Partners, senior associates - why do you phrase things as “what about this? Why havent we done this?” Isnt it obviously bc nobody thought about it? Why not just direct and guide your team to do something as opposed to ask that awkward question and make the team scramble to pretend like it’s in process

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Hear me out, sometimes they are genuinely asking if there is a reason something wasn’t done.

I try to phrase it as “is there a reason we didn’t do x?” My team is filled with smart people. I do not assume they are incompetent. I assume that if something looks different than I think it should, some thought went into that decision.

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Ditto this. It actually makes me so mad when people do the opposite and just assume it’s wrong and make changes without asking (and then we have to go back and fix it because it turns out there WAS a reason we didn’t do it that way in the first place and the person making assumptions didn’t have the full story).

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I’m now a senior. When I was a junior, I HATED this. But now I understand and do it too. It’s because we’re genuinely not sure if someone thought of it and want to know why. Often the answer is “yes, I did think of this and concluded x for y reasons” to which I’d be like, “ok cool” and if the answer is “no, didn’t think of that,” then I’d be like, “ok then let’s look into xyz and revise in abc manner if this is an issue”. There’s no way to direct the team how to respond if you don’t know whether they already considered the issue.

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Once you work with that partner enough, you’ll get to know them and whether they’re the type of person to “ambush” you vs. just genuinely ask questions about the intent you’re drafting. In the meantime, just give them and yourself the benefit of the doubt and don’t read negative connotations into it. What good would it do?

Agreeeeeeeeeeedddddd. As a mid, the only time I ask a junior if they’ve thought about something is because they didn’t flag it on the markup. And I remember sometimes I used to consider marking something but would decide against it only to have someone ask about it.

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But now I put everything I got on the page and if it’s not there I didn’t consider it.

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My pet peeve is when partners or seniors use “we” when they really mean “you.” Have we done x; we need to do y… really just means you need to do x and y. Drives me nuts that it sounds like a teamwork thing when it’s really not but is just a directive.

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The answer is you unless the partner specifies otherwise in my experience

I hate this too. Just tell me what to do and if you want to teach me then explain why it needs doing.

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But why didn’t you already know?!??

Just kidding.

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I’m always genuinely asking because the junior is closer to the deal and probably has good insight. At least my juniors do.

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Maybe they didn’t think about it. Maybe they did and had a good reason not to do it. That’s why we ask. Some people are more tactful than others.

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Agree with A3. Also, though it is unpleasant being on the receiving end of it, having these questions asked in this way does help you remember to do those things on future deals/matters.

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