Attorney Mentoring Lessons From Miranda Priestly
Kate Gould, Esq.
In The Devil Wears Prada, the incomparable Meryl Streep plays the iconic Miranda Priestly, editor-in-chief of the ficitional Runway magazine. To give you a flavor of her demeanor if you haven’t seen the movie, her determined assistant in the film said, “She’s not happy unless everyone around her is panicked, nauseous, or suicidal.” In an interview about the role, Meryl said she was so committed to playing the part of the icy, domineering boss that she stayed in character even when they were not filming. She admitted to giving up method acting after this film as it left her so miserable and depressed.
What can we learn from Meryl/Miranda? Clearly the role of a mentor can weigh heavy on you as a professional. With all your other responsibilities, it can be hard to give much time or effort to mentoring a young attorney. This is perhaps even more so the case if that mentor-mentee relationship is assigned to you versus one that develops organically. While Miranda is really a case study in what not to do, her many memorable one-liners offer a good framework for examining how we can help the new generation of young lawyers learn how to practice.
“Please…bore someone else with your questions.” – Perhaps more than ever, young lawyers (whether they know it or not) have so much to learn from more senior attorneys. Consider keeping your office door open when you can so the young associate in your office won’t feel as intimidated to stop by and ask a question. Or, share your calendar, allowing the younger lawyer on a file to schedule a time to discuss case strategy or next steps. Making yourself available for questions will not only encourage the young lawyer’s growth, it will likely be helpful to your case.
“By all means, move at a glacial pace.” – As a young attorney who worked for multiple partners, the ones who offered me tips for becoming more efficient in my practice stand out in my mind. From encouraging me to use a dictaphone for status letters to showing me how they used the office case management software to stay on task, these lawyers helped me develop the efficiency and good practice habits that ultimately increased my productivity and profits.
“Details of your incompetence do not interest me.” – Constructive criticism is crucial for the development of young lawyers. However, take care in how you deliver it. Instead of leaving a marked-up brief on my chair which could have left me feeling deflated, one attorney I worked with would take the time to hand me the brief and walk through his suggested revisions and changes to the arguments and always say, “Don’t worry about all the red – this is good.” This was not only motivating to improve for the next brief, it was a learning opportunity that would also serve him and our client.
From a risk management perspective, mentoring is part of the professional responsibility we have to supervise the junior attorneys in our offices. ABA Model Rule 5.1(b) requires a lawyer with direct supervisory authority over another lawyer to make reasonable efforts to ensure that the other lawyer conforms to the Rules of Professional Conduct. However, our ethical obligations to less experienced lawyers run deeper than this minimum standard. As shown in Comment [5] to the Rule, “[p]artners and lawyers with comparable authority have at least indirect responsibility for all work being done by the firm, while a partner or manager in charge of a particular matter ordinarily also has supervisory responsibility for the work of other firm lawyers engaged in the matter.”
So, not only must you ensure your associates follow the Rules of Professional Conduct, you also have a duty to oversee their work product. Given these ethical obligations, why not pay forward the practice tips and helpful mentoring you received as a young lawyer to the next generation? By implementing the tips above, you will not only satisfy your professional responsibilities but make an impact on someone else’s career (and likely your bottom line as well).
As Miranda says, “That’s all.”
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