Dealing with Others in Your Professional Life

• Author: Stewart I. Edelstein
• Profession: Commercial trial lawyer
• Pages: 29-48

29

CHAPTER TWO

DEALING WITH

OTHERS IN YOUR

PROFESSIONAL LIFE

You play the starring role in the movie that is your career as a trial law-

yer, supported by a cast of characters ranging from your secretary to

judges who rule in your cases. T his chapter explores how to deal with all

of them, except clients, who merit their own part (see Chapter 1).

This movie analog y does not suggest that you should be play-acting in

your role as a trial law yer. No. You must be yourself at all times, a lthough

you can develop different aspects of who you are as you make your way

professionally. Other movies are screening at the same time throughout

your life—movies of your life as friend, husband or wife, parent, son

or daughter, sibling, hobbyist, and amateur athlete, for example. If you

abandon all of those other roles, you will burn out. See Chapter 7(D)

about managing a balanced life while succeeding as a t rial lawyer.

So other than clients, who are all of these people in supporting

roles? They are your secretary, paralegals, witnesses (lay and expert),

colleagues in your firm (unless you are a sole practitioner), lawyers in

other firms w ith whom you work, opposing counsel, mediators, arbitra-

tors, jurors, and judges. Your relationship with each has unique benefits

and pitfalls.

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A. SECRETARIES

You and your secretary should be a dynam ic duo, like Batman and Robin

(but without the costu mes), achieving your clients’ goals eff iciently. Your

relationship should be one of mutual respect and cooperation. Even

though you are in a position of control vis-à-vis your secretary, you must

work as a team to get things done right and on t ime. Here are some tips:

•Establishafunctionalandefficientsystemforgettingworkdone.

•Encourageyoursecretarytosuggestotherwaystoimproveeffi-

ciency and take your secretary’s worthy suggestions seriously.

•Ifyoursecretaryworksformorethanonelawyer,establisha

mechanism to coordinate work flow. Do not wait for a crisis to deal

with this issue.

•Ifyoursecretaryiseveroverwhelmedbytoomuchworkthatmust

be done in too little time, have a mechanism in place for overflow

work to get done in a timely manner.

•Toavoidmissingdeadlines,establishacalendarsystemforabelt-

and-suspenders approach.

•Tosavetime,establishanelectronicformbankfordocuments

such as deposition notices, subpoenas, and boilerplate language for

settlement agreements.

•Beexplicitinallassignmentstoyoursecretarytoavoidmisunder-

standings about what must be done and by when.

•Beexplicitaboutpriorityofassignments.

•Whengivinganassignment,brieflyexplainthepurposeandcon-

text so that your secretary will have a clear u nderstanding of the

task and the motivation to achieve it.

•Giveyoursecretarypositivereinforcementwhenataskisdone

well; don’t hesitate to express your appreciation for a job well done.

•Wheneveryouwillbeoutofyouroffice,letyoursecretaryandthe

receptionist know where you will be and how to reach you.

•Rememberthatyoursecretaryisnotanautomatonpumpingout

work. Express a genuine interest in your secretary as a person.

•Ifamistakeismade(andmistakeswillbemade),don’tblameyoursec-

retary if you can t ake the blame. For example, if a letter is sent out with

typog raphical errors, your secret ary is not at fault. Before signing that

letter, it was your responsibility, not your secretary ’s, to correct typos.

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