Maybe PC could get an all expenses paid surf fishing vacation to the coast.
I think humongo client will be willing to spring for the baitfish too! LOL!
And that would certainly guarantee no more emails and phone calls.
His W is a super sheepdog at a major corporation. My only regret is that I will never meet her. I will confess I am curious about the R dynamics - does he wear her down till she says yes just to shut him up....
I will admit I am wrong when I am wrong. I just reviewed some documents filed by the firm I really like. They have been getting a lot of work and their work product is dropping in quality.
Well - good thing that PC brought it to my attention. However, just b/c a firm that use to be the gold standard is slipping does not mean that all other firms are allowed to follow suit. At least on my watch - there is no race to the bottom.
PC is still required to adhere to the standards I am setting. The firm that I use to really like is not supervising his work - I am.
Looks like I will be calling this other firm tomorrow to "remind" them of the standards I require to approve filing responses at the Patent Office.
This is getting silly. I spent an entire weekend on a reply brief b/c the law has changed and so I had to work harder. I never thought just ignoring the changes as an option.
There are times I do find myself wondering why I get so much more recognition for my work - especially since no one at humongo client has met me. My University client also hired me after a phone interview - never having met me. My huge telecommunications client hired me after talking to me on the phone - never having met me (I have since fired them - they were angst inducing nasty personalities.
So many attorneys at glamorous large firms keep asking me what I do to attract clients.
I haven't taken anyone out to play golf or paid for box seats at a game. I work out of my home (sometimes in my PJ's) - no fancy downtown office. I think I am starting to understand. I don't need to be watched to make sure I am doing my job. I can be trusted. Who would have thought that would really trump expensive club memberships and golf games at exclusive clubs.
Attorneys are like two year olds - you have to watch them every minute!
It may be time to suck it up and call the Nutty Partner...
I use to work for him and was up for partnership at his firm. He went on vacation for three weeks for the first time in 20 years and left me in charge. When he came back, the clients complimented my work. He had gone off his anti-anxiety meds - thought I was stealing his clients and fired me 5 years ago... Maybe it is time for a reality check...
We got past that - well I initiated the getting past it. The man is brilliant and I actually follow his style. And he has helped me with other issues - especially when I found myself in ethical binds. He is also responsible for kicking me out of the nest and forcing me to make decisions on my own - he use to just flat out refuse to answer my questions or review my work telling me that I was ready to make decisions on my own.
Then he called me again two years ago and accused me of stealing his clients AGAIN! I suspect it was a drug issue. The man takes about 20 pills every day! He told me once that I should consider drugs to take the edge off the stress! LOL! And rumor has it he is an alcoholic...
I have never even approached his clients out of a sense of gratitude b/c I would not be the attorney I am today w/o his training.... In fact, I was fired from another last law firm by a partner that use to work with Nutty Partner and hated him. He fired me b/c I refused to approach Nutty Partner's clients.
I have been winging it on the changes in law. There have been next to no seminars on this topic. I need to talk to the Nutty Partner... Wish he wasn't nuts - but he is brilliant...
One can only hope he is on the right drugs and not drinking when I call him tomorrow. Or perhaps he needs that stuff to be a brilliant attorney...
I am pretty sure I have figured out the right approach - I need his validation so I have the confidence I need to be more aggresive/assertive into bullying outside counsel into following my instructions... I really do have less than 1/2 the experience that other people with my responsibilities at humongo client have...
I am sure you are doing just fine! Just keep having confidence in yourself!
found out about affair 8/06 H moves out Nov/06 D final 8/07 X re marries OW 5/08 _________________________ Courage does not always roar, sometimes it is a quiet voice at the end of the day saying... " I will try again tomorrow". -- Mary Anne Radmacher
PC called AGAIN !!!!! It is 9 PM! Now he has switched to - I am telling him he is wrong b/c there seems to be a "rift in our friendship."
After my phone call with Nutty Partner - after I receive my validation that I am right - my big stick has tured into a nuclear warhead with PC DNA as the homing device.
I am not sure if I am going to use it and how yet. Calling me at 9 PM and accusing my judgement being off in reaction to a personal issue. He crossed TWO beyond unacceptable lines!
Good thing GF and I are going for a walk before I fire my loaded warheads!
I am done seeing how far he is willing to go - he just went too far!
PC is trying to wear me down till I just say do things your way. And I am allowing it to affect my confidence...
Hi Everyone:
I need to detach.
I know this is how people that are like PC react. He attacked the Patent Office - by saying their guidelines are wrong. He attacked the attorneys that originally drafted the patent as being clueless. He attacked the Examiner at the Patent Office that is evaluating this application to see if the invention is patentable as "missing the boat."
Since I am not reacting - he is escalating.
And now he has switched to me.
I will talk to Nutty Partner but not tomorrow b/c I don't have time right now - I have other work to get out the door.
I will make the changes to his work this weekend (yes I am royally pissed that I am working on a weekend b/c he is incabable of following instructions). I will send it to him with instructions to file.
Anyone want to hazard a guess as to what just arrived in my inbox... Yup another email from PC.
And now he is losing it... He is all over the place almost begging me to call him. He has switched from attack - to a completely different tone. But guess what the essence of the email is - explanations of why he is right - repeating the same thing from yet another angle!
Do other people have work lives like this? I feel like I am living in the twilight zone.
We are up to FOUR voice messages and FOUR emails since yesterday morning. This is bordering creepy now... And the truth is that sometimes it takes me a few days to respond to stuff if the deadline isn't urgent b/c I have a ton of work on my desk!
The tone in my emails to him is the exact same tone I use with other attorneys. Now I am on the defensive with respect to my tone. Thank God that the other 30-40 attorneys I work with are NOT like this. Then I would check myself into an institution!
Okay - please provide suggestions on how to handle this nut job.
I cannot see any purpose in calling him back - what would I say?
I cannot see that I have anything to say via email. I have stated position - once. He has refuted it EIGHT times saying the exact same thing.
Humongo client has already reduced his responsibilities significantly - to where he is already pretty much fired. My boss has already instructed everyone to NOT send PC anymore work...
Please let me know if you see an approach I am missing...
I will send the following email to PC tomorrow morning:
PC:
Thank you for the revised drafts and your comments. I will review them and get back to you on Monday with my final revisions.
Regards, AG
The other stuff is irrelevant and does not warrant a reply. I am so glad he lives in Colorado. Otherwise I think he might have actually come knocking on my door! I had a client that showed up drunk on my doorstep at 11 pm once...
I work with some bizarrre people in my profession...
This PC guy just isn't getting it. Looking purely from a general R standpoint, it seems to me he's making you crazy because you have no recourse. You need him to do this work but there's no 'or else' to enforce. I'd say if he doesn't do the work as directed, don't pay him. However, I have a feeling that the aftermath would be worse than what you are dealing with now. So it's pretty clear how this guy survives - he gets paid to go away.
It also sounds like he's causing you to spend so much time dealing with him that he's part of the reason you are getting no down time.
How soon can you cut him loose? Is it worth having him finish this work? Would the amount of time you spend dealing with him equal the time it would take to do that work?
To be honest, I'd probably pay him up to now, cut him loose and then instruct him that further contact would constitute harassment.
You are handling this well. I do not have the patience you do.
Too bad the old teaching a lesson behind the woodshed has gone out of favor. If administered years ago PC probably would be not in such a fix and your patience and free time not be tested.
"All I want is a weeks pay for a day's work" Steve Martin
