New York Lawyer
January 15, 2004

Q:
I work at a New York law firm as a "contract attorney" (i.e., temp) and I and others on my team are treated as third-class citizens.

Most of the partners, associates and legal secretaries alike don't speak to us or even respond to our pleasantries. We're looked down upon and are clearly made to feel unwelcome as we are not employees of the firm, even though we have as much knowledge and education as many of them.

Meanwhile, it makes working there sometimes unbearable. Sadly, we have to bear it while we look for work elsewhere. Any advice?

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A:

Increasingly the working world features temps. "The use of contract attorneys on a contract basis is something that is absolutely booming now," according to Jim LaRosa, president of JuriStaff Legal Staffing, in an article last year in the Philadelphia Business Journal. The Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that the market for temporary attorneys will blossom to about 62,400 by the year 2005.

Therefore what used to be unthinkable - a temporary attorney, in particular - is now a standard part of the workforce. So it's smart for legal employers to think of ways to make (nominally) integrating contract employees into the workforce, even though it is on a temporary basis.

If I may start with a defense of the chilly denizens of your present firm: they don't have a lot of time for anything, much less kibitzing, and the little time they have for chit-chat they understandably want to reserve for permanent colleagues. I think that's defensible. What's absurd is not even responding to pleasantries, not even speaking to temps - in other words, treating you as if you were utterly invisible. This behavior drives people nuts. It signifies that certain classes of people are not worthy of the barest forms of civility.

Why should a firm bother? After all, these people will be gone soon; the firm is effectively doing them a favor for letting them work there on a temporary basis while they look for permanent work; and why would contract lawyers expect to make best friends when they're temps anyway?

Here's why:

First, it's simply the most basic and right thing to do, on a human level, to at least connect with people who are working on a temporary basis. C'mon - this is obvious. Looking right through people, as if they are motes of dust, is contemptible. (Note to lawyers and others who presently ignore permanent secretaries and other underlings: this applies to you, too. Say "Good morning." It won't kill you, and goes a long way to making subordinates feel included.)

But beyond this, it's stupid and counterproductive. Temps get a fly-on-the-wall view of firms' culture, behaviors and attitudes. They'll share their dismal conclusions with all who care to listen. So your street cred will take a hit.

Also, what if the firm really likes a contract lawyer, and wants to hire him or her? The person may have already concluded that they want nothing to do with a place that treats people so shabbily, and continue looking for a more congenial environ. The firm could talk itself right out of a great new employee.

Finally, the firm wants a good performance from everyone working there, not just permanent employees. Openly looking down on temps hardly motivates a top performance.

I'm not saying that firms need to throw welcome parties for temporary lawyers or cosset them like summer associates. But some basic civility will go a long way to dealing humanely with the ongoing phenomenon of contract lawyers within the office.

Sincerely,
Holly English
Principal Consultant, Values at Work