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Likes: partner that is approachable and doesn’t expect you to know everything; one that is willing to help you if you are drowning
Dislikes: partner that is MIA, flakey and/or unreachable; doesn’t work even though they have capacity; completely out of touch with what it was like to be an associate
Confident, know what they want, and give you clear instructions and the time of day when you have questions. I’ve worked with partners who just forward you emails from clients and ask you to “help?” and no direction beyond that and make themselves unavailable when you need a clarification, but get mad when it’s not what they want or it’s not correct.
I also really dislike partners who ask you to redo something because it’s not how they would have done it. Not wrong, but just not their style. If I was in house counsel or a client and I got bills with that time, I’d be pissed. As you get more and more senior and your realization rate matters, this gets incredibly frustrating especially when you work with multiple partners all the time who each have specific ways of liking something done. Not the way you like it or do it doesn’t make it wrong.
One other thing: partners who treat associates like their admins or paralegals. If I can’t bill for it or can’t bill for it at my rate, then don’t give it to me to do. It’s not fair to me to or the client.
I work for someone like that now. He has an assistant but I still get admin work from him.
I love partners that set clear expectations on both the final product and the timeline (when they want to receive it, if I need to be available for further projects stemming from it, etc). I dislike partners that give you work with no broader context and don't include you in the process. And I CAN'T STAND partners who procrastinate in assigning work, so you don't get the assignment until the evening before it's due (I currently work for a partner that has done this twice and will avoid them like the plague in the future).
I used to work for a partner who would procrastinate sooooo bad, it made me quit. Would call me 8pm on a Friday asking me to do something for him within the hour but then not even file it for a week
Likes: clear direction and willing to clarify, also willing to give feedback because otherwise how will I know what to change next time?
Dislikes: the one that forwards an email saying “handle” and when you get into the project it comes out that they also had 6 other highly relevant emails so you’re repeating work due to them not sharing
Interesting... I actually prefer the partners that provide little to no supervision and just say “handle.” I love the autonomy that comes with it, and I get to do things my way as long as the client is happy. Have not had a client complain yet, so really like this setup so far.
While I also like partners who give precise instructions, I agree with Associate 2 in that my least favorite are the “redo it my way” partners. It just feels like they’re putting on a show for the client, and at the client’s expense. And their way is not always the right way; I had one partner who simply refused to listen until the judge ordered him to (shocker) do it the associates’ way. I don’t understand why it is so hard for them to sit back and collect the fees we generate for them.
I have the same issue with a partner except he won’t give his secretary access to his email so there is no option other than to bug the client for stuff that’s probably already been shared with the partner. If you can’t check your email or forward your emails, why can’t you at least give access to someone who will?
Like: Someone invested in your training particularly when you work your ass off for them. It incentivizes me to go like 200% for those people.
Dislike: The partner who asked me in an email to throw another partner I liked as a person from another group under the bus. The other partner was cc’ed on the email...
Yeah...that place was a special brand of hell.
Tbh the only thing I care about when picking partners to work with is whether they bring in business (i.e., big, complex deals). Everything else is an afterthought.
The ones that leave me alone to handle the cases.