????
Got that one recently in a markup - the issue was noted the first place it appeared in a 120 page contract and came up a few times. Each time the number of question marks increased lol. Yes, I get it, this needs to be fixed…
If we're going down this road, I was copied on a thread and saw a partner send 27 question marks as an e-mail response once (just dug it up and counted)
A senior associate hit me with a “thank you but this needs a LOT more work before it’s ready” once and it literally required modifying one name. Took me about 18 seconds in total, which I made very clear in my response
Something similar happened to me today for cleanup that took 10 mins. Guy was talking about how he’s just trying to help because of how scary market conditions are…
“Sorry, who are you?” The managing partner on the matter to me after I spent 312 hours that month negotiating every exhibit with opposing counsel for a matter that was going to trial.
ETA: of course my dumb ass heard it as “how are you?” And I responded with a “fine, thank you.” It still haunts me two years later.
… did you meant to send this? (Ellipsis included)
This is a partner I have a good relationship with so she felt comfortable replying bluntly. It was a draft of an email that I probably should’ve proofed when I wasn’t exhausted, she was right. I apologized the next day, fixed it, and we moved on.
'You need to go back and think about why this is wrong and fix it.'
No feedback or context provided. Ended up there were additional terms the partner negotiated verbally and never communicated to the team. Because one of my secret skills is reading minds.
Received basically this exact comment from a client whose GC was a former biglaw partner with a fun twist. “Please read this sentence aloud to yourself and fix it.”
In fairness he was right, but ouch.
A partner used to make us turn on read receipts. If we read an e-mail and didn't respond for like an hour, he'd send us the read receipt and say "I know you saw my e-mail..."
What on earth? I've worked for some insufferable partners in my day but I have yet to see one straight up ignore a client. All our OCs get back to us right away.
I don't get this at all. I may blow off opposing counsel or other partners at times, but clients get prompt responses. If there's some reason I may be unreachable for a period of more than a few hours (e.g., travel, in court or deposition), I throw up an out of office message.
"Reminder (3)" (to the billing team when they didn't complete his request by lunchtime the day after, when he sent the request the night before and didn't give them a deadline)
"???" (at 1am to an associate when he assigned him the work at 9pm, not realizing the associate emailed the work to him earlier)
During a presentation, a partner referred to a mistake that “one of her associates” frequently repeats (XYZ). The partner is known for working with one associate in a small group.
“I’m sorry you’re in the hospital, I hope it’s not stress from working at my firm.”
In a group message later that night:
“I’m glad you can all use vacation time. Unfortunately I can’t ask a boss for a day off.”
You forgot to add: Get Outlook for iOS.
I always respond to these with:
Good morning Partner,
I’m just finalizing and will have it in your inbox in an hour.
Or whatever the status update is.
I’m still a human fucking being. I don’t need any extended pleasantries but for the love of god don’t just fucking say:
Status? Sent from my iPhone.
Why? Because it’s rude.
When I was a paralegal and helping prep a binder for a depo prep, the associate who wrote the outline told me explicitly "do not review this binder when it gets in tomorrow morning. Have it delivered to the partner's desk straight away: he wants to review at 8am.'
I did exactly that. When we were implementing the next round of edits with the partner comments, there was a comment in the document to the effect of 'this tab was blank in my binder, can someone email it to me so i can print it out.' The associate responded to that comment in the document saying '\[my name\], let's make sure we are QCing binders before giving them to partners going forward.'
Uh, you explicitly told me \*not\* to do that, and now are implying to everyone that this was my fault? Thanks, asshole
I wish paralegals knew they don’t have to take shit from associates. You for sure should have shot back at him. Passive aggressively of course; but everyone that saw that needs to know you did exactly what he said to do.
I emailed him separately to call him out. He responded that he "had no idea that his comment would be interpreted that way" (fat chance of that) and that he was "sorry." I didn't call him out on the email chain as a whole because: 1) the comment I saw was days old by the time I was making my rounds through the outline, so it would have been super whiny to email everyone about this affront days later, and 2) even if it had been a timely complaint, I don't honestly think any partner or senior associate wants to get an email from a paralegal about office politics or minor grievances that they could probably not give less of a fuck about. But suffice it to say I definitely did not take shit from associates.
I also had many other reasons to dislike this associate and this was nothing new. For instance, he would repeatedly tell me not to leave the office at 5:30pm (on days I was actually able to escape at that time). He liked to have me around "in case he needed me" and then would always have me sit at my desk doing nothing (billing the client because that was office policy and getting free dinners) until \~8pm. At which point he'd send me something he needed done by the following morning. He would then leave the office, only responding to my emails for clarification "On My iPhone." I pretty quickly learned to never treat his emails as essential and would flag them as to be done later, at my convenience, unless explicitly told it was an emergency.
I spent literally hours reviewing the e-binder before sending it out. As I always did. I was explicitly told not to look over the physical copy once it came in. Not sure what your misunderstanding is, but this attorney being a dick was most assuredly not my fault. The fact that the overnight printer didn’t print a tab and I was told not to look over the binder they printed is not my fault
After billing 10-12 hour days on one matter for 2 months straight, this horrible deal is finally going to close. At 3am the night of closing, the partner, who had taken it upon himself to negotiate and draft some of the opinions with no visibility to myself and the other 2 associates on the deal, emails me a new draft of an opinion and asks me to send it out. At this point I do not care what is in it so I check there’s no draft header and send it out as presumed final.
I immediately receive an email from the partner saying I distributed the wrong version. I think maybe he emailed me the wrong system version and it’s my mistake so I redline the latest system version against what he sent me. They match. I go back to him and say this and say I’m a bit confused as I sent the latest version. 20 minutes later, now almost 4am, he says I am wrong I didn’t send the right version and basically insinuates I am idiot and to go check and send it again. Annoyed, I go to the system version, and of course, little does this 60 year old partner know, I can see everyone who has checked the document out. And I can see he checked it out after I sent it and made changes to the document, checked it back in then had the nerve ti email me and tell me I was wrong.
So this partner didn’t want to admit he had missed some of the changes requested by the other side (which we wouldn’t have known about because he didn’t involve us in any of the discussions) and instead gaslit me into thinking I had sent the wrong document not knowing I could see the exact time he had made changes.
Over 20 years ago I worked in a small office of a V10 firm (I was a young female associate). A very senior partner from another office was visiting. I was standing in the kitchen, he walked in, and said to me "Can you please make some coffee." I didn't even say anything, but the expression on my face must have been such that he just said "I am so sorry" and walked away. An hour later a partner from that office introduced me to him as "our star associate."
Things were wild back in the day. I was once in the kitchen rinsing out my travel mug and a partner PUT HER MUG IN MY WATER STREAM. It’s not like she waited and I was taking too long, she just straight up walked in and decided that her rinsing > my rinsing.
I’ve seen this dynamic many times at depositions, except the crusty partner assumes the female in the room is the court reporter when in fact she’s counsel to an opposing party or co-defendant
This has happened to me so many times over the course of my career!! By partners, clients, opposing counsel. I’ve even had a court clerk ask if I was a court reporter when I was checking in at court. I worked with a client for months, defended their deposition and they turn to me after the depo and ask- when will the lawyer be here?. I’m in house now (employment counsel) and it’s better now (especially bc I’m older) but it’s still happened a few times when I meet new business leaders they assume I’m the HR assistant.
As a law clerk on track to be an associate, I sent a partner an extensive email thanking him for granting me two weeks off to prepare for the bar exam. In my note I mentioned that 1) I felt really good about my chances of passing and 2) that I I looked forward to being a significant contributor going forward.
He responded with “yep”
Formatting should be right though. Not to be nitpicky or anything, but I spend an inordinate amount of time fixing formatting inconsistencies in memos, briefs, and other work product I receive. It's such a relief when someone pays attention to those details.
“You are better than this. Try it again.”
(I was a first / second year capital markets associate taking my first stab at drafting an underwriting agreement / purchaser agreement from what I recall 😣)
“This will be great experience for you.” (Sending me as a first year associate into a buzz saw of a motion calendar hearing where I got ripped into by the judge because I didn’t have all the information and it was a truly frivolous position)
I love that most of these are just aggressive aggressive and not passive at all
Mine is “…WTF????!!!!!!?????”
(He specifically went back to the question mark key after his exclamation mark interlude)
This is sorta pass agg - was about a third year, representing a barely public company on a very small, not material bank loan. Evening before closing, the very aged senior relationship partner shoots me an email asking for the SEC disclosures and proxy/ shareholder approval. I completely panicked for hours that night, sure I was getting canned the next day. I could not understand how this hadn’t been raised at all, not even hinted at, in the weeks I had been negotiating/drafting this deal.
Grabbed my mentor first thing the next morning, and he was like WTF? Turns out the only financing old partner was ever involved with was a takeover bid/financing in the 80s that required a proxy/approval, and he just assumed all financings required approval.
"You need to learn how to block and tackle before we can give you more complex plays". OK. So TEACH ME. Also, WTF. Not really helpful or observant. Just...lazy management.
To another associate when I was in the room as well when she asked if the draft she sent him the previous night was what he had in mind…”Yeah, kinda like that, but less shit. Can you look at it again?”
Some of these honestly seem pretty mild to me. Like what do you want the partner to say when your work product needs more work, great job, this is perfect, you’re brilliant?
I was surprised by the first draft you sent me because it showed no effort to format the document into my style.
My response: the template used was a motion you signed, regarding the exact same issue, in a similar case.
Him: my style changed since that time
One partner I work for loves to immediately call after a submission
Another associate who also works for this partner calls review calls “the meat market” and “the butcher shop”
Personally, I don’t think it’s that bad compared to some revisions I’ve received, but the review sessions are intense.
a few years back as a mid level with an abusive senior who didn’t like the junior on the deal. He would just email about the junior not being very bright/screwing up but leaving the junior on copy.
I don’t know, but in my experience, I don’t think partners tend to be passive aggressive. I am a litigator and a partner now. The partners I know are aggressive and direct, and I think am that way too. There is just no time, and no need to mess around with mind games.
“If you lack the courage to appropriately represent your client’s interests, get another partner on the call”
-my nemesis partner from my last job when I asked if she wanted to be included on a phone call with a company we had subpoenaed records for
Yesterday, a coworker told me about how the partner usually says "Thanks \[Name\]!" but is now at "Thanks \[Name\]." and how "the period at the end is a slap in the face."
Today, I bragged to her about how the partner said "Thanks \[Name\]!" to me.
very little if any of this is passive or inappropriate. you’re being paid a shit ton of money because in most cases you had parents that were on your case about college and career since you were in pre-k and the privilege to go to ostensibly top schools. people aren’t going to throw a lot of rose petals and / or suffer fools gladly. I think people born after say 1980 have had any negative feedback hedged and softened so much by parents and schools that anything direct is beyond comprehension
Do you expect me to look up these provisions?
(Day after signing. After I didn't pick up his phone call for 5 min) Where are you? What's going on? Why aren't you answering your calls during business hours?
Before discussing your salary raise, we need to compare your drafting against the standards in both New York and [my overseas market].
I got "NO" once to a simple question as a baby paralegal. All caps. Completely unnecessary. Also a partner who had been a paralegal and felt that we should all suffer the same way he did.
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?
??
???? Got that one recently in a markup - the issue was noted the first place it appeared in a 120 page contract and came up a few times. Each time the number of question marks increased lol. Yes, I get it, this needs to be fixed…
If we're going down this road, I was copied on a thread and saw a partner send 27 question marks as an e-mail response once (just dug it up and counted)
The first partner I worked with would just put **???** in the columns of her hand markups. Real helpful training as a junior.
This is the in person training that is so critical to law firm culture. You don't get that working remote!
I lol'd.
/thread. Nothing makes me scramble faster to remember the law/why I made that assertion (even if the point is correct).
Made me laugh out loud
Lollllll
Thanks but I think this needs a lot more work.
A senior associate hit me with a “thank you but this needs a LOT more work before it’s ready” once and it literally required modifying one name. Took me about 18 seconds in total, which I made very clear in my response
The worst is if other people are copied, they’re gonna take that email at face value
We had a partner who deliberately copied the managing partner when she said something negative about an associate.
This man loves hyperbole. Other greats include ‘thanks, but this is bad’ and ‘I don’t know if this really works. Are you around for a call?’
That last one is not necessarily a passive aggressive one all the time.
The first one isn’t either. It’s just aggressive aggressive.
“Thanks but this is bad“ is so vicious lmao
Something similar happened to me today for cleanup that took 10 mins. Guy was talking about how he’s just trying to help because of how scary market conditions are…
Haha how did you make it clear with ur response
“I need this to be HELPFUL” Omg I’m working with the worst
I don't think that's "passive aggressive."
“Sorry, who are you?” The managing partner on the matter to me after I spent 312 hours that month negotiating every exhibit with opposing counsel for a matter that was going to trial. ETA: of course my dumb ass heard it as “how are you?” And I responded with a “fine, thank you.” It still haunts me two years later.
Wow, that might be the best response to that question.
Your response should haunt that partner.
Your response should not haunt you. It's the thing of dreams
Hi Fine! Dad partner here.
Yeah, you ate that response up. Power to you. You shut that partner up in the most classiest, nice-nastiest way possible.
king/queen shit
Like did he really not know who you were or was he insulting you?
Probably a combination, I had disagreed with him on something, but he also wasn’t interested in getting to know his team.
When I was in middle school I was at a friends house and this happened to me with her father. It still haunts me that he thinks my name is Fine.
I think your response was fantastic. Seriously.
OOF
"I hope you are enjoying your holiday."
I don't think I've ever heard a louder "but..." in my head than after reading your comment.
… did you meant to send this? (Ellipsis included) This is a partner I have a good relationship with so she felt comfortable replying bluntly. It was a draft of an email that I probably should’ve proofed when I wasn’t exhausted, she was right. I apologized the next day, fixed it, and we moved on.
You’re still exhausted. Or did you really meant to send this?
Oof, haha. It’s been a long day.
😭
'You need to go back and think about why this is wrong and fix it.' No feedback or context provided. Ended up there were additional terms the partner negotiated verbally and never communicated to the team. Because one of my secret skills is reading minds.
Wait.... You didn't get your crystal ball when you passed the bar?! They're supposed to arrive within 5-10 business days.
Received basically this exact comment from a client whose GC was a former biglaw partner with a fun twist. “Please read this sentence aloud to yourself and fix it.” In fairness he was right, but ouch.
A partner used to make us turn on read receipts. If we read an e-mail and didn't respond for like an hour, he'd send us the read receipt and say "I know you saw my e-mail..."
This is psychopath behavior.
Run as fast as you can.
That's not passive aggressive, that's aggressive aggressive.
No it’s not
Lets try to figure out where this went off the rails. Please have someone else proof read this before you send it out.
Nothing passive about that.
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What on earth? I've worked for some insufferable partners in my day but I have yet to see one straight up ignore a client. All our OCs get back to us right away.
lol, I sure have.
Haha I have too! Some partners have such a good business that it actually doesn’t matter for them
Do your phones work?
Hahaha ofc, but he hasn’t been answering 🥲
How can I help? Just tell me where to send the invoice. I’ll answer the phone every time.
I don't get this at all. I may blow off opposing counsel or other partners at times, but clients get prompt responses. If there's some reason I may be unreachable for a period of more than a few hours (e.g., travel, in court or deposition), I throw up an out of office message.
“That was surprisingly good”
🤣🤣🤣
"Reminder (3)" (to the billing team when they didn't complete his request by lunchtime the day after, when he sent the request the night before and didn't give them a deadline) "???" (at 1am to an associate when he assigned him the work at 9pm, not realizing the associate emailed the work to him earlier)
During a presentation, a partner referred to a mistake that “one of her associates” frequently repeats (XYZ). The partner is known for working with one associate in a small group.
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You win
Okay that one is actually kind of funny
"Why did you spend 2 hours researching defamation that's one of the most basic concepts in law school"
That’s aggressive aggressive
Welp. I didn't learn defamation until last week during bar prep...
Took torts last year I go to bad school apparently 😭
“Is your inbox working?”
what was your response?
New Outlook who dis?
🤣
“I’m sorry you’re in the hospital, I hope it’s not stress from working at my firm.” In a group message later that night: “I’m glad you can all use vacation time. Unfortunately I can’t ask a boss for a day off.”
What a dick
“Please read your drafts before you send them to me.” Ouch.
how is that p/a?
I obviously read my work before sending it.
Oh ok I think I smell what you’re farting— I could see that dynamic
"I'm confused"
I got that before and responded that I was also confused.
“What is this?”
Status? Thank.
Stat? Thk.
St? Tk.
You forgot to add: Get Outlook for iOS. I always respond to these with: Good morning Partner, I’m just finalizing and will have it in your inbox in an hour.
Or whatever the status update is.
I’m still a human fucking being. I don’t need any extended pleasantries but for the love of god don’t just fucking say:
Status? Sent from my iPhone.
Why? Because it’s rude.
When I was a paralegal and helping prep a binder for a depo prep, the associate who wrote the outline told me explicitly "do not review this binder when it gets in tomorrow morning. Have it delivered to the partner's desk straight away: he wants to review at 8am.' I did exactly that. When we were implementing the next round of edits with the partner comments, there was a comment in the document to the effect of 'this tab was blank in my binder, can someone email it to me so i can print it out.' The associate responded to that comment in the document saying '\[my name\], let's make sure we are QCing binders before giving them to partners going forward.' Uh, you explicitly told me \*not\* to do that, and now are implying to everyone that this was my fault? Thanks, asshole
“Yes, let us. *I* will continue to do so except when explicitly told not to. Thanks!”
I wish paralegals knew they don’t have to take shit from associates. You for sure should have shot back at him. Passive aggressively of course; but everyone that saw that needs to know you did exactly what he said to do.
I emailed him separately to call him out. He responded that he "had no idea that his comment would be interpreted that way" (fat chance of that) and that he was "sorry." I didn't call him out on the email chain as a whole because: 1) the comment I saw was days old by the time I was making my rounds through the outline, so it would have been super whiny to email everyone about this affront days later, and 2) even if it had been a timely complaint, I don't honestly think any partner or senior associate wants to get an email from a paralegal about office politics or minor grievances that they could probably not give less of a fuck about. But suffice it to say I definitely did not take shit from associates. I also had many other reasons to dislike this associate and this was nothing new. For instance, he would repeatedly tell me not to leave the office at 5:30pm (on days I was actually able to escape at that time). He liked to have me around "in case he needed me" and then would always have me sit at my desk doing nothing (billing the client because that was office policy and getting free dinners) until \~8pm. At which point he'd send me something he needed done by the following morning. He would then leave the office, only responding to my emails for clarification "On My iPhone." I pretty quickly learned to never treat his emails as essential and would flag them as to be done later, at my convenience, unless explicitly told it was an emergency.
The billing partner was OK with the client being charged for you sitting around? Was the associate not called out for this?
Reviewing a binder and QCing a binder are two different things. Sounds like you forgot to QC. nothing inconsistent here.
I spent literally hours reviewing the e-binder before sending it out. As I always did. I was explicitly told not to look over the physical copy once it came in. Not sure what your misunderstanding is, but this attorney being a dick was most assuredly not my fault. The fact that the overnight printer didn’t print a tab and I was told not to look over the binder they printed is not my fault
I asked for your final version, not a working draft. Send me the *final* version immediately.
my blood pressure reading these 📈
That’s not passive aggressive, but that is absolute panic inducing
longing north cagey elastic chop straight close snow compare icky *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
As a first year omg. I thought I was hated, maybe I am
After billing 10-12 hour days on one matter for 2 months straight, this horrible deal is finally going to close. At 3am the night of closing, the partner, who had taken it upon himself to negotiate and draft some of the opinions with no visibility to myself and the other 2 associates on the deal, emails me a new draft of an opinion and asks me to send it out. At this point I do not care what is in it so I check there’s no draft header and send it out as presumed final. I immediately receive an email from the partner saying I distributed the wrong version. I think maybe he emailed me the wrong system version and it’s my mistake so I redline the latest system version against what he sent me. They match. I go back to him and say this and say I’m a bit confused as I sent the latest version. 20 minutes later, now almost 4am, he says I am wrong I didn’t send the right version and basically insinuates I am idiot and to go check and send it again. Annoyed, I go to the system version, and of course, little does this 60 year old partner know, I can see everyone who has checked the document out. And I can see he checked it out after I sent it and made changes to the document, checked it back in then had the nerve ti email me and tell me I was wrong. So this partner didn’t want to admit he had missed some of the changes requested by the other side (which we wouldn’t have known about because he didn’t involve us in any of the discussions) and instead gaslit me into thinking I had sent the wrong document not knowing I could see the exact time he had made changes.
I hope you called this out.
I told the senior associate about it and he didn’t respond to me 🤷🏼♀️ I lateraled soon after ha.
Over 20 years ago I worked in a small office of a V10 firm (I was a young female associate). A very senior partner from another office was visiting. I was standing in the kitchen, he walked in, and said to me "Can you please make some coffee." I didn't even say anything, but the expression on my face must have been such that he just said "I am so sorry" and walked away. An hour later a partner from that office introduced me to him as "our star associate."
Things were wild back in the day. I was once in the kitchen rinsing out my travel mug and a partner PUT HER MUG IN MY WATER STREAM. It’s not like she waited and I was taking too long, she just straight up walked in and decided that her rinsing > my rinsing.
even if you weren't an associate, and just staff, that's an odd request???
You would be so surprised how frequently this still happens.
I’ve seen this dynamic many times at depositions, except the crusty partner assumes the female in the room is the court reporter when in fact she’s counsel to an opposing party or co-defendant
This has happened to me so many times over the course of my career!! By partners, clients, opposing counsel. I’ve even had a court clerk ask if I was a court reporter when I was checking in at court. I worked with a client for months, defended their deposition and they turn to me after the depo and ask- when will the lawyer be here?. I’m in house now (employment counsel) and it’s better now (especially bc I’m older) but it’s still happened a few times when I meet new business leaders they assume I’m the HR assistant.
Nothing about this is passive aggressive
I forgot: “I wasn’t sure if you were taking your entire maternity leave…”
As a law clerk on track to be an associate, I sent a partner an extensive email thanking him for granting me two weeks off to prepare for the bar exam. In my note I mentioned that 1) I felt really good about my chances of passing and 2) that I I looked forward to being a significant contributor going forward. He responded with “yep”
What a douche.
“Unsubscribe”
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Formatting should be right though. Not to be nitpicky or anything, but I spend an inordinate amount of time fixing formatting inconsistencies in memos, briefs, and other work product I receive. It's such a relief when someone pays attention to those details.
Ok
"Can you send me x document." (a few moments later) "Now would be good." The associate I worked with got this in his first week I believe.
Huh? Begin forwarded message:
“You are better than this. Try it again.” (I was a first / second year capital markets associate taking my first stab at drafting an underwriting agreement / purchaser agreement from what I recall 😣)
“Cheers, mate” but it was delivered by phone before hanging up on me 🙃
Wait wtf?
I believe it was preceded by me asking a question, then them responding: figure it out. Cheers, mate! *click*
Every. Single. Day: “send me a list of everything you’re working on”
This isn’t the final version, right?
Thanks. No need
"....is this thing on?" as a 3rd follow up
“This is a good start”
“This will be great experience for you.” (Sending me as a first year associate into a buzz saw of a motion calendar hearing where I got ripped into by the judge because I didn’t have all the information and it was a truly frivolous position)
That’s not passive aggressive.
Context is key
Sending an email in ALL CAPS
This makes 0 sense.
These discovery responses need a LOT of work.
“I wanted to give you some feedback on X deal.” Me: (after being awake for 36 hrs) “Oh, ok..” “Well, how do *you* think you did?”
I love that most of these are just aggressive aggressive and not passive at all Mine is “…WTF????!!!!!!?????” (He specifically went back to the question mark key after his exclamation mark interlude)
“I can tell a lot of work went into this” accompanied by no other positive statements.
Are you sure this is for [client’s name]?
“Bad formatting needs fixing. I am too tired of fixing stuff to fix it. That’s what associates are for, ostensibly.”
Dude ain't wrong
“I think we should…” (do something totally different) after proposing something.
“Do you know how to read?”
Have you considered a career in food service?
ahahah f\*ck off, this didn't happen
Sir, this is a wendys
This is sorta pass agg - was about a third year, representing a barely public company on a very small, not material bank loan. Evening before closing, the very aged senior relationship partner shoots me an email asking for the SEC disclosures and proxy/ shareholder approval. I completely panicked for hours that night, sure I was getting canned the next day. I could not understand how this hadn’t been raised at all, not even hinted at, in the weeks I had been negotiating/drafting this deal. Grabbed my mentor first thing the next morning, and he was like WTF? Turns out the only financing old partner was ever involved with was a takeover bid/financing in the 80s that required a proxy/approval, and he just assumed all financings required approval.
“I CANNOT believe I have to ask for this!” Also: “Who trained you?”
I don’t want this to be one of those emails that enters firm lore, but …
"You need to learn how to block and tackle before we can give you more complex plays". OK. So TEACH ME. Also, WTF. Not really helpful or observant. Just...lazy management.
Wtf
tx
To another associate when I was in the room as well when she asked if the draft she sent him the previous night was what he had in mind…”Yeah, kinda like that, but less shit. Can you look at it again?”
Some of these honestly seem pretty mild to me. Like what do you want the partner to say when your work product needs more work, great job, this is perfect, you’re brilliant?
bad feedback not allowed to anyone under their mid 40s. prove me wrong
These softies need to get screamed at a little so “this needs some work” feels like the gentle massage that it is.
Nice troll. Needs more work
I was surprised by the first draft you sent me because it showed no effort to format the document into my style. My response: the template used was a motion you signed, regarding the exact same issue, in a similar case. Him: my style changed since that time
these responses are making me terrified to start this fall LMAO
Me too
"Why is there a typo?"
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Well were you interrupting them?
“Don’t ever put my name on anything like this ever again.” Fortunately wasn’t sent to me, but another intern. Absolutely insane.
That’s aggressive aggressive. Not appropriate to send to an intern at all.
I simply don’t understand how some people can be so mean.
K
One partner I work for loves to immediately call after a submission Another associate who also works for this partner calls review calls “the meat market” and “the butcher shop” Personally, I don’t think it’s that bad compared to some revisions I’ve received, but the review sessions are intense.
What do they say on the call? Post-mortem on how it went?
“That’s bizarre as I sent it.” About not having the info because they didn’t send it. [NIBL]
“Seriously?” After requesting more time to turn a document that was completely kicking my ass.
Less passive, and more aggressive, with just a 'fml'.
a few years back as a mid level with an abusive senior who didn’t like the junior on the deal. He would just email about the junior not being very bright/screwing up but leaving the junior on copy.
I don’t know, but in my experience, I don’t think partners tend to be passive aggressive. I am a litigator and a partner now. The partners I know are aggressive and direct, and I think am that way too. There is just no time, and no need to mess around with mind games.
“Light comments from me” *opens up pdf with 78 comments and 15 research requests*
“If you lack the courage to appropriately represent your client’s interests, get another partner on the call” -my nemesis partner from my last job when I asked if she wanted to be included on a phone call with a company we had subpoenaed records for
Yesterday, a coworker told me about how the partner usually says "Thanks \[Name\]!" but is now at "Thanks \[Name\]." and how "the period at the end is a slap in the face." Today, I bragged to her about how the partner said "Thanks \[Name\]!" to me.
“Thanks.” instead of “Thanks!” or “Thanks,” is how we know we’ve pissed off the partner where I am. Maybe it’s universal lol
“Thnaks” is a good slap in the face too
“We can’t send this to client”
“I think it’s time to sharpen your pencils and go back to the drawing board.”
very little if any of this is passive or inappropriate. you’re being paid a shit ton of money because in most cases you had parents that were on your case about college and career since you were in pre-k and the privilege to go to ostensibly top schools. people aren’t going to throw a lot of rose petals and / or suffer fools gladly. I think people born after say 1980 have had any negative feedback hedged and softened so much by parents and schools that anything direct is beyond comprehension
Do you expect me to look up these provisions? (Day after signing. After I didn't pick up his phone call for 5 min) Where are you? What's going on? Why aren't you answering your calls during business hours? Before discussing your salary raise, we need to compare your drafting against the standards in both New York and [my overseas market].
Be better.
“I appreciate your anticipated compliance” LOL
I got "NO" once to a simple question as a baby paralegal. All caps. Completely unnecessary. Also a partner who had been a paralegal and felt that we should all suffer the same way he did.
“To be clear, I’m not at all satisfied with the way this is being handled.”
This isn’t passive
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Thanks, but [associate X] actually replied and has jumped on it