Yes I ran away again, but I'm sneaking back with my tail between legs hoping you will remain blissfully unawares. Truth be told, I have too many things on my plate at the moment and so have resorted to cheating. Speaking of cheating, this is actually an entry which I wrote last semester for a workshop entitled "Legal Ethics". The workshop title is amusing in itself.
This first blog is about what we hoped to gain from the course and our experiences with ethics and the law. Keep in mind that this entry was submitted for marking, so I must warn that it's a bit heavy on the cheesy side (especially the last line). The name of the protagonist has also been changed so I don't get my ass sued. Aside from that, this is a true account of my first (and probably last) job in a law firm.
First impressions...
I approached the first day of my new job as a law clerk in a mid-tier law firm with a mixture of excitement and nervousness. I entered the 10th floor office and was kindly told to sit and wait for the Partner. I sat on my chair, butterflies in stomach and an akward smile permanently affixed on my face for the receptionist. The glass doors flung open and out rushed a stout man. He came up to me, firmly shook my hand and promptly stated with an irish accent 'Hi I'm John, I've got to run to a meeting, but I'll talk to you later'.
And that was it.
John was jovial, over-the-top but also quick and seemingly on the ball. He took everything in his stride and seemed to make an immediate impression on everyone. He was relatable and made you feel at ease - a far cry from what some of my friends had told me to expect from working with a Partner ('think files being thrown at the walls, yelling, and him thinking he's God').
I got to work immediately, keen to make a good impression. He was a good mentor, careful to teach as well as delegate. However, it wasn't long before I began to notice things. For instance, I would notice every now and then he would leave work at lunch and come back at 4.30 pm - I put it down to schmoozy client lunches, certainly nothing of concern. But then as the weeks progressed, I would notice that on Fridays he would only show up for 2 hours and then not return to the office for the rest of the day. I found things to do to occupy myself, but, admittedly I did find it strange. As a Partner of the personal injury team he was incessantly busy, so phoning in for documents to be faxed or papers to be filed while he was 'off-site' seemed perfectly normal. But then came the telephone calls requesting me to send emails from his computer to appear as if he was at work. I obliged, noting the red flag in my head, but again thinking nothing of it. He would also ask for letters to be written up to get his wife out of a parking ticket. He wasn't billing it, and to be honest, it just seemed perfectly normal to help out a mate (or in this case, a wife).
Then one day he came back from one of his client lunches, red faced and giddy. He strode into his office and asked me to see him. I quickly followed him. His speech was slurred and he was laughing excessively - even for John. He was undeniably stone cold drunk. Curiously, and perhaps ashamedly, I asked him a question regarding a matter to see how he would handle it. To my suprise, not only did he answer the question correctly (admittedly a question I wouldn't have been able to answer even if I was sober), but then delegated even more work to do!
Clearly, he was still brilliant while intoxicated.
I knew this was wrong, and I was certainly overwhelmed with what I was dealing with, but I continued to do the work. After all, who was I - a practically glorified PA (4 months in the job nonetheless) - to cause waves in an almost 50- year institution, especially in relation to a Partner? When he finally stammered out of the office 20 minutes later, I caught the Managing Partner shoot a glance at another Partner, and mouth the words 'Is he drunk?'.
I prepared myself to witness a sacking then and there on the spot, or some sort of discplinary measures at the very least. The Managing Partner, instead, just walked back into his office. That was it. I was astounded. And then it struck me - the whole office seemed to cast a universal blind eye to John and his ways. I knew I had to tell someone. I went up to another clerk and asked point blank 'What is the deal with John? Why doesn't anyone talk about this?'. She took me aside and said matter-of-factly, "That’s just John, the office has just learned that it's John and it's best to leave it as that". Wow. A couple more conversations in the kitchen, and I got the whole extent of "just John". It wasn't pretty. Marital problems. A raving (albeit functioning) drunkard. I spoke to an Associate and asked why no one had ever spoke up. He said, with a tinge of bitterness, that John was bringing in ridiculous amounts of money for the firm and that there was just simply no way any of the Partners would speak to him about his problems, let alone fire him.
I was amazed. Perhaps I was naive, but I was utterly shocked that a law firm in 2010 could be like this. More than amazed though, I think I was disappointed. I was disappointed to see the seedy, murky culture of the law world for myself - to see that the stereotype of lawyers was in fact right and that perhaps after all, I was extremely naive to hold blind faith in the law profession. Needless to say, the bar is set high for this course.
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