Law
firms
can
be
unpleasant
places
to
work
since
office
politics
and
bad
personalities
can
create
a
toxic
culture. Sometimes,
law
firm
partners
and
other
managers
might
abuse
their
power
and
belittle
associates
even
though
this
can
have
an
adverse
impact
on
morale. In
some
extreme
examples,
shouting
matches
might
be
commonplace
in
law
firm
offices.
I
worked
at
four
different
law
firms
before
starting
my
own
practice. One
of
the
shops
was
a
smaller
law
firm
that
did
not
pay
associates
as
much
as
other
practices. This
usually
meant
that
people
could
take
time
off
without
too
much
trouble
since
everyone
understood
there
needed
to
be
advantages
to
receiving
such
low
pay. For
some
attorneys,
this
also
meant
that
shouting
matches
were
tolerated
since
associates
did
not
feel
like
they
should
take
abuse
from
higher-ups
for
such
little
pay.
One
time,
we
received
a
negative
decision
from
a
court,
and
this
made
a
partner
at
the
law
firm
furious. The
partner
tasked
me
with
researching
ways
that
we
could
stay
the
decision
pending
appeal,
and
I
went
to
work
researching
an
area
of
the
law
I
had
not
previously
encountered. I
ended
up
discovering
that
in
our
situation,
we
might
not
need
to
post
an
undertaking
as
was
required
in
most
situations
in
which
litigants
wanted
to
stay
decisions
pending
appeal.
For
some
reason,
the
partner
did
not
believe
I
was
correct
in
my
assessment. He
asked
for
the
statute
that
included
this
provision,
and
he
read
the
provision
out
loud
from
a
desk
copy
of
the
relevant
procedural
rules
that
clearly
stated
we
could
ask
for
a
stay
without
posting
a
traditional
undertaking. Still,
he
would
not
concede
that
he
was
incorrect,
and
the
scene
eventually
became
a
shouting
match. I
don’t
remember
the
entire
conversation,
but
I
remember
our
last
exchange
was
me
saying
something
like
“I
haven’t
been
shown
anything
to
prove
that
this
provision
is
inapplicable”
and
he
said
something
like
“let
me
show
you
to
the
door”
and
I
left
for
my
own
office.
The
managing
partner
eventually
tasked
a
senior
associate
with
conducting
her
own
research
on
the
issue
to
see
who
was
right.
Predictably,
this
person
found
that
I
was
correct
in
all
respects,
and
this
was
easy
to
conclude
since
the
language
of
the
relevant
provision
explicitly
backed
my
arguments. I
never
experienced
any
negative
consequences
from
this
shouting
match,
and
things
mostly
normalized
with
the
partner
who
was
my
shouting
sparing
partner.
Another
time
at
this
firm,
I
attended
a
court
appearance
for
a
senior
associate
and
the
court
rendered
an
unfavorable
decision
for
us. The
attorney
who
handled
the
case
was
livid
and
told
me
that
I
would
have
to
complete
any
follow
up
work
that
was
necessary
because
of
the
court’s
opinion. This
led
to
another
shouting
match,
and
I
was
on
bad
terms
with
this
attorney
for
about
a
week. When
this
attorney
saw
I
was
in
the
office
kitchen,
he
would
walk
out,
not
wanting
to
be
in
an
uncomfortable
encounter
with
me. Strangely,
our
connection
normalized
about
a
week
later
when
he
offered
to
give
me
a
shirt
that
he
was
gifted
but
that
was
too
large
for
him. I
declined
the
shirt,
thanked
him
for
the
gesture,
and
we
hugged
it
out. Everything
was
fine
with
us
from
that
point
on.
All
told,
when
attorneys
are
underpaid,
they
might
not
believe
that
they
should
have
to
swallow
some
indignities
that
employees
at
more
well-heeled
firms
need
to
endure. Moreover,
such
lawyers
might
not
be
so
fearful
of
losing
their
jobs
since
the
gig
they
have
is
not
that
valuable
to
begin
with. Accordingly,
it
is
more
common
for
attorneys
at
such
firms
to
have
more
hostile
interactions
and
for
there
to
be
fewer
negative
consequences
from
shouting
matches.
Jordan
Rothman
is
a
partner
of The
Rothman
Law
Firm,
a
full-service
New
York
and
New
Jersey
law
firm.
He
is
also
the
founder
of Student
Debt
Diaries,
a
website
discussing
how
he
paid
off
his
student
loans.
You
can
reach
Jordan
through
email
at jordan@rothman.law.