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I wouldn’t go tattle telling because if I was the senior on the other side, I would probably find it funny. Find a more creative way to put the junior in her place – a mistake in the documents that should be obvious or just talk about something that is clearly over her head. TLDR: destroy her ego don’t go snitching.
I would call her out and ask her what's her beef with you. She's being childish and unprofessional. Also, I agree with the others in that I would definitely NOT go to her supervising attorney because that could backfire in more ways than one. After calling her out, than keep all communication in black and white.
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Stick to communications in writing only.
Separately, if you get flustered when people are rude/aggro, you’re going to want to work on that. Bullies do it because it’s effective. Their victims get flustered. You can’t advocate and articulate when you’re tongue-tied. Drill down your responses to deal with jerks.
This is the only correct answer. If you take the bait to spar with the attorney over personal jabs, you're letting them reset the playing field to one in which they may have the advantage. Even a lesser attorney can "win" the argument if you permit them to make the issue personal. Never make it personal: they're just trying to do their job. Your job is to do your best for your client; if you know your stuff, it's almost never to take the bait.
Rising Star
I would not recommend tattling either. If it was a senior attorney treating you like that, you wouldn't tattle to anyone. Handle it however you would normally handle it regardless of seniority or sex. Professionally and like an adult is the best policy. If you start playing games, you're going to make yourself look bad. Avoid phone calls if thats the issue, use email more and keep it strictly about the task at hand and only doing things that are in the best interest of the client. Your own ego shouldn't play into this. It's about the client.
"Dear --,
I think your phone cut out mid-conversation. As we discussed (I'm right and you're wrong). I think to avoid further technical issues like that, let's keep communications in email. Thanks."
Boom, done. I will say, I had a partner once who took me out to lunch because he got a call from an OC saying I was "unreasonable and rude" when I told him his outlandish settlement demand was too high.
That's a good response.
Memorialize your calls in emails. I assume that memorialization will have more people on the thread than just that 1 associate.
I went up against a crusty country lawyer whose favorite phrase was “YOU DON’T NEED TO KNOW!” He would shout that and then slam the phone down. It was very amusing.
Anytime someone tattles on me to my boss we make fun of them.
Also, next time someone hangs up, call them back immediately and say you think the call was disconnected. 😉
Hire a court reporter to transcribe important phone calls, like meet and confers.
Yes! I work at a big PI firm and I actually prefer smaller firms because you have more autonomy and generally get to run your cases as you see fit (and not what management wants you to do)
I wouldn’t recommend tattling. Just vent internally to your team if it’s bothering you. I had this happen once though it was someone basically my seniority (I think I was a 7th year at the time and she was like a 9th or 10th year).
This woman screamed at me over what was a non-issue (I had called asking for clarification and how her client preferred to deal with a specific point) and was promptly hung up on.
I told the partner I work with more as like funny water cooler talk. He took it upon himself to tell the partner on the other side to keep his associate in check (I think mostly out of fear that if she was treating me this way, what was she doing to our juniors on schedules calls and the like).
That associate was quite polite throughout the rest of the deal and had a noticeable uptick in exclamation points in her emails.
This - you escalate internally.
Me via email: “For clarity, did you just hang up on me?”
Send them a Snickers with a note that says "to be consumed just prior to our next call." Also, remember that this person is your peer and you may end up having to work with them again in the future. Use your conflict resolution skills, if there truly is a conflict between the two of you. Otherwise, don't take it too personally.
Just tell her you were hoping to develop a different kind of working relationship and request she doesn’t speak to you in that way
This is the nature of the beast. Unless she is insulting or degrading you personally why do you care? I deal with fussy Plaintiff attorneys all the time and don’t snitch on them. Call them jerks and keep it pushing
I worked for a toxic boss once who would give me a bonus for being rude. I was never rude because...ew...but he definitely would have. So no point in tattling. If the associate is rude, the partner is probably worse.
Not necessarily. I have had juniors behave badly and was really embarrassed when someone told me. Not saying that the opposite could not be true.
lol bro is heated😂 who do you think you are, Johnny Sack?
Guaranteed plaintiffs’ lawyer lol
Guaranteed! I wish I could share the email I received yesterday from one. He went postal
your profession is rife with people like that. just ignore it and keep moving forward.
I'd confront her first before going to the higher ups. Ask her directly, is there a problem between us I am unaware of? Open the door to discussion. You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.
I agree with this - that's my motto. "CATCH MORE FLIES WITH HONEY". Ask her straight up the reason for her agressiveness and why she hung up on you. I would not go to her supervisor just yet. See what she says. Everybody has shit going on in their personal loves so she's entitled to her bad day, just as long as it's not EVERY DAY, ya know. I hate that for you though - it's so unprofessional and even moreso when you're an attorney. Best of luck.
Don’t do that
Google “monkey scribe voicemail” just for fun.