New York Lawyer
June 19, 2003

Q:
I am a third-year at a large New York firm. In my first year, I realized I wasn't interested in making partner or being the top associate in my class. Frankly, I decided I was only interested in a paycheck. I left it to others to try to get on the Special Counsel/Partner track, while I just tried not to get fired. So far, I have been successful. I come in late in the morning, leave early in the evening, and watch my colleagues work around the clock. I lead a happy, active and fulfilling personal life, all the while making the same money they do. I feel like I'm doing something right! But no one else seems to agree with me. For instance, one time an associate I was working with got mad at me when he called me at 5:30 to help finish a brief and I wasn't there. What am I supposed to do, sit around until 6:00 waiting for a call? Several other times, my classmates have complained to me about never seeing their wives and kids. I tell them to make better choices and leave early, but they always seem to have a "deposition" or "trial" or "brief" that keeps them in the office until late at night. I've never stayed past 9 PM and that was only once!

When I made this decision, I thought my fellow associates would be happy to have one less person to compete with in their climb up the corporate ladder. I was wrong. Instead of embracing me, they torment me. They think because they bill 2400 a year they are somehow better than me. I am told they make fun of me behind my back, call me "dead wood," -- they basically treat me as an outsider. I don't understand it. They're mad at me because they decided to work ludicrous hours while I decided not to.

Do I need to stay past 6:30 in order for them to like me?

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A:

Yes. You need to work around the clock, be miserable, complain bitterly, and have no life. Then they will like you. Really.

I'm a little surprised that you've gotten to your third year with this schedule. As far as I know billable hours are -- despite fancy evaluation forms with dozens of categories and nuances -- far and away the only measure that counts for associates.

The slavish work hours required in big law firms (and increasingly in smaller and mid-sized firms) are ridiculous. They de-humanize people and frustrate and alienate families and friends. And the emphasis on sheer numbers of hours devalues factors like quality of work and analytical abilities. So your plan to fly beneath the radar, enjoy your personal life, and still produce some decent legal work that keeps you from being canned is sound enough, especially if you have opted out of the partners' sweepstakes.

The problem is that your colleagues are playing by the rules and resent anyone trying to flout them. Round-the-clock work is the accepted contract in big law firms: as a basic proposition, if you want to get ahead, you have to show that you eat, drink, breathe, and dream about the law. This is called "commitment." It is a pernicious concept that allows for no other interpretations other than endless face time and ceaseless accumulation of hours. Showing "commitment" to anyone or anything else - a spouse, a kid, a volunteer group - reveals a crack in the armor that suggests a telling, perhaps fatal, vulnerability.

So of course they're mad at you. They're killing themselves and you're thriving. This does not make them happy. Your colleagues probably feel that it's unfair for you to have a life, since everyone knew when they signed on that they gave up a normal existence in exchange for a hefty paycheck. That was the deal, and they see you as a cheater who's reaping the benefits while not doing your bit. Far from viewing you with satisfaction as someone who's opted out of the partner competition, they instead see you as part of the reason that they are staying up till all hours, since you're not shouldering as much of the burden as they are. If you only worked more, they reason, maybe the pressure on them would ease up, at least a little.

At some point your gig will be up and you will leave. You can't expect them to like or respect you, when you're partying the nights away and they're buried in interrogatories. You are a maverick and they are the obedient members of a herd. If you want to have better relations with your peers you will need to confirm a little more. If you don't, you will continue to experience pressure and disdain.

Sincerely,
Holly English
Principal Consultant, Values at Work