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I interviewed with Firm A months ago and accepted a position to start this upcoming fall. Group leader called me to offer the position back in November 2020. Besides interviewing with partners at the firms, and diligent follow ups notifying them of my interest to get started, no communication has transpired since.It turns out that I accepted a better offer w/ Firm B for personal reasons and won’t be going to Firm A. What is the best way to notify Firm A? Call/email group leader? Call/email HR?
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Other advice here looks solid. I would also add: when working with juniors, ask them not just "can I say XYZ", they may have no clue what that means and are scared to say "lemme get back to you." Ask what steps they took, why XYZ is important, and/or explain how you'd get to a "yes" on the XYZ issue (or some combination thereof, or other supporting statements/questions), and really explain that XYZ being right is really important to your case. Until you and the junior develop a working rapport, you can vet their responses without double checking every minor detail.
I've been in this position before. My recommendation is to reach out to the partners on the matter and ask to remove the problematic juniors for quality reasons. I've done this 2-3 times in my career. Next step, befriend good juniors and start making active changes in your management style so that the rockstar juniors want to work with you. Then, monopolize their time on your matters. The fight for good juniors on matters is real. You're getting the scraps.
After looking in to the issue myself, my impression is that my colleagues are just not doing their jobs properly (e.g., not fully vetting the positions before telling me to take said position). This has happened multiple times. I’m blaming myself for various reasons. At the same time, when I ask for a confirmation that I can say “X,” get a solid “yes” response, then later find out, after getting blasted by 5 opposing counsel, that the answer “no,” what am I supposed to do? Is this a lack of management? Is it a learning curve I’m still climbing? Is it just poor quality help? And when I have to reverse a position I took, does this reflect poorly on me from the partners?
As a side note, we are very understaffed right now. But some issues originate from a time when we had adequate staffing and only later come to light.
Mentor
Not a partner but I am leading multiple matters as well).
You cannot possibly double-check everything so this goes according to risk evaluation. If you work with someone for the first time, double-check; when something has happened double-check again a couple of times.
Edit: I am a transactional lawyer and not a litigator.
Above advice is good, but also don't just accept that what OC is telling you in a dispute is 100% right or the fact that they're getting pissy with your position is a sign it was improper posture. Depending on the OC there isn't always a lot you can do without getting any push back and there is a whole exagerated kabuki when it comes to OC pushing back over say discovery disputes.
Kabuki is exactly the right way to characterize contentious discovery disputes 😂😂
Mentor
Assuming OC is correct that your positions are wrong (and that’s a big if that I wouldn’t just accept even if 100 OC told me that), my recommendation is that, if the point actually matters, get the backup so you know the facts before you go into a M&C. Otherwise you can’t adequately respond. And don’t just ask a junior associate if you can say something. If they say yes, ask why? Based on what? Send me the document or depo testimony or whatever. I never leave anything important enough to someone else’s say so, regardless who that person might be. And I wouldn’t worry about the partners. It’s a painfully rare partner who has a clue about the facts.
Yes always ask for the documentation to back it up. I’ve been burned in a similar way and found that trust, but verify, is the way to go.