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Law Firms Should Skip Attorney Reviews This Year

One of the perks about having my own practice is that I do not need to complete many of the purely administrative tasks that attorneys at numerous law firms need to perform. For instance, I do not typically need to log my business development or pro bono hours, I just complete the work, and it doesn’t normally matter if those hours are counted. In addition, my two-attorney law firm run by my brother and me does not have an attorney review process (although it would be interesting for the two of us to talk about our performance, maybe like an “airing of the grievances”!). Since it is almost the end of the year, many firms across the country are about to begin or are currently undergoing their annual attorney review process. I have already discussed in a prior article how attorney reviews are often a waste of time, and in this extraordinary year, such reviews may do more damage than good. For a variety of reasons, law firms should skip attorney reviews this year.

As many attorneys know from first-hand experience, attorney reviews can often be time consuming. Attorneys usually need to complete a questionnaire on their performance to kick off the review process, and this is often reviewed by managers, who must also write their own comments. People are extremely busy and distracted this year, for obvious reasons. Attorneys need to be flexible when managing childcare, overseeing schooling, and completing other tasks as many people work from home. Attorneys do not need to have one more, entirely administrative task to complete, and firms can give attorneys a huge morale boost if they are empathetic to their employees during this trying time.

Attorney reviews can also be extremely stressful on many lawyers. Lawyers often feel that they are being scrutinized during reviews, and if they do not justify how they deserve to stay at a firm, they may end up on the chopping block. This can lead them to spend an inordinate amount of time on completing self-evaluations and other steps related to the review process. Normally, attorneys do not need to feel too much stress related to the review process, since their jobs are typically secure unless they truly fall below expectations.

However, the economy is extremely unstable, and the unemployment rate is at its highest in recent memory due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Firms have cut salaries and conducted layoffs throughout the year in order to deal with economic conditions. Even if attorney jobs are secure (and some firms have publicly acknowledged as much), there is still a justifiable fear that the attorney review process may decide a lawyer’s fate at a firm, even if this is not the case. Firms can eliminate this fear altogether if they simply skip the attorney review process.

Moreover, it is unfair in many attorney reviews to hold associates responsible to the same expectations that would be normal for other times. For instance, many law firms have an established billable hour requirement, mandating that attorneys log a set number of hours over the course of a calendar year. However, numerous attorneys had difficulty meeting billable hour requirements this year due to issues caused by the pandemic. As I can somewhat attest to from personal experience, falling ill from COVID-19 can make it difficult to bill hours and fulfill other work responsibilities, especially if you have more serious health impacts from the virus. In addition, many attorneys were impacted by the loss of loved ones, and this could make it difficult to satisfy firm expectations. Moreover, the challenges of working from home, as well as juggling schooling and other responsibilities, can make it difficult to meet billable hours and other expectations. Firms should have compassion for their attorneys in this environment. Sparing them from justifying shortfalls in an attorney review may be the right thing to do.

Of course, firms often make decisions about raises and bonuses through the attorney review process, and firms may have a more difficult time evaluating associates without a review. However, firms can always adopt a lockstep model when determining raises and bonus, so that everyone that has satisfactorily performed during a year can earn a raise or a bonus. Indeed, many firms adopt a lockstep model for determining raises and bonuses under normal circumstances. As discussed in a prior article, paying attorneys uniformly on an objective basis also helps eliminate the possibility that attorneys are paid different salaries based on subjective or even objectionable grounds. Firms can always return to holistic determinations about salaries and bonuses when the pandemic subsides if they so choose.

All told, attorneys (and just about everyone else) have faced unprecedented challenges this year, and many people are feeling stressed as the year comes to a close. As a result, law firms should consider skipping their traditional attorney review process to eliminate a source of stress and be more equitable in this difficult time.


Jordan Rothman is a partner of The Rothman Law Firm, a full-service New York and New Jersey law firm. He is also the founder of Student Debt Diaries, a website discussing how he paid off his student loans. You can reach Jordan through email at jordan@rothmanlawyer.com.