New York Lawyer
August 2, 2001

Q:
I�m frustrated by the standards in my firm. I get work from associates all the time that has misspellings, grammatical errors, basic stylistic errors, and so forth. I mark up documents thoroughly and hand them back in an effort to bring people along and make them realize their myriad errors.

What I hear in response from associates � not directly, but through the grapevine � is that I am a pesky perfectionist more concerned about eradicating the passive voice than about winning cases. Apparently they take exception to having their documents marked up; somehow they are offended. How else can they learn?

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A:
It is great to insist upon high standards. It�s exhilarating to work in an office that requires perfectionism and won�t settle for less. So your goals are commendable. It�s your methods that perhaps can use some fine tuning or even a total re-examination.

A lot of this is a generational divide. On the one hand, you have an older generation that had their documents marked up thoroughly and therefore is used to the �red ink� approach. Additionally, the older folks simply have better writing and grammar skills. (Sorry, you younger attorneys, but it�s the truth � and it�s not just lawyers. Bosses everywhere bemoan the lack of basic literacy among their Gen-X and Gen-Y recruits.) On the other hand, you have a younger generation that prefers and indeed expects a more collaborative form of learning and management. The old days of just telling people what to do aren�t gone (in many places they thrive) but younger workers tend to chafe under that approach.

The good news is that by doing things in a different way you actually can save yourself time and save your client money. Marking up those documents line by line is tedious and time consuming. Why not have a face-to-face with the associate, which is much more personal anyway, and explain in broad terms the problems with the document? For instance, if there are spelling, grammar and stylistic problems throughout, sit with the person and go over just a few paragraphs, but very thoroughly. They�ll start to get the idea of close editing and learn to do it themselves, which is what you want (you can�t rewrite their papers forever!).

Or if their arguments wander all over the place, have them talk through in their own words what they were trying to say, so they can learn to spot the weaknesses themselves. After all, if they can�t verbalize their arguments, they�re not going to be able to write them down.

So get them started by giving them a close analysis of part of a document, then send them on their way to take another crack at it. They will learn much more by having to do it themselves, with some helpful guidance from you.

But keep in mind when you are speaking to the associates, your manner is as important as what you say. If you�re condescending, the whole thing will be a waste of time � no one will listen. Adopting a �we�re a team� approach � �let�s see what we can do together to improve this� � works much better. With these tips, maybe your reviews from the grapevine will improve.

Sincerely,
Holly English
Principal Consultant, Values at Work