November 3, 2006
Terminating a Law Firm Associate
I take a bit of exception to Ed Poll’s post on How To Fire An Associate.
I do agree about the need for a termination policy and, as I wrote in the earlier post Law Firm Security Risk from Within, there are important security considerations any time someone leaves the firm. The steps related to a departing attorney or employee should be clearly spelled out. Responsibility for overseeing the implementation of those steps in a timely fashion must be clearly assigned with responsible reporting and oversight in place. This is too important to be handled in a casual fashion—it is not personal; it is strictly business.
There are clearly situations that call for Ed’s step-by-step scenario that concludes with the terminated individual being “escorted away from the premises!” However, if things have reached that point, there has usually been a management failure within the law firm.
Rest assured that the firm escorting that person away from the premises now has an enemy on the outside. You don’t need any more enemies than absolutely necessary. You need more alumni proud to list the firm on their résumé. You need friends and sponsors who will send you business, not cost you business.
Moving underperformers out of the firm is essential. A prerequisite for doing it right is a culture that fosters the concept that the inability to succeed in a particular place in a particular job doesn’t mean that the same individual could not be a success elsewhere. When hiring an individual, you had to try to answer three important questions:
Can they do the job?
Will they do the job?
Can they and will they in this environment with these people?
The "in this environment with these people" question is the toughest part. You do a disservice to the individual and to others by continuing employment of someone who is not succeeding in “this environment with these people." However, when you send someone into the job market as a terminated employee, you have placed them at a great disadvantage. You should make sure they, not you, are the cause. You hired them, and they deserve the opportunity to move to a new environment with different people where they can have an opportunity to succeed.
Termination is failure on the part of both parties. The best way to correct a hiring mistake is to counsel the individual out of the organization. Treated with dignity, that individual can be retained as a friend and alumni.
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Filed under HR by Tom Collins