Toxic Boss - Should I Stay or Should I Go? Forum

[Anonymous User]

I started at a new firm as an attorney and I have been there less than three months. The firm is small and I am the only other attorney besides the attorney owner. I have about a year of experience as an attorney prior to starting at the this firm. However, the new firm practices a different area of the law, which I have no experience in, and this was made clear when I interviewed.

Things started out fine, but recently things have not been going well. The owner attorney sends me to hearings I have never handled before at the last minute with no time to prepare and little guidance. He does not return my emails I send him about client calls and impeding deadlines. When I am able to catch him in person, I have about 2 minutes to talk to him before he pushes me out of his office. I have trouble getting basic things I need to do my job, like a printer, travel reimbursement, and software on my computer.

As I mentioned, the area of law is new to me, so I was hoping I could at least run some things by him before I make decisions on cases and go to hearings. A few things have recently started to go wrong, mainly due to lack of communication. When things do go wrong the attorney owner gets extremely nasty, going into child-like tantrums, yelling and belittling me to the point where clients and other staff in the office can hear him and ask me if everything is ok. I tried to approach him to express my feeling that just a 10 or 15 minutes of discussion about a project beforehand would make things run much more smoothly. This enraged him more and only made things worse.

I am now worried that something is going to go seriously wrong due to lack of communication, like missing a deadline, loosing a lot of money on a case, or me getting sanctioned or disbarred. I also don't feel like I should have to take the verbal abuse I have experienced and I am sure will experience in the future.

Is this lack of communication and treatment typical of other peoples experiences? Am demanding too much as an employee? If not, should I just get out? Given I have only been there a short time, I am hesitant to look for another job because I think it will look bad on my resume. I also really do enjoy this area of law and hope to continue to practice in it, so I would like to continue to get experience it in. If I should stay, is there anything I can do to try and improve the situation?

[zot1]

I would look for other jobs immediately. Short time would only be a problem if this were your first ever legal job, but it sounds like it isn't. You don't want to be there for a year or until things go really wrong (you start getting sued for malpractice).

Get out now.

[A. Nony Mouse]

Get out. You're not being too demanding as an employee. If you get a decent job soon enough you can just leave this one off your resume.

[Tls2016]

I would look for other jobs immediately. Short time would only be a problem if this were your first ever legal job, but it sounds like it isn't. You don't want to be there for a year or until things go really wrong (you start getting sued for malpractice).

Get out now.

You don't need to work for someone who screams at you. You are going to lose your confidence. You aren't learning anything. Get out now.

[Devlin]

GTFO and good luck.

[Anonymous User]

I'm pretty sure this exact situation was hypo in ethics class. The answer was "you have an ethical obligation to quit"

[Anonymous User]

I've seen two situations (as an underling) where lawyers were hired as laterals and from the get-go either the job was crazy or they were treated like crap. Both didn't try and wait a year and landed other good positions. They also both left the bad situation off their resumes.

[Anonymous User]

I can relate. I am an associate at a small firm with a boss from hell. Communication is not a problem, but the yelling and belittling is. It is constant. I stayed for over 2 years (all the while looking for other jobs) and just recently got another job that is going to be a much, much better work environment.

How much money do you have saved up? As someone that stayed on for way too long with a terrible boss, I would tell you to get out now because it takes a serious psychological toll on you. It made me really depressed, gave me anxiety, and led to a borderline drinking problem. It's not worth sacrificing your health. Good luck

[Anonymous User]

You might be able to turn this around. Having the opportunity to take charge and not be micromanaged is good. Maybe try communicating to him that you don't want to screw up and need more guidance than he's giving you, and that this will be better for him and the clients. If you communicate your general needs you at least have a chance of getting on the same page. As much as it's possible I wouldn't take the yelling and belittling personally. In all likelihood and irrespective of what's being said, it is about him and not about you.

[Anonymous User]

Unless you can get the situation straightened out very soon, I would absolutely look for a new position. That kind of situation can only end poorly.

[Anonymous User]

This job sounds so bad that I would leave today, with or without a job. This guy sounds like he's going to eventually going to get your career and bar license in trouble.

[Anonymous User]

This job sounds so bad that I would leave today, with or without a job. This guy sounds like he's going to eventually going to get your career and bar license in trouble.

+1000 get out.

[Anonymous User]

Time to GTFO

[Anonymous User]

I went through the same thing at a biglaw firm in a small group. I left after 5 months. I should have left sooner.