New York Lawyer
May 25, 2006

Q:
I have a huge problem. I work with a partner who everyone loves, because she is funny and nice. The thing is, I trusted her, until she stole an idea I had. She presented it as her own to a client, got all the praise, and all I was left with were feelings of betrayal.

I don't feel like I can say anything because I am relatively new and everyone likes her.

What can I do? The friends I've spoken to told me to let it go, but I think it's so unfair.

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A:

The short answer is you can't do much. However, you can learn from this incident and try to be prepared in the future should something similar happen again, either with this woman or with someone else.

The scenario you describe is a classic one, and one that provides a great deal of frustration. It happens every day in all industries and workplaces. The upside: it's flattering that someone thinks enough of your ideas to assume them as their own, so at least you're on the right track in terms of your thoughts about strategy or whatever idea it was that she appropriated. The obvious downside: it's infuriating not to get credit where credit is due, and reflects poorly on superiors who can't be bothered to do the gracious (and fair) thing by crediting the author of the idea.

One caution: you are working for the firm, and she is responsible for providing superior legal services to the client. Therefore you want to make sure that you don't get too invested in this idea of who has the idea first, who presents it, etc. The firm's job is to present the best approaches to the client, regardless of where those ideas come from. Nonetheless, from a management perspective, whether the partner feels it's more appropriate for her to present this idea to the client or not, she can and should do the right thing by mentioning your involvement, or at least complimenting you behind the scenes on your good work.

When this situation occurs with a superior, your options are usually limited. It's particularly important that you not obsess too much in this case, in view of the fact that you're new, the partner is well liked and you would be swimming against the tide. You can try to bring this up in your performance review, by saying that you enjoyed working on the Smith Company case and found it stimulating to come up with good strategies for the client. If the partner repeats this pattern in the future and appears to be conniving in other ways, you might want to find another partner to work with, since you may feel you can't trust her.

Often this exact pattern will occur with a colleague, however, and in that situation your options are greater because there isn't the same power imbalance. In that situation you have the option of a direct conversation - "Please credit me if you take my idea, it's only fair" - and, once aware of their behavior, you have more options of limiting your involvement with them, not sharing your ideas, etc. A person who habitually takes other people's ideas can be outed if people talk about the situation with others they trust; these issues have a way of bubbling up to the surface over time.

Sincerely,
Holly English
Principal Consultant, Values at Work