CHARTER 6 Professionalism

• Jurisdiction: United States

CHARTER 6 Professionalism

Your success does not always depend on just your legal acumen; your reputation is equally critical. In fact, how you conduct yourself can overshadow your performance. Abusing office privileges or passing out drunk under a table at the firm holiday party will tell the partners that you lack one of the most fundamental skills in the practice of law: judgment.

A. At the Office

1. Breaks/Visiting

Logically, partners view associates that they observe roaming the halls excessively or spending too much time chatting with colleagues as underworked. This is true even in a small firm's friendly, collegiate environment. The partners hired you to bill, not socialize. Limit your breaks or visits to colleagues, including lunch breaks; associates do not often get the benefit of a lunch "hour." Whatever you do, do not repeatedly visit with a particular member of the opposite sex, even if you are only good friends. Fair or not, people unfortunately will assume the worst. False rumors will spread and might reach the partners' ears. They will undoubtedly question your judgment, which could prove fatal to your career. Do yourself a favor and preserve your reputation.

2. Personal Calls

There is a well-known cartoon depicting two guys in a dungeon, one chained to the wall and the other on a rack. One of the guys says, "That's the last time I make a personal call on company time."

Every office has its own policy about personal calls. More often than not, we are tempted to push the limits of that policy. The problem in a small irm, though, is that you are much more visible and audible. More likely than not, the walls are thin and a supervisor sits directly adjacent to you. No matter how relaxed the firm's culture might be, the partner wants you billing, not chatting on her time.

Generally, if you limit the number of calls you make and receive, you will encounter little difficulty. We all need to make a few personal calls. But if you are regularly making long personal calls on work time, your workload and your commitment will be questioned, and your performance will be more closely scrutinized.

TRUE STORY: A partner in a small firm had the ability to pick up an associate's phone without the associate knowing. One day, when a paralegal was in the partner's office, the partner said, "Let's see who the associate is talking to." He put the phone on speaker, picked up, and both the partner and the paralegal listened to the associate talking to his wife about certain activities in which they would engage once the [expletive] partner released the prisoners for the evening.

Avoid talking about sensitive and overly personal topics. You would think that this goes without saying, but it is astonishing how often someone who has dedicated three or four years to intense legal study cannot grasp this fundamental concept.

Frankly, in this age of mobile communication, you would have to be a complete dolt to risk your job by discussing personal matters in the office. Go to a private spot or outside the building to conduct your personal affairs. And speaking of cell phones, turn down your ring tone in the office. While Jay-Z might sound great to your buddies when you are in a bar on a Saturday night, it is doubtful that your supervisors will find your hipster musical choices entertaining.

Finally, never put a personal call before a client call unless it is a matter of life and death. If you put a client on hold or, worse, tell the client you will call back, while you continue a non-essential personal call and a partner overhears, you have just cast major doubt on...