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So I would be reflective about this but now that I understand the context I don’t this this is either unusual or anything to sweat too much about. Investors and other participants in company business (eg directors) often get fussy about things done by company counsel. Sometimes it be complaints arise from a genuine professional disagreement about the best course for the company, in which the complainer if voicing either his or his counsel’s advice about the right course. Sometimes it’s personal. For example I once did an investigation at the request of a public company’s audit committee. The evidence of what happened was overwhelming and the issue was serious. But a director ( who was also a significant investor) didn’t like me or my conclusions and launched a character assassination campaign. Here it appears that the investor feels like he got screwed and didn’t like being told he was wrong, even though you did it politely. His reaction is predictable and goes with the territory of representing a company and being its mouthpiece in delivering unhappy news. There may be some lessons for you in how you drafted and delivered the bad news so I would look carefully at that. But if you were right in the facts and result and delivered the message properly you should put this behind you. If he ultimately controls the company he may decide to hire different counsel. That would be his right. But it wouldn’t result from you doing anything wrong. Good luck on this issue.
Thank you so much for the detailed input. I really appreciate it and it really helped me today. Really good to know that while we can always focus on getting better, sometimes, these types of things come with the territory of being company counsel. Thanks again.
Are you responsive 24/7, combative, and providing crystal-clear, concise advice to your client? If you are, they’re just venting (and in their heads, deals would move a lot faster if you didn’t need an attorney).
If you’re not, then think about how you can improve - not the actual quality of your work but on your communication.
Was the feedback by the actual investor or their lawyer? This seems to be a bit more common. What I’ve seen is that investors often feel like the company lawyer is holding up the deal by not readily agreeing to everything they propose and generally being a good lawyer to your client. I’ve found that (having represented investors and companies) investors think that they’re owed the whole world and more at times, and think that they should get no pushback on certain economic and legal terms they wish to use.
If you’re just being a good attorney to your client, I would simply talk to the client and explain to them that in that particular case, the client’s interests and the investor’s interests are not aligned and it’s not appropriate for them to be speaking with the client without your presence or telling them anything about their own attorney. If, on the other hand, if you’re digging into a stand that you know is unreasonable or even if reasonable, one that will never be accepted, then you might actually be holding up the deal. Even so, it’s not appropriate for the investor to be doing this. But perhaps you can think about how to push things forward and convince your client that they shouldn’t take this ‘feedback’ too seriously. Keep in mind that for future transactions, the investor will likely be on the same side as the company. Their behavior or likely appreciation for your work then will speak volumes about their feedback in retrospect. Good Luck!
When I was a second year one of my firm’s most important clients fired me by calling the firm’s litigation chair and saying the client would no longer pay any bill that included my time. The stated reason was an insubordinate remark that I made to an in house lawyer who was very difficult to work with. But I looked hard at myself and learned an important lesson.
Trying hard — as I was doing for that client — isn’t the only thing that matters. Although effort matters, clients also care about quality, results, interpersonal style, and a host of other things. They also get the final say on such things even if you think the critique is unfair, because they can always take their work elsewhere if they do t get what they want. I recommend learning as much as you can from the criticism and doing everything you can to conform to the clients’ expectations.
I also don’t think “venting” explains what happened here. Most clients have better things to do with their time than inventing complaints about law firm associates.
Do you think that the comments are substantively unfair or incorrect?
Thank you all so much for this feedback. Your insight on investors is I think exactly what is happening here. I’m not one to place blame without self reflection, and always look for ways to improve, but basically, this investor didn’t think the company should have counsel when we started and ever since has been difficult. We only did one substantive push back on points, one time (small deal), and he still complained. And then, he was convinced that something happened to him but not other investors, and when I responded with a answer showing this was false (without being rude or accusatory) and apologies for any confusion, (with his counsel’s permission and looped in at every stage) he didn’t respond, and then trash talked us to our client (I saw in an email chain). I’ve just never experienced an investor who was willing to blame the opposing attorneys (especially when his counsel has been in the loop on everything). Even when a deal hits a roadblock, most investors have been reasonable.
I will take the feedback to heart that we can always look for ways to improve. I’m a junior attorney but ran a lot of the deal myself, and I know I can always do better, but this one really did feel unreasonable and I really appreciate the insight.
Thank you! This really helped me process things today. Much appreciated.