiting to be popped. I've had the, let's say, "pleasure" of dealing with these so-called legal titans—the ones paraded as the cream of the crop. And boy, have I been left scratching my head! Not to toot my own horn, but we're talking basics here, folks. So, whenever someone starts waxing poetic about the 'golden days of lawyering,' I can't help but visualize a steaming, freshly served plate of... let's just say, a cow's generous donation to our environment.
Lastly, and just for the record, there's not even a shred of empirical evidence that supports the notion that a tormented soul drafts better documents or magically enhances one’s ability to dot the i's and cross the t's.
1. Life is all about evolution. Do you guys follow what your parents tell you? For all the PAs and partners in their 30s-40s, chances are you were quite the rebel in your younger days and continue to be so, wrt your parents and their advise. So please don't do this- "oh we had it so difficult, this how we grew, this how you must also grow" shit. Life and work is ever evolving and we must always adapt. Not be boomer-dinos.
2. Granted that useful skills such as proper proofing, research, formatting, etc is important. But guys come on, living in the times that we are in, all of this can be outsourced and to a large extent is now being done by the computers and AI. Given that most associates atleast in their first two years only do this, no point harassing them about this beyond a certain point.
3. When we started working, there was no concept of work life balance. Working from home. Not Even bloody HSE (health safety environment) clauses in contracts. These days firms send weekly updates on these topics. Who's to blame? The very fact that firms are writing this is because of the lessons learnt from.the horror stories that our generation went through. To then say that oh you must also go through this cos we went through this is pure crap. It must be quite the contrary- because I went through this and it affected me, I won't let you go through this- should be the Mantra that all PAs and partners adopt.
4. The very topic assumes that we as old school lawyers had to go through shit and the genz doesn't and that is somehow wrong. Perhaps a little self reflection on why you went through shit is necessary. Cos if you were super good, you wouldn't have gone through shit in the first place. You weren't good either in your younger years- so accept that lawyers will evolve with age and can't expect them to be superstars right out of college.
5. An average law school kid probably spent 10-12 hours a day sleeping. To then shock his body suddenly with a 4-6 hour sleep schedule (and in some cases, worse than that) is Gunatanamo bay level torture. This needs to be worked up gradually. This is also a factor of an associate being involved in his job and liking it- things which are very difficult in the abstract without context and not having any foresight of why they are doing what they are doing. How many of you boomers take a first year associate to a negotiation? Hence,please understand that it is not fair to expect 23 year old kids to fall in love with their jobs and blindly do everything without question.
6. Drafting is a skill that evolves with age and life experiences. Hell,even commitment to a job is directly proportional to the personal commitments that you have. How can you expect a 23-25 ywar old without any familiar commitments to have a high sense of responsibility and commitment to the job?
To all the genz lawyers- hang in there, these horrible bosses and boomers notwithstanding. Lawyers evolve with age. You'll only be good at what you do if you like doing it. That usually comes with more responsibility and visibility on the impact that your work has. And also being given importance. All of this will come. You need to ask as many questions as you can- be as involved as you can, so that you get to the place where you start liking the Job. In fact in my view, the sole purpose of getting to an SA must be to get to a place where you have little more responsibility and ability to fall in love with the job. All the very best- 2012 lawyer. Have been both in house and in a law firm (currently in a law firm- before the boomer defending folks start jumping at the in house reference).
1. expecting better systems/devices? A one time investment of 50-75K extra is a big ask in a sector which sees 80-90% yearly ROI?
2. Doing two jobs (given that most people well work beyond the 8 hours) and getting paid for it, handsomely? You don't even offer any retirals (PF, gratuity etc). Now take the case of IIT-IIM grads and I take them cos our nat law/tier 1 schools who make the majority of law firm resources, make the same or in some cases more money on graduation. They do one job (most of them have 10-6/7 job, unless they with one of the investment banks or EYs/PWCs).
3. Asking for the best deals and best work? Surely, nobody is interested in doing some meaningless work. Hell, the more complex and Sevier the transaction- the more you learn. Sure, you need to have the skills to be able to deliver- but as long as that's there, why shouldn't kids be demanding for this?
Their go-to metaphor? "You need the blazing heat of a furnace to purify gold" or perhaps a "stretch to judge how flexible the rubberband is" I'd say it's more of a half-baked excuse than a nugget of wisdom, an attempt to paint their old-school hazing as a badge of honour. I bet the fresh lot can value genuine mentorship and a dash of tough love. However, there’s a difference between that and a senior mistaking their gray hair for a license to play the nightmare-inducing boogeyman.
Cutting to the chase: every profession has its pompous balloons waiting to be popped. I've had the, let's say, "pleasure" of dealing with these so-called legal titans—the ones paraded as the cream of the crop. And boy, have I been left scratching my head! Not to toot my own horn, but we're talking basics here, folks. So, whenever someone starts waxing poetic about the 'golden days of lawyering,' I can't help but visualize a steaming, freshly served plate of... let's just say, a cow's generous donation to our environment.
Lastly, and just for the record, there's not even a shred of empirical evidence that supports the notion that a tormented soul drafts better documents or magically enhances one’s ability to dot the i's and cross the t's.