New York Lawyer
October 27, 2005

Q:
I work at a firm with about 25 attorneys as a third-year associate. My workload seems to cycle from "extremely busy" to "no work at all." When I am in a "no work" stage, I have been told to email the partners and ask if they have any work for me to do. Although, I have done this a few times (with some success), I feel funny doing this, like, "Why don't I have any work?" Yet, the managing partner is always praising my work. Any advice?

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A:

My reaction is that you should feel fine, but I understand your concern. This question brings together several common dynamics in law firms: "no news is good news," a lack of a clear work assignment procedure, and uneven feedback and performance review systems. All of which all can be encapsulated under "a lack of communication." Oh -- and "poor management." In any event �

First, this happens to everybody, so don't feel like you're being singled out. You don't know about it because other people, just like yourself, don't advertise it. Second, while you've been told that you should email partners for work when you're in a no-work phase, I think you're correct to be a little hesitant. If you do this too frequently, indeed others may start to think, "Why does this person never have any work? Maybe it's because their work is no good," and then faulty perceptions start to snowball.

Here's how I would handle it instead. When you're low on work, I would chat with partners when you can, just dropping in with an excuse, or encountering them in the hallway, and find out what they're working on. If they mention a case that you're interested in, say, "I'd love to work on that if there's an opportunity." This switches the focus from "I'm desperate for work," to "I'm interested in a particular area or case and want to be involved." It's a crucial difference in how you might be perceived, and has the added benefit of paving the way towards work and specialty areas that you like.

Also, have plans in advance for riding out lean times, with marketing ideas, continuing legal education, etc. If you assume that these times will occur periodically, and plan for them, they won't come as a shock and you will have a Plan B to deal with them.

Note that these individual solutions would be unnecessary if the firm had in place (a) a transparent work assignment system, or at least clear and established procedures about what to do when you don't have work, (b) a performance review system, that not only evaluates your past work but sets goals for development in the future, and (c) training for partners on giving informal feedback periodically throughout the year, so that people can learn from their assignments as they go along. Don't hold your breath that these will be established, though; it's more realistic to sharpen up your own self-management skills.

Sincerely,
Holly English
Principal Consultant, Values at Work