Beware the Partner

So this week we had the final workshops for the Business Law and Practice module. It was bitter sweet. We now have exams to face and then when we return our group will be split up for our electives, and I must admit I have made some good friends in this current class so I will be sad not to have workshops with them all. 

With all that said, this post will be less focused on the LPC and more about our (hopeful) future lives as trainees! I have been considering writing something like this for a while but was finally convinced to do it following some conversations that were had in class this week. So, this post is dedicated to...

The Partner. 

I myself have only come into contact with a limited number of partners, so please excuse the gaps in 'partner' information. If you have any stories of your own please feel free to comment :) 

We all know that The Partner holds the key to your future success. Whether it's getting on that first vacation scheme, or getting that promotion you've been slogging away at for the past 3 years- The Partner is the guy (or gal!) you need to impress. So who is The Partner? What makes him/her tick? More importantly, what do you need to do to win The Partner over? Read on at your own peril. 

The High Street Partner

Ahhhh The High Street Partner (HSP). My own experiences of these fine chaps are that a good many of them are susceptible to, what I like to call, Big-Fish-In-A-Little-Pond syndrome a.k.a. superiority complex. Working in a high street firm, I am constantly reminded of the poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow:

"... when she was good she was very very good,

and when she was bad she was horrid..."

The 'good' HSP is bloody fantastic: helpful, friendly, interested in other members of staff- an all round nice guy.

The 'bad' HSP is a nightmare. 

And since this blog would be far less interesting if it was all roses and rainbows, I think I will share a few 'bad' HSP characteristics (all based on experiences of people I know):

• the bad HSP is prone to a lunch time tipple (and an after work tipple for that matter). Just make sure you're not in the firing line when he returns after a bad client lunch because he may just throw a wad of papers across the room at you, while screaming so hard he's gone bright red. All in front of several big clients.
• A running joke amongst many students I know is that the bad HSP will not, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, take calls from estate agents. I have even asked friends who are estate agents about this myth and they too agree that many solicitors will just not accept their calls. Beware, little trainee, or you will rue the day you ever try to put that call through.
• The bad HSP does not want to know about your evening/weekend/cat that is at the vets having been struck down with some mystery illness. In fact, he hardly wants to engage you at all (that is unless you have the capacity to line his pockets). So don't take his grunts and lack of eye contact personally. But do carry on smiling and asking him about his evening/weekend/cat that is at the vets having been struck down with some mystery illness, if only to gain some secret satisfaction that you are seriously winding him up.

The In-House Head of Department

Okay, not strictly one of The Partners, but not to be disregarded nonetheless. My own experiences of in-house are that those in the legal teams are generally happy to have escaped the rat-race of law firm life. Less pressure, less targets and less opportunity for promotion... 

Head of In-house legal knows significant pay rises are few and far between. He has reached the top and his pay is not dependent on who/what is coming through those double doors. Enter Mr relaxed-but-maybe-not-as-fulfilled-as-a-law-firm-partner. Probably won't be busting your ass for results, but you know the only chance of you moving up is him moving on. 

The Regional Partner

These beauties fit somewhere between our lovely HSP and the mega-successful large commercial firm partners. The Regional Partner (RP) is balanced, you might say? I am sure the majority of them are, but RP's can and will shout. Alot. Just don't do a nervous giggle and you might get through it unscathed. I have also heard stories of unsavoury things that the RP may ask you to do for him but I'm sure those RPs are very few and far between....

In spite of all the above, I really do respect The Partner. After all, he has worked his butt off, sacrificed ALOT of personal time and, especially in the case of the HSP, the firm may well be his 'baby'. There are some absolutely fabulous partners out there, punctuated with the odd nightmarish partner. But, if you have the misfortune to meet him or work with him, I am afraid you'll just have to grin and bear it.