Pet peeve: attorneys who value their time more than your time

A pet peeve of mine, for which I am getting increasingly peevish, is attorneys who set office procedures that value their time more than their fellow members of the bar’s time.  I am seeing this behavior in three distinct ways. First, attorneys demanding that one courtesy copy their paralegals on emails to them.  Second, attorneys who have their staff ask for a courtesy that one would be granting the attorney (rather than the staff).  Third, attorneys who require other attorneys to answer numerous questions from their receptionist before they will even attempt to contact the attorney being called.

There are two issues I have with the request to courtesy copy staff on my emails to attorneys.  The first is that I often get responses from staff (who have no authority to bind the attorney to what they communicate) when my email seeks a response from the attorney.  The second is that I should not be required to remember which attorney wants which staff to be courtesy copied on their emails. Each offending attorney thinks I should be able to remember their particular courtesy copying preferences. However, it has become myriad attorneys asking me to remember. I frankly don’t want to use my limited bandwidth to remember their workplace preferences.

These attorneys could easily set up email forwarding for their staff so that their staff receives every email they receive. I assume the reason they do not do this is that they do not want their staff being inundated with emails.  However, asking me to communicate directly with their staff is essentially outsourcing their workflow responsibilities to me.  Not my monkeys; not my circus.

My second peeve is attorneys who have their staff ask me for courtesies.  Some courtesies, such as sending word drafts of discovery, that would normally go between paralegals, I don’t mind because I recognize that I am an outlier in not having a paralegal. But when support staff asks me for extensions or other professional courtesies, I get offended. An attorney who wants a courtesy from another attorney should ask that attorney directly.  When attorneys have staff ask on their behalf , I perceive it as those attorneys seeing their time as being valuable than my time.

My final peeve is attorneys who set up their receptionists to ask me myriad questions before one can even be informed if that attorney is available.  Being asked to spell my full name, whether I am an existing or potential client, and the case I am calling about, isn’t information that a receptionist needs before determining whether that attorney is available.  I assume these questions get asked so that these attorneys can screen calls.  However in ensuring their time is productively used, they ensure my time is unproductively used.  It is obnoxious—especially when I am returning that attorney’s call.  And a pox on any attorney who has staff call me and then asks me to hold for the attorney.

My offending members of the bar should set up email forwarding if they want their staff to know of their email communications.  Fellow members of the bar should ask for professional courtesies directly. Lawyers should not expect fellow lawyers to answer two minutes worth of questions before being informed whether that attorney is available.  These attorneys may not perceive such behavior as valuing their time over their fellow members of the bar, but that’s how I perceive it.