Legal News

Help Us (And Others) Write the ?Dos, Don?ts and Truths of Law Firm Life?

By Ashby Jones

Sure. We’ll bite. Why not?

Over at the Slaw blog — one devoted to all things legal and Canadian — writer Dan Michaluk earlier Wednesday penned a funny post, listing what he calls the “Firm Rules” (Dos, Don'ts and Truths of Law Firm Life).

It’s a good list, one which we won’t reprise in full. Our favorites, however:

• Rule #765 A managing partner should never walk the halls in stocking feet.
• Rule #441 If you're under 50 and using a fountain pen you're trying too hard.
• Rule #210 Make funny faces and adoring comments when a new baby visits no matter what you're thinking.
• Rule #923 Telling colleagues their voice message is out of date is not an act to win friends.

Not to be outdone, Bruce Carton over at the Legal Blog Watch adds a few rules of his own. We like these:

• Rule #111 — For every 100 lawyers in a law firm there will be at least one lawyer who will instruct his or her secretary to print out all of their incoming e-mails for them to review.
• Rule #242 — Put the bow ties away until you reach the age of 50 (or unless you grew up on Nantucket).

Let’s keep the chain going here, and throw out a couple of our own.

• Rule #207: Refrain on cufflinks unless and until you make partner. After that, use them exceptionally sparingly.
• Rule #815: Don’t tell your romantic partner/spouse that colleague Jenny or Jimmy is your “work boy/girlfriend.” Even if Jenny/Jimmy is totally harmless, it’s annoying and plants insidious seeds of wonder.

LBers, any others?

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on January 13, 2010 (boomark / email).