I have been blessed with great
supervisors so far in my (short) legal career. Some of my friends have not been
so lucky. This blog post is a combination of my thoughts and my friends’
thoughts on what makes a good supervisor.
Dear supervisors of junior
lawyers,
If you would like to be a
fantastic supervisor that we remember for the rest of our career for the right
reasons please note the following:
1. Provide
as much feedback as possible
Whenever we get direct,
contemporaneous feedback, we can quickly adapt and learn for next time. Where
you accept mediocre work and choose not to give feedback, we will not have a
chance to improve. Do not wait for set quarterly or six monthly reviews, please
tell us straight away each time you review a piece of work. Let us know if we
have the structure of an advice wrong, if we have not quite understood a legal
concept, if the wording in a clause we have drafted is archaic, if our email
was drafted in the wrong tone, or if our attempt at plain english drafting was
not correct. If you don’t tell us, we will forever be wondering in our heads,
and this can lead to insecurity and a lack of confidence. Feedback works both
ways. We develop as junior lawyers and you get the benefit of a more capable
lawyer. We won’t be offended, or start crying, or think you are a nasty person.
We just want to learn and do a better job next time.
2. Give
us encouragement and positive affirmations when we do a good job
We may come across as confident,
but underneath the surface most of us are trying desperately to stay afloat and
adapt to do legal work which is predominantly new to us. When we do something
right please let us know because it will help improve our confidence.
3. Value
legal training and other types of professional development
Some supervisors view Continued
Professional Development obligations as a necessary evil. Other supervisors
view it as an opportunity to fill skill gaps. A good supervisor will take the
second approach and make sure you are attending the cutting edge legal seminars
and training in your area of speciality. Good supervisors also understand the
importance of professional development including having a mentor who is not
your boss and having professional contact with junior lawyers working in a
similar field. Attending networking events should be encouraged and supported,
even if it means leaving work at 5pm that day or having a long lunch to make it
to a networking event. Overall, we will be happier and more productive at work
where we feel we belong in the legal world and have contacts to use.
4. We
are capable of so much more than you think
Yes we can use the photocopier,
do legal research, draft basic contract clauses and attend court for return of
subpoena matters. However, we are capable of so much more. When the senior
associate goes on annual leave, don’t be afraid to trust us with difficult work,
even in areas of law we do not have much experience in. As recent law
graduates, we specialise in learning new areas of law quickly and accurately
(aka cramming before a law exam). Especially in situations where a niche advice
is required, let us have a go before you give the work to a specialist
barrister. Even where we still have to get expert legal advice, our preliminary
advice can be included in the brief, save the barrister time and in turn save
your client money.
5. Share
things about yourself so we can see that you are human
Please share anecdotes about your
weekend/your family/your kids/your golfing trip. You might not think we are
interested, but we are. We are desperate for information about you that makes
you relatable (and slightly less scary).
6. Let
us know when to go home
Sometimes it is difficult to know
when it is ok to unshackle ourselves from our desks and go home for the day,
especially when we work in litigation or transactional areas of law where our
finishing time will vary greatly from day to day. When you give us a lengthy
task at 6pm, please tell us whether it is urgent or not, which will give us a
clear message as to whether to leave or stay at work another 3 hours. I know we
should have the courage to ask, but sometimes it seems easier and safer to stay
at work and not ask the question of urgency, as we don’t want to be seen as
lazy.
7. Try
and make it easier for us when we are asking for something difficult
Some junior lawyers find it
extremely awkward asking for annual leave, sick leave, special working
circumstances, or pay rises. If you sense this is the reason we are talking for
you, please smile and encourage the question. Usually we have been rehearsing the
conversation in our head for weeks and it has taken this long to gather the courage
to actually have the conversation.
8. Keep
your office door open (at least sometimes)
Although we can work autonomously
for long periods of time, we will need access to you at least once a day to
touch base and make sure we are on the correct path. Please make sure you keep
your door open for at least part of the day so this is possible. Even better,
come and talk to us at our desk where we are more comfortable and where we have
all the work on our computer to show you.
9. Understand
we are not earning much money
Given the economic climate, quite
a few unadmitted law graduates are being paid award rate, which under the Legal
Services Award 2010 for a full time Law Graduate Level 5 is currently $882.80 a
week or $23.23 an hour. Living off this much in Sydney or Melbourne is doable,
but does not leave us with much of a financial cushion. When you ask us to pay
for our practising certificates and claim reimbursement which can take a month,
it can put us in tricky financial situations. Similarly, when you ask us to go
and buy a colleague a present, and then collect money from other colleagues to
reimburse ourselves, we are ordinarily always out of pocket (there is always
one team member that does not pay). Please make sure this does not happen. The
lowest earning member of your team should not be the one forking out. Most of the
time supervisors are either not aware how little their junior lawyers are paid or
are not aware their junior lawyers are out of pocket. Make sure this doesn’t happen.
10. Care about our wellbeing (or at least pretend)
If twelve months have passed since
we took annual leave, have a conversation with us. If we are sick, and there is
no urgent work, send us home. Even if there is urgent work, send us home to work
from home. Remind us of the workplace wellbeing services and encourage use of subsidised
work yoga and meditation sessions. We actually would like to use these services,
but are waiting for the all clear from you. Imagine how productive we will be once
we get back from a mind clearing meditation session.
Yours sincerely,
Junior lawyers
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