The High Price of Keeping Up Appearances

The not-entirely-surprising news that leaders of a certain bankrupt big-name law firm have been indicted (Matthew Goldstein, Former Top Leaders of Dewey & LeBoeuf Are Indicted, New York Times DealB%k, Mar. 6, 2014) is a cogent reminder that law firms in trouble don’t exactly confess to it. They may indeed go to unfathomable lengths to maintain an air of business-as-usual even as that very business is going down the drain. Really, who wouldn’t have doubts about a firm that couldn’t even manage itself?

Be aware that a troubled employer probably won’t disclose its real status. How many of us have heard about firms that still send recruiters to law schools even though they know no offers will be made? Is a firm having difficulty paying its legal research database bills? Have its copiers just been repossessed? Has the firm abruptly stopped providing certain benefits? Note the details. Talk to people.

Need to learn more about an enterprise?  Try chatting someone up in the restroom.

Prospective new hires need to remember to undertake as much due diligence as they can before signing on to any firm. What can be learned about a firm’s fortunes? Pay attention to appearances. How run down is the place? What do the back rooms look like? How current is equipment?

Try to chat up as many prospective colleagues as you can. To this day, some of my own best reconnaissance has occurred in the lavatory. It can be amazing whom you might strike up a conversation with while you’re applying more lip gloss in the ladies room. It can be even more amazing what a stranger in the bathroom might actually tell you.

See also Lori Tripoli, Don’t Be the One Laid Off: Check your Employer’s Background First, ContemporaryLawOfficeManagement, June 24, 2013.

—Lori Tripoli