When I was a young lawyer, I mentioned a hobby of mine in front of my boss, something I did in my free time. My boss, the managing partner of the firm, narrowed his eyes and said, “free time? You don’t have free time. Your time is my time.” I heard those words over 20 years ago and they still reverberate in my ears as freshly as if just spoken. It was true. He had the power, as did all the partners, to transform my weekend by dropping something on my desk at 5 o’clock on Friday, due on Monday. Usually, it was something that sat on their desks for weeks and now a response was due, creating an avoidable emergency by waiting so long.

This behavior is pervasive in the legal field. One of my clients has a boss they call “5 o’clock Bob” for his propensity to drop projects at that hour, particularly on Fridays. There are many reasons for this behavior including honest mistakes, poor planning, last-minute contingencies that cause work assignments to be reshuffled, and some people are just plain mean, using their authority to dominate others. There may be other reasons—these are what I encountered again and again when I practiced and now hear about from lawyers I coach.

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