Exact Approximations

Friday, September 23, 2005

There's No Place Like Home

I just got back from The Boss' house. A paralegal and I went to drop off a package, and pick up a taped dictation. The Boss looks weird in sweat shorts and t-shirt, since he is usually all about the full on Dapper Man suit. I was feeling weird about seeing The Boss, since I've been absent from work and spent the entire morning reading through old correspondence for a motion I'm writing. Above all, this morning's readings taught me that there have been 5+ people in my position over the past few years. I'm not sure what to make of it.

Conclave called. Any gut instincts on what high second-attorney turnover means in the office of an extremely sucessful (otherwise) solo practitioner? Were they awful? Could they not handle some aspect of how he practices law? I shudder to think about things I have no idea about...

Anyhow, The Boss' house is a palace. A maid answered the door. An antique chair in the foyer was too nice to sit on. I sat on it. To see if it would break. It didn't. Beautiful, original art work everywhere. I'm betting he has a grand piano in there, but I wasn't going to go snooping about on my first visit. I don't know why I was so surprised by all this. It was nice, I wouldn't mind a house like that. Still, the most important thing I took away from this visit is the knowledge that he could have afforded all those other attorneys....so what gives?

posted by Lex Fori at 2:22 PM

2 Comments:

  • So, let me make sure I understand the situation. There's Boss Man, then Secondary Attorney and, I'm guessing Secretary(s), Paralegal(s). Is that it? No other attorney beside you and him?

    This is a tough one. You might be able to attribute a little bit of turnover (maybe 2 people in 5 years) just to life circumstances or a changing market or something benign. 5+ people in a few years might be a bad omen.

    I would imagine that The Boss is probably a very driven guy who expects a lot. Which isn't a problem unless his way of asking for a lot is fucked up.

    I worked for a woman once who was just impossible to work with. She was demanding, short-tempered, changed her mind all the time and couldn't make decisions. Working for her was hellish. It's not that I don't want to work hard. I don't have a problem with hard work. I just want to work for someone who has manners, asks for things politely and thanks/praises me when I do things well. The only things that saved my sanity were 1. making friends with people on other teams who had to work with (although, unlike me, not directly for) this woman and 2. within 6 months of my starting, she was given a promotion to a different department and I got a new boss.

    The problem with a small office is that if there's a personality conflict, especially with the boss, there is nowhere to hide. And there's no hope that if you stick around, you might get promoted or moved to a different department or that the same thing might happen to the boss. You're stuck and when you feel stuck, looking for an escape route is instinctive.

    Would it be possible to get friendly with the paralegal (can you say 5-martini lunch? I bet you can. :)) and try to find out what happened.?

    Good luck with this!

    By Blogger -Ann, at 2:55 PM  

  • What it means is that the "firm" you work at is a stepping stone firm. You will realize soon that you are horribly overworked and horribly underpaid, all the while your boss is filthy, filthy rich.

    Been there...done that...jumped ship to the big firm...

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 1:22 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home