For many lawyers, management is a large part of daily life: management of time, risk, expectations and even others. Although everyone can recognize that effective management of more junior attorneys is vital to the success of any particular matter, it can be less obvious to manage upward, too. In fact, managing upward is something many attorneys already do with frequency when they organize the work of their team while simultaneously ensuring the team's work remains aligned with the goals of the client. The concept of managing upward, however, can be confusing to junior attorneys who are hesitant to overstep their bounds.

Managing upward can be helpful at all stages of a lawyer's career, including at junior levels. Imagine the following scenario. It is Friday evening, and a junior attorney receives an email asking for follow-up on work turned in to the more senior attorney several days ago. Because the supervising attorney did not have time to review the original work product until just an hour ago, they now need their follow-up questions answered on an urgent basis. The junior attorney realizes their plans for Friday night may be going for a toss. The supervising attorney feels unable to trust the work product of the junior attorney without clarifying answers from the associate. What does managing upward look like in day-to-day situations like this one, and could it have helped to prevent frustration on both sides?

The term managing upward may be somewhat of a misnomer. Various websites define it as finding ways to make a boss's job easier by managing him or her in the same way one would manage a subordinate. Although under this definition, managing upward may seemingly require the upward manager not only to handle their own job, but also take over the job of their supervisor, managing upward is actually more about being a superstar at one's own job. To manage upward is to take complete responsibility and ownership of one's part of the matter. Under this definition, managing upward will ultimately benefit both the junior attorney and the supervising attorney, not just the supervising attorney alone.

One of the best ways to manage upward is to anticipate a more senior attorney's needs. In order to do this successfully, an attorney usually must understand the long- and short-term goals of any given task or assignment and appreciate the larger context of how that task or assignment aligns with the life of the matter. Knowing this information may strengthen an attorney's work product and, therefore, may require less reframing or editing by supervisors. Further, being able to anticipate follow-up questions or tasks may provide the attorney with opportunities to be proactive in a manner that increases productivity and efficiency for the whole team. Anticipating and planning for project deadlines with the supervising attorney's availability is also a critical element of proactive project management.

It is important, however, to distinguish anticipating from guessing. Anticipation requires clear communication. This may involve effective listening by the junior attorney, including by asking questions, understanding expectations and receiving all necessary information from a supervising attorney or, conversely, effective communication of information, such as the assumptions the junior attorney is making or when the supervising attorney can expect an update (under promise and over deliver is a good adage here). Everyone will be happier with clear communication in a style that both works well for the supervising attorney and provides the junior attorney with the guidance they need.

Not only can managing upward strengthen attorneys at all levels, it also aligns with some of the values many millennials hold dear, such as the desire to collaborate with others, eschew hierarchy, do meaningful and substantive work, take on early responsibility and establish strong professional mentor-mentee relationships. But managing upward also may raise concerns regarding the impact on the mental health of attorneys who can feel increased pressure and expectation to do their own work, manage downward, as needed, and manage upward as well. Indeed, millennials, more than any other generation, feel the pressure to be perfect or compete with their peers, and these pressures may be amplified because of the perceived added expectations of managing upward. Managing upward is not an excuse for senior attorneys to shirk responsibility or to pass blame onto others. Rather, managing upward is a way for more junior attorneys to show their capability to think about the bigger picture and to provide solid work product. When things go wrong, it can be helpful to recall that all members of the team, including senior attorneys, are responsible for pulling their own weight. Managing upward does not require junior attorneys to take responsibility for things that are not reasonably expected of them in the first place.

In the imaginary scenario I discuss above, both the junior attorney and supervising attorney could have been left less frustrated, had the junior attorney anticipated the supervising attorney's availability to review the work product and his or her likely questions and needs after that review. This may have taken several forms, including asking questions to understand the context of the project and how the work product would be used, following up with the supervising attorney and conveying the preliminary results of what the junior attorney found or having a discussion regarding other factors that may affect how thorough the junior attorney should have been with the project, such as budget. The associate might have had a discussion with the senior attorney's assistant to learn about upcoming travel and other schedule issues.

Equally important, however, is to recognize that the supervising attorney could have been a more effective downward manager. Waiting to review a junior attorney's work—no matter how justified the delay may be—can frustrate younger attorneys who may require more time to understand and complete tasks in a meaningful manner. While dealing with less-than-perfect managers can be a reality for junior attorneys, managing upward can help millennials navigate and establish more productive and successful professional relationships.

Shilpa Coorg is an associate at Winston & Strawn in Los Angeles. She focuses her practice on patent litigation, including pharmaceutical litigation under Hatch-Waxman. She represents and advises industry leaders on intellectual property matters across a broad spectrum of technologies.