The Grace Period: Shining A Light on Lawyer Wellbeing
The Grace Period: Shining A Light on Lawyer Wellbeing
Episode 38: Managing With Clarity
Ever wondered how to break the cycle of toxic management in law firms? Discover a practical, powerful tool that transforms attorney relationships and sets clear expectations without the mind-reading.
Commercial litigation partner Emily Logan Stedman reveals her secret weapon for effective team management: the Best Practices Memo. This comprehensive document eliminates guesswork by outlining everything from file management protocols to communication preferences, creating a foundation for successful collaboration in high-stakes legal environments.
What sets this approach apart is how it balances professional guidance with personal vulnerability. Emily doesn't just share her document formatting preferences and work schedule—she opens up about her professional journey from fifth-grade teacher to law firm partner, her personal strengths and values, and even details about her English bulldogs and passion for Packers football. This blend of clear expectations and authentic personal sharing transforms the traditional hierarchical attorney relationship into something more human and effective.
The Best Practices Memo represents a refreshing departure from the stereotypical law firm culture. Emily emphasizes that while titles matter for accountability and decision-making, "not one of us is more valuable than the other." She encourages associates to challenge her conclusions, nudge her when needed, and recognize that mistakes are part of the learning process. By reviewing and updating this document twice yearly, she demonstrates ongoing commitment to communication and growth.
Ready to transform your own management approach? Whether you're a seasoned attorney or new to leadership roles, this episode offers a tangible template for creating clearer expectations and stronger teams. Reach out directly to Emily for a copy of her Best Practices Memo and start building more transparent, productive, and human relationships in your legal practice today.
Find out more at https://thegraceperiod.substack.com/.
Welcome to the Grace Period where we get real about attorney mental health and well-being and pull back the veil on the high-stakes world of big law. I'm your host, emily Logan Steadman. In this demanding profession, it is crucial that we don't lose ourselves in the hustle for billable hours. On the Grace Period, we have honest conversations about finding consistency, minimizing chaos, developing coping strategies and de-stigmatizing mental health. It is time to prioritize our shared humanity, to find our grace period. Hi everyone, welcome back to the Grace Period.
Speaker 1:I'm Emily Logan Steadman, a commercial litigator and partner at Hush Blackwell, an AmLaw 100 firm. If you're new here, I'm someone who's passionate about making big law life a little more human, efficient and sustainable. I love being a lawyer Of course, not every day, not every second, but overall I know I'm meant to do this. There have been times I've doubted that and they fall into two camps. Sometimes I doubt it because I loved teaching. I loved being a fifth grade teacher and I still think one day I'll go back to it. The other period in which I doubted this was a stretch where I had a really toxic boss, but every day I try to lead by example, so I'm not a toxic manager myself, striving to lead healthier, more positive teams. I'm also figuring out how to bring teaching into my practice, as well as the things I do alongside my practice to grow as a human and support other humans, who also happen to be attorneys. Like you know, through this podcast there's a lot of jokes about lawyers being awful. The stereotype is not always wrong, but there are lots of us doing it our way and loving it, and lots of us who are grateful for the privileges that come with this job and for the opportunities that come with this job to serve to serve our clients, our colleagues, other attorneys and the public at large, which, ultimately, is what led most of us here in the first place.
Speaker 1:Today I want to talk about something I do to be a better manager. It is extremely important to me to be a good manager. I, unlike a lot of attorneys, have some experience managing people. Before I came to law school and during law school One, I was a camp counselor. Some of you will laugh at that, but being a camp counselor and managing a cabin of girls and climbing through the ranks and ultimately being a manager of the other counselors taught me a lot about managing not just other people but managing my peers when I served as editor chief of the Law Journal, I also was a manager and again managing my peers and managing authors, who were sometimes very difficult and that taught me a lot about management and, of course, teaching fifth grade. Day in and day out I managed 30 plus students, 10 year olds, on everything Everything from life to school, how to walk in a straight line, you name it.
Speaker 1:I may not always be, and most likely won't be, the smartest attorney or the best attorney in the room, but I strive to be a good manager. One way I do that is through what I call a best practices memo. This is something I've been thinking about for a long time, because when I was an associate, I got a best practices memo from a partner and I was really impressed by it. And I always told myself when I become a partner, I will have a best practices memo from a partner, and I was really impressed by it and I always told myself when I become a partner, I will have a best practices memo. Then one day I was out to lunch with a friend and he mentioned that he had just put together his best practices memo and I asked him to share it with me and I took it and made it my own. So what is a best practices memo? It's a document that tells my assistant paralegals, associates, anyone working with me, what I expect from them, and that sounds sort of ominous, but it's really not that big of a deal. I use this document and I check in with it twice a year. Every six months I review it, update it, recirculate it to my teams and my teammates and offer to schedule a one-on-one meeting with teammates for a general check-in. So what does my best practices memo include? One, an introduction. It tells the reader that this document provides guidelines and best practices for opening files, saving documents and working with me generally.
Speaker 1:The next two sections talk about file management. If you're the assistant or business professional opening a file for me, it outlines what kind of folders I like to be in my files, folders I like to be in my files. If you are someone who will be drafting documents or saving documents to the file, I outline how I prefer my documents to be named and how I prefer versions of documents to be saved. As you go throughout your career, you will have varying versions of documents. This is also called version control. One way to show your stuff as a young associate is to maintain version control, so to keep track of what document is the most up-to-date one. And sometimes you do this by going back to the file and changing the names of prior documents. By going back to the file and changing the names of prior documents, for me that might look like changing the title to DO NOT USE in all caps, and then uploading a new document to the file with the updated version name. Everyone does this differently and that's why I think it's important to explain that to your teammates up front so they know what you expect.
Speaker 1:The next sections are really my favorite parts. So I have a section about communication. I tell my teams when I hope to be in the office and when I might be remote. It says this whenever possible. I stick to a schedule. I work from home Monday and Friday. I am in the office Tuesday, wednesday and Thursday. This is subject to change if I have hearings appointments, am on vacation or I'm visiting my family in Atlanta, georgia. It personalizes my schedule. Then I tell folks whether I prefer to communicate by email, phone or Teams chat. I include this note. I am notoriously good at missing Teams messages, so if it is urgent or you don't hear from me in time.
Speaker 1:Follow up another way. Expectations need to be clear. Most people you work with want to do a good job, but they can't read your mind. I also tell people how I prefer my documents to be formatted, such as conclusions up front with any necessary context below. I ask them to provide additional detail and support at the bottom of the email rather than in the body of the introductory communication, so I get the TLDR version up front. I encourage people to use bullet points and numbering and emphasis to highlight key points. I also tell them that I prefer one space after a period. The blue book now makes this the way going forward. I prefer smart or curly apostrophes and quotation marks. I like bold or italics for emphasis. I hate underlining. My font of preference is Times New Romans and I don't like passive voice. So again, I'm just making my expectations clear. I also lay out what my preferences are for outside regular business hours. It reads this as much as possible.
Speaker 1:I try to leave work at work and prioritize my personal life outside of regular business hours, keeping competent and diligent client service and teamwork in mind, and I encourage my team to do the same. I try not to check work email frequently on nights or weekends. If it is urgent enough to require a response before the next workday and there shouldn't be too many things that fit this bill please call or text my cell phone. I give them my cell phone number to get my attention and leave a voicemail accordingly. Again, I'm trying to practice what I preach walk the walk and lead by example.
Speaker 1:Next, I tell them what impresses me. You're eager to learn intellectual curiosity, you have a growth mindset. You take feedback and show attention to detail. You take ownership. You're not afraid to nudge and remind me of things or tell me when I might be wrong. You treat everyone with respect and follow the golden rule, and you show grace to yourselves and others, because no one is perfect. I tell them what I hope they will do, like meeting and beating deadlines, communicating when they're stuck or need more time, acknowledging and working proactively to fix mistakes, raising ideas, asking questions and challenging my conclusions. I tell them that I hope they will not be afraid to come talk to me. I hope they will not be ashamed of mistakes or afraid to fail, because we've all been there. I hope they will not avoid coming to me until it is too late and I hope they will not be afraid to push back. And I hope they will not be afraid to push back.
Speaker 1:Lastly, in this section I remind them no one was born perfect, let alone born an attorney. We're not robots and I welcome the profession's apprenticeship model and practice of law. I am open to teaching you how to do just about anything and I am open to being taught new things. Some degree of human error is impossible to avoid, but persistent sloppiness should be avoided If you do not have time to adequately proof a document, and even if you do consider asking your assistant to do so, or just let me know that this is the case. I also explain that, although we work in a traditional and hierarchical profession, I'm not particularly concerned with tradition or hierarchy. Our titles help us with accountability, task allocation and deference in decision making, but not one of us is more valuable than the other. We maximize our chances of doing good work and getting more good work by working collaboratively and with a sense of equality and equal contribution. These are my principles, my mission and my value, my values. I make sure my teams know what those are.
Speaker 1:Then I tell them about me. I'm a generalist commercial litigator. If a client has a contract it wants to get out of, sue under or is threatened with being sued under. I can help. I'm licensed in Wisconsin. I'm familiar with both our federal and state courts and can practice nationwide with these types of claims. I clerked in the bankruptcy and district courts for the Eastern District of Wisconsin. If you have questions about the procedure in our district court, I'm your woman. I also have expertise and talent in project management. This allows me to excel with clients who face high volumes of claims across multiple jurisdictions, as well as clients facing complex claims and lots of moving parts. Yes, that's my elevator pitch, for lack of a better word.
Speaker 1:I want my teams to know who I am and what I do, and not just professionally but personally. I tell them what my Clifton strengths are, because that's important at Hush Blackwell. I tell them that I love systems, organization and efficiency. I list out my mission statement to create sustainable value by respecting human complexity, driving predictable outcomes and upholding high standards of professional and personal service. I tell them I'm not originally from Milwaukee, although I've lived here since 2013.
Speaker 1:I was born and raised in Marietta, georgia, a suburb of Atlanta. I went to college in North Carolina at Wake Forest go Deacs. I lived in Phoenix and taught fifth grade, georgia, a suburb of Atlanta. I went to college in North Carolina at Wake Forest, go Deacs. I lived in Phoenix and taught fifth grade in a rural suburb of Maricopa County. And I went to law school in Mississippi hottie toddy, go reps.
Speaker 1:I tell them that I love football and that I'm a true Packers fan. I have in my office a 1960s world championship football signed by the entire Packers team from a year they won the title. I tell them that I play tennis and that I have two English Bulldogs and that I'm married to a tried and true Wisconsinite. I tell them what I do outside the office personally and professionally and how I give back. I tell them what I'm involved in at the firm and I tell them that they can find me on LinkedIn or on this podcast. So that's my best practices memo, an overview of it.
Speaker 1:If anyone listening to this wants to put something similar in place, I'm happy to share my best practices memo with you. Just reach out for a copy. The purpose again of this best practices memo is to make my expectations clear. I don't want associates or assistants or paralegals or other attorneys and partners guessing at who I am or what I expect. People can't read your mind. So if you want to be a good manager, spend some time thinking about your practice preferences, your personal and professional writing style, your communication preferences, and put it in writing. Give the information out freely so that the people who report to you know what to expect.
Speaker 1:Thank you for joining me on this episode of the Grace Period. I hope this discussion has provided some insights about best practices, memos and how to be a better manager. Remember you don't have to sacrifice your well-being for career success. By prioritizing self-care, setting boundaries and seeking support, you can survive and even thrive in the law and in big law. Until next time, take care of yourselves and each other. Thrive in the law and in big law. Until next time, take care of yourselves and each other. That is the path to our grace period. Disclaimer All views and opinions expressed in this episode are strictly my own. This podcast is for informational and entertainment purposes only. It does not constitute professional advice of any kind, including legal advice. No attorney-client relationship is created by listening to this podcast.
