How do you tell a partner you are running behind on an assignment? I’m constantly getting assignments to be turned around within a few hours or by the next day (even on weekends). This inevitably gets me behind on other assignments and I am working for several partners who don’t work in the same group.

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Just be upfront. Lay out the other assignments you have. Give a realistic timeline of when you’ll be able to get to his/ hers. It’s a never ending time juggle so you just have to keep communicating with people to let them know if you expect to get behind. Most reasonable people will understand.

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This may not work, but I like to send a weekly email (Friday or Monday). Basically, it’s a game plan for the upcoming month on pending items - highlighting items due immediately or in the coming week. It’s pretty daunting the first time you do it, but if you have a form, it’s easy to just cut out completed items and add new ones. I send it to the partners that I work with, and it gives them a bit of a big picture of what all is going on (bc otherwise they are oblivious). I find that it’s an easy way to show everyone what’s on my plate, but it also keeps me organized. Again, this might not work for your situation.

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Also, I realize that didn’t answer your question for the immediate things, but in long run, they may realize without you telling them you’ve got other fires.

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I don’t tell them. That way we’re all surprised together when it comes to the surface. Life on the edge!

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“I am running behind on an assignment. I will get it to you by X”

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When you get an assignment, tell them when you can get it to them by. Partners can't tell what you have going if you don't tell them.

Try to be helpful but if you can't make a realistic promise then don't take on the project because any partner worth working with will deal with going to another associate a lot better than having to deal with a half assed or late work product.

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Learning to juggle is just part of the game and, while you are juggling, you will need to optimize your positive outcomes and minimize the bad outcomes. As a very young attorney, probably not a great career approach to say “no” to pretty much any work. At some point though, you will need to learn to say “no.” Trouble is ... when? Think the answer is when you are comfortable enough to rely on your acknowledged value and competence such that you know you can contribute at or above the level of the other associates in the pool. Will add that the tension of deciding when to say “yes” or “no” never goes away, although it does get easier with time. Partners have the same tension with clients and development of new practice areas. My advice is not to get discouraged but to learn to “dance” in your environment.

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I faced this issue. I agree with the above post regarding communication. Set realistic expectations, provide updates as to the progress so they know you didn’t forget and prioritize appropriately. But once again, set the expectations- if you don’t you’ll become overwhelmed and the work will be that much tougher. Best of luck.

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They likely know you have competing assignments. So, just communicate and ask about timing upfront so you can better prioritize.

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Id put it on the people assigning the assignment- hey x, with partner y cced, im still working on this draft but have been also asked to prepare z on a tight deadline. Should I keep working on the draft, ive spent a hours on it so far or switch to assignment z? Happy to keep going but wanted to be sensitive to deadlines and hours....

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Yeah in situation where one partner came in hot with deadlines I was already knee deep in another equally pressing matter. I sent message to both asking how they wanted me to proceed and one partner chimed in saying the urgent request wasnt in fact so urgent. Sometimes partners forget that associates have multiple workflows.

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Just tell her you are and present her with a plan to get you back on schedule. No one want’s to hear excuses. I love the military approach to problems; the debrief. Everyone gets together and discusses what went right and wrong. What happened? What can be learned from what occurred. Those responsible accept responsibility and everyone moves forward to ensure the same mistakes won’t happen again. Figure out why you are behind. Are you taking good care of yourself? Do you sleep enough? Do you eat right? Do you exercise? How do you relieve stress?

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It is up to you to control your workflow in the first instance. You have to prioritize work and if your long term assignment is suffering because of new assignments you need to stop taking new assignments. That may require asking for help. But just taking whatever is given to you is not the way to go, particularly when it leads you to falling behind and wondering how to tell someone about it. Get them involved sooner. Use them as an excuse to turn down work sooner.

At this point just tell them. Maybe they have the ability to lighten your workload somehow.

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THIS HAS BEEN HAPPENING TO ME SO OFTEN LATELY

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On a related note, how do you prioritize assignments?

I do by due dates I promised people, if that's not working for a partner, I'll be happy to give the phone number for the partner who gave the other assignment and they can have a dance off over who gets to use my services first.

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Invite the judge to play golf. Lay it all out and ensure the judge that you care about court congestion but justice is never cheap and always worth the cost of pursuing it. After all, where would we be without neutral judges to ensure fairness and justice.

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