It's time for another post about the good, the bad, and the ugly.
The good: I got permission to re-write from scratch what has basically been a craptacular contract that we would never agree to and to which the other side kept trying to add ridiculous and impossible clauses in indecipherable lawyerese. I wrote something in plain English that has now passed through all the review hoops on our end and I think stands as good a chance as anything at finally resolving a really, really expensive dispute.
So that was nice.
I wrote it from about, I don't know, 11 to 1 in the morning some time last week, because here's the bad: I've broken 300 hours and I still have a full day of billing to go this month. We're going to trial in a couple weeks in one matter, and there's an endless amount of prep work to do for that. We're writing an appellate brief in another matter and I'm responsible for a section that's responding to the bulk of the other side's brief (in which they deny, deny, deny the truth). I've barely been able to touch it and I need to turn a draft in yesterday. Literally, yesterday. I had started to work on it yesterday, too, and then everything got derailed by the ugly.
I might be tired, but I don't really mind working this much off and on, because I get totally stressed out if I don't have enough work to keep me busy. What I do mind, however, is when a difficult and arduous work situation is made impossible and miserable by other people's demeanor. I had a first-year motoring along yesterday compiling a lot of the prep work with occassional input from me, and I was clearing off my desk and starting to work on the brief, when senior associates decided to start getting pissy.
Really pissy. Work on the brief became impossible and I ended up being at my desk until 2 am handling a made-up emergency for the trial prep and doing things that are way beyond my job description. I was sending emails at 3 am, now it's 8 and I'm about to head back to the office and wondering what I'm going to do because one way or another I'm going to need to find a way to confront some people, preferably with some tact, about the way they speak to me and the way they manage the team.
Wow, really looking forward to that. But, as TFL reminded me earlier this week when the same people were sending me emails that were way over the top, I grew up with four older brothers. I'm tougher than they are.
The trick will be remembering that.
Well, I grew up with only 2 brothers, and I know I'm not as tough as you. Maybe that's why. I hope it went well.
Posted by: Denise | July 31, 2011 at 08:57 PM