Since the fateful terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, the legal job market was barely breathing, Worse yet, as a mere second-year associate, Brett lacked the skills to be a valuable commodity in this tight market. She would be in for a tough job search, and she resented it.
"I worked my you-know-what off for this lousy law firm," she said irritably, "and this is what I get!"
At first glance the firm's reasoning behind the decision to let her go was not obvious. Brett was not only a beautiful woman with a flair for fashion, and a haute couture voice to match, she had an impeccable resume that included an Ivy League education.
She was smart, aggressive, and a top biller. So why had she become the target? When word comes down that people have to be let go, law firm managers and practice group leaders are forced to make tough choices about who to send packing.
The choices are informed by a variety of factors. Some of the variables are clearly quantifiable, but many are subjective. The real motives for targeting certain people for outplacement are more secret than the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden.
The person being jettisoned is going to be the last one to know the underlying reason. Even a best-effort search to elicit the "real reason" for dismissal is met with placating words designed to make the associate feel better and limit liability in the event of a future lawsuit.
Many of my outplacement clients report stonewalling, or suspect outright lies when they search for the truth. They hear, "Look, I never said that to Frank. I don't know where he got the idea I didn't like your work on that case," or "Hey, I never told Ken about the deadline we missed. I have no idea where he got the impression it was your fault."
When law firms make choices about whom to hold and whom to fold, they are not necessarily formulaic. Many associates either hope or believe that astronomical billables will buffer them from the storm. High billables can certainly be important, but there may be even better career insurance.
Clearly, Brett needed to develop some career insurance at her new job. To help her do this, we had to understand what had gone wrong this time. At first, her dismissal was a mystery to us both, but as we continued to talk about her career decisions and work history, the answer emerged.
Brett's first career choice had been modeling. She was not tall enough to be a runway model, but she could have been a print model. Competition for jobs in that field are notoriously fierce, but she was building a portfolio by the time she graduated from high school.
Brett was brainy as well as beautiful. She felt that her intellectual gifts would be wasted in the fashion world. She went to an Ivy League school and did well.
When it came time to choose a professional path, she decided on the law not because she loved intricate legal concepts, but because she loved the idea of being a "player," a force to be reckoned with in a man's world. She did reasonably well in law school and was hired by a large firm. She was immensely pleased with her career at this point.
When she began to work at the firm as an associate, however, she encountered many associates and partners who were exceptionally incisive and capable. She struggled with a sense of intellectual inferiority for the first time in her life. Despite seeming self-confident, she secretly experienced a crisis of self-worth.
Although Brett felt she was less capable, she did not want that to be known, so she did not ask enough questions. Instead, she pretended to know answers, acted confident, and kept her doubts to herself.
As a result she made mistakes, which she characterized as minor and inconsequential, but they must have been serious enough to create mistrust among key partners in her group. They began to channel work to other associates.
Brett was keenly aware of the peril she faced if she could not get enough work from partners to keep up high billables in uncertain economic times. She campaigned to get assignments from partners in another group and was successful at that effort.
She began to straddle two practice groups, which contributed to her billable hours, but she did not have an alliance with the key partners in her first group. In addition, the second group did not have enough work or enough clout to bring her into their group.
Brett also alienated key partners in her group of origin by failing to get their explicit blessing before soliciting work from another practice group. It did not reduce her culpability that her first group of origin was not supplying her with enough work. She was still guilty of disloyalty to the team, even though that was never expressed to her.
Brett was not happy with most of the work she received from either group. She was assigned basic projects that required research and writing. She was not entrusted with higher profile work, client contact or more challenging matters.
Her group of origin did not have faith in her ability, due to her errors. The second group gave plum assignments to the rising stars on its own team. Assignment of low-level work played into her sense of inferiority.
Brett signaled her dissatisfaction and annoyance to other associates, and occasionally asked partners to reassign her work. She believed that she was being unfairly treated and decided that her workplace was sexist. To the rest of the firm, however, she probably appeared to be arrogant, irritable and untrustworthy.
Brett was unaware of the ways she had set herself up for failure and blamed the firm for her mistreatment. But at this point, it was clear to me why she had become the target.
The career insurance Brett needed, in part, was greater political savvy about the ways firms work. She also needed a better sense of self-confidence. It seems counter-intuitive, but you have to have the confidence to be imperfect and ask for help when you are just starting out as a lawyer.
An associate also enjoys greater career insurance if there is a good fit between his or her personality and the culture of the workplace. When the fit is good, there is a better chance of creating options for success and greater career advantage, which translates into security.
In Brett's case, she felt uncomfortable from the beginning. She might have been able to overcome that initial discomfort if she had been willing to try to understand the problem and work on it, but she did not do that.
To create even more insurance, develop a skill that is in demand or a niche knowledge area that is necessary and unique, or rare in your field. Brett failed to make herself necessary to her workplace. In fact, by straddling two practice areas and ending up with work she felt was beneath her, she effectively devalued her worth.
Finally, associates protect themselves by staying in high-demand practice areas, maintaining excellent working relationships with key partners, and producing flawless work. Here again, Brett struck out. She started out in a high- demand area but made mistakes on work done for key partners, which eroded their trust.
Workplaces are not fair. Legal workplaces are generally not warm and fuzzy. To avoid becoming a target of your firm's downsizing, know your personal weaknesses and work to improve your personality, as well as your legal skills. Learn about law firm politics by talking to more senior associates, and develop a good relationship with partners who will entrust you with progressively better work.
Become irreplaceable to your firm by honing a special skill or body of knowledge. Be careful not to rely solely on high billables to shelter you from the storm.
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Chicago attorney and career counselor Sheila Nielsen writes occasionally for the ISBA Bar News on personal fulfillment and redirection of careers within the law. All names and situations depicted in the article have been changed. She may be contacted at Nielsen Consulting Service, 155 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago 60601, telephone (312) 616-4416.
The ISBA now sponsors a Catastrophe Major Medical Insurance Plan designed to help with the expenses of a serious accident or illness. Why is this type of coverage important?
Basic medical insurance may have annual limits placed on the amount it can pay, in addition to limits on what will be covered. Basic medical insurance isn't designed to cover all your medical expenses.
The new ISBA major medical plan can be the solution. It is designed to provide the insurance you need if medical costs are higher than what basic medical insurance, HMO, PPO or even Medicare was designed to handle.
This plan can pay up to $2 million for as long as five full years, and has home health care and nursing home benefits. Benefits are paid directly to you or anyone you choose. The plan is available regardless of age and your spouse or domestic partner, and children are also eligible for coverage.
This new ISBA membership benefit offers features that may be limited or unavailable through your basic medical insurance, but can be essential to your recovery.
For example, a nursing home stay or home health care visits may be necessary for recuperation. Unfortunately, these benefits may be limited or not offered at all in a basic medical insurance plan.
The Catastrophe Major Medical Insurance Plan nursing home benefit provides up to $500 per week for up to three full years. The home health care benefit allows for up to 100 visits in one calendar year.Another important feature is the private duty nursing benefit, which provides personal attention from the nurses charged with your care.
Hospital nurses usually have entire floors to cover, and this situation creates a challenge for the nurses who work hard to ensure that the proper treatment is given, along with the personal attention patients need.The private duty nursing benefit in the ISBA plan eliminates that challenge and gives you the treatment you expect to receive.
The Catastrophe Major Medical Insurance Plan is available to ISBA members through the insurance administrator, Marsh Affinity Group Services, a service of Seabury & Smith in Park Ridge. For information, call (800) 503-9230, or access www.seaburychicago.com.
Forensic science panels set for defense lawyers
The Illinois Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers will conduct two all-day Friday seminars this month on "Forensic Science in the Courtroom." They will take place March 8 in the Sheraton Chicago Hotel and Towers, and March 22 at the Southern Illinois University School of Law, Carbondale.
The Chicago program on March 8 will begin at 8:30 a.m. with welcoming remarks by IACDL President Jack P. Rimland of Chicago, a past chair of the ISBA Criminal Justice Section Council.
At 8:45 a.m., a keynote speech on "Forensic Science and Criminal Law" will be given by Law Prof. Paul Giannelli of Case Western Reserve University, co-author of the two-volume Lexis-Miche text, "Scientific Evidence."
From 9:45 a.m. to 3 p.m., presentations will be provided by national authorities on reading and understanding autopsy reports, using entomology to solve crimes, the use and abuse of drug testing, and the identification and confrontation of expert witness fraud.
At 3:15 p.m., IACDL President-elect Gregory W. O'Reilly of Wilmette, secretary of the ISBA Criminal Justice Section Council, will discuss "Forensic DNA in Criminal Cases." He is legal counsel on criminal law issues and policy for the Cook County public defender
The seminar will conclude with the 4:15 p.m. presentation by attorney and forensic science consultant Gil Sapir of Chicago on "Forensic Science and the Expert Witness."
Fees for attending the seminar are $100 for IACDL members and $125 for non-members. Printed materials, continental breakfast and refreshments are included. To register, call Nancy O'Connor, (312) 831-1500.
The schedule of topics and speakers for the March 22 seminar in Carbondale will be summarized in the March 15 issue of the ISBA Bar News.
Interfaith forum to air death sentencing issues
A two-day Chicago conference, "Death Sentence 2002: An Interfaith Forum for Humanity," will be conducted Saturday and Sunday, March 9-10, by DePaul University with the Illinois Coalition Against the Death Penalty and Amnesty International.
The program will begin at 11 a.m. March 9 on DePaul's Lincoln Park campus with a series of workshops. Speakers include Sister Helen Prejean, author of "Dead Man Walking"; exonerated death row inmate Delbert Tibbs, and actor Michael Farrell, president of the California Death Penalty Focus.
At 11:30 a.m. March 10, workshops will continue at St. Josaphat Church, 2311 N. Southport, with an address by Cardinal Francis George. An award will be presented to Gov. George Ryan for his moratorium on executions.
Conference registration is $20, plus $10 for a Saturday dinner and musical entertainment. Call (312) 849-2279 for more information or to register.
Director of Legislative Affairs
The General Assembly continues to process bills now that the bill introduction deadline has passed for both chambers. This is a sample of proposed legislation in Springfield.
Attorney discipline for nonpayment of taxes. Senate Bill 2311 (Philip, R-Addison) creates the Attorney Discipline for Nonpayment of Taxes Act. It requires that the Supreme Court of Illinois direct the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission to impose discipline against an attorney licensed in Illinois for failure to (1) file a return; (2) pay tax, penalty, or interest shown in a filed return; or (3) pay any final assessment of tax, penalty, or interest as required by any tax Act administered by the Illinois Department of Revenue. The bill leaves the discretion of what kind of discipline to be imposed to the ARDC and may include disbarment. Senate Bill 2311 has been referred to Senate Rules.
Automatic transfer of juveniles. House Bill 4129 (Currie, D-Chicago) creates a mechanism in which a juvenile who is being prosecuted as an adult in criminal court may petition to have a judge transfer the case back to juvenile court for adjudication and disposition. The intent of this bill is to reduce the racial disparity in present automatic transfers of juveniles. A national report issued last spring concluded that Illinois has the distinction of having the most racially biased drug transfer laws of any state in the nation. The most recent study finds that 99% of all juveniles automatically transferred for drug offenses in the last year were children of color, 37% of whom were never even prosecuted in adult court, 59% had no prior juvenile history, and 74% of those transferred received probation in adult court. The House Judiciary Committee II approved HB 4129 with the expectation that it would be amended to apply only to drug offenses. The Illinois State's Attorneys Association and the office of Cook County State's Attorney Richard Devine opposed House Bill 4129, which is an initiative of the Juvenile Justice Initiative of Illinois. It is on second reading in the House.