Have you ever had another attorney mark up your drafts to where the entire document is basically rewritten, and all of the changes were stylistic and not substantive? I am a third year. A 6th year attorney did this to me. It was a simple ancillary document of which I have drafted plenty of before. I almost want to bring it up to someone but I don’t want to seem whiny but I’m angry? This isn’t the first time Ive felt disrespected by this person and I don’t feel comfortable going to them directly
Yes, it happens. Also keep in mind that sometimes people just rewrite things and it comes up as redlines but a lot of your work is still there. That happened to me and the more senior associate I work with. Asked him about it once and he was like oh yeah all your substance was there I just rewrite whole sentences out of habit even when I’m just changing something small.
Rather than feel disrespected, just talk to them. Say I noticed there were a lot of redlines and I was hoping to get some pointers on how to give you better work product in the future. It will be received better and frankly probably score you some points.
Isn't the answer to "how do I give you better work product?" simply something along the lines of "remember/refer to these and all the other redline changes I've made to other docs and apply them to future drafting"? And if that is the answer, then doesn't asking that in the first place smack of empty ass kissing? If what we are talking about is stylistic changes, then i could even see how that might sound passive aggressive. I guess I just feel like OPs best way to score points is just do their best to learn what their senior likes, try hard to give it to them, and get better at it every time.
As a senior, there are several reasons I might make stylistic revisions. Client preferences, partner preferences, conforming to the other deal documents, prior comments I’ve received, etc. It’s not intended to be disrespectful or a comment on your abilities. As previously suggested, always better to ask respectfully than to stew on it.
Pro
There is nothing disrespectful about this. Why didn't you do the first draft in that person's style? Third years don't typically get to make stylistic decisions. You defer to the senior person until they take a hands off approach. I get very irritated with juniors and staff who don't bother to conform formating and style to drafts I've already finalized in the same case.
Lol I don’t think we’re talking about formatting here, pal.
Is it a client that you worked for previously? If not, casually ask "I saw your revisions - is this the style/formatting sought by this client or is it your own template?"
Chief
It’s fine. Ultimately their name is on the work product when they submit it to their higher up so they want it to be consistent with their other work
I think this is normal? I would just review the changes and incorporate them into future work product to cut down on them needing to make edits in the future. More likely than not, they’re making edits to your draft that people have also made to their drafts in the past.
You're not going to win this battle and part of succeeding in a firm environment is knowing when to pick your battles. When you're the senior, it'll be your turn to dictate style, etc.
Pro
I'm guessing someone's low on billable.s.
You gotta let this one go. It is nonsense.
I’m just going to throw in that as an in houser, and thus a purchaser of legal services, the idea I would be paying for someone to rewrite a minor document purely for stylistic purposes makes me want to throw up in my mouth. If you are a senior lawyer and you do this on my money, I am not at all happy. Give feedback, do it on a non chargeable time code, but if there’s nothing wrong with the product, don’t bill me twice for it.
I 100% agree with you.
Juniors! Please please please use consistent formatting across the deal docs and make them look polished and professional! It may seem like it is beneath you but doing it repeatedly will give you familiarity with the documents we routinely prepare for deals. Also, the client is paying a ton of money and expects to have clean-looking, professional documents. Just do it. I can’t tell you how many times I have formatted a document myself (including potentially substantive stuff like removing doc IDs from signature pages) because I was tired of asking and being ignored.
Just. Format. It. It’s such an easy way to win trust early on and earn yourself a reputation for attention to detail.
Not to be a jerk but people around here, and a lot of new attorneys in general, don’t see why their work isn’t adequate and become generally defensive of revisions. Take a look at what was changed, and maybe it’s for the better. But assuming you’re right all the time can easily generate more work that is the same quality without ever improving.
Yes. I had a partner who did this to me all the time- only when he thought it was my work. I proved it by giving him a report another partner drafted for me and he rewrote the whole thing.
Rising Star
It’s easy to dismiss the changes as stylistic but there may be substantive issues you are missing. Personally, I don’t have time to make purely stylistic changes to juniors‘ work product. I am only taking the time to make substantive changes.
Rising Star
That sounds like a substantive issue. If there is a customary way to say something I will fix that and tell the associate to only use the customary phrase. If the drafting is unclear because of how it is phrased, vs expressing the wrong concepts, of course I will fix. But it doesn’t help the associate unless I tell them their drafting expressed the right idea but was ambiguous.
Yes, some people are just difficult and a lot of partners have trouble letting go of doing the primary drafting work themselves but know that the expectation is for the associate to draft and them to review. It was so bad with one of the partners at my last firm that it made me quit.
Yes! The first year said the draft I had was fine and nothing was actually wrong with it but he felt the need to do something/make changes. The partner told me to ignore his edits and send out as it is.
100% happened to me. Same situation. I, junior, have no say though.
I want to add that my partner did this on all my discovery responses. He changed the order of things and it was the same content. He grilled me hard for not doing the order of his choice. I said theyre the same. He was livid that i said that. It felt like such pointless edits and a ton of time billed that he eventually cut. What a fcker