Anonymous Lawyer

I just sent out an e-mail to a few of the associates who I've worked with recently. "Anyone free for lunch today?" I quickly got two responses. So I wrote back. "I see. Well, if you're free to go to lunch, then you'd certainly be free to work on some research for a client. I'll forward you some information and expect a memo from each of you by the end of the day. Thanks." It's as easy taking food from the mouth of an anorexic teenage girl. They never learn their lesson. Never tell a partner you're free. It's an invitation for more work. How, in good conscience, can I sit here knowing there are associates with free time, especially knowing how much we pay them. For this kind of money, it's our responsibility to our clients to keep the associates as busy as we can. Otherwise we should pay them less and lower our hourly cost. Of course that would never happen in reality, but I'm talking theoretically.

I just got a third response to the lunch e-mail. "Great," I'm writing back. "If you're free over lunchtime, I've got a few errands you can run for me. Stop by my office and I'll give you a list."