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The Lawyer of Great Commitment: a parable by Harrison Barnes

When I was practicing law, I remember once working with an a...
Spectacular corn cake
  07/22/21
...
Spectacular corn cake
  07/22/21
TRUSTED to carry the bag
Kink-friendly church
  07/22/21
Another stupid poast by Harrison. What are we supposed to ex...
Judgmental kitchen love of her life
  07/22/21
maybe I should have labeled it a "cautionary tale"
Spectacular corn cake
  07/22/21
That would have been a much better lens for the article IMO....
Judgmental kitchen love of her life
  07/22/21
Then the bag man joins xo and goes solo and flames out and k...
hairraiser hall mexican
  07/22/21
...
Judgmental kitchen love of her life
  07/22/21


Poast new message in this thread



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Date: July 22nd, 2021 2:12 AM
Author: Spectacular corn cake

When I was practicing law, I remember once working with an attorney, who had around 12 years of experience, yet he had very little self-confidence. He did not seem all that intelligent either, but he had been protected, promoted, and kept around by the higher ups in my law firm’s New York office, since he had started there after law school. This fellow had probably outlasted at least 100 people who had been hired at his level since he first started at the firm. He seemed to genuinely like the people he was working for; he laughed at all of their jokes, carried their bags, and looked out for them.

He also worked incredibly hard and tolerated a lot of abuse all those years. For example, he would do stuff like follow partners to the Jersey shore on the weekends, and run errands for them while staying in a cheap motel near their beach homes. He would be working all weekend-long, sometimes even taking phone calls about matters at 11:30 p.m. on a Saturday night. This was not the sort of thing attorneys in prestigious law firms typically do in their late 30s, but this guy could always be depended upon to do things like this–and he would do so without batting an eye. He would even run and pick up theater tickets for a boss if need be; this was not even something that secretaries were asked to do.

I was once on a flight from Los Angeles to New York with this attorney and a partner. From a few seats back in coach, I saw the partner seat the other attorney next to him, up in first class. I watched while the partner leaned over with various instructions to him from time to time during the flight, and the guy scribbled away on a notebook, while the partner sipped wine and read the paper. When the plane landed in New York, the guy jumped up and grabbed the partner’s suit coat and handed it to him, then grabbed his luggage and helped him through the airport with it. While none of this seems all that out-of-the-ordinary, the thing is that if I had offered to carry the partner’s luggage, the partner probably would have been uncomfortable with it. The guy carrying the luggage had ingratiated himself to such a degree with his superiors that they were not afraid to allow him to do things like this.

The higher ups knew this attorney was not that smart, but was committed beyond reason and could be pushed around. However, I think they also genuinely liked him and the fact that he was so committed. From what I understood then, he was probably making around $350,000 a year in his “counsel” role in the late 1990s. I remember all of the young attorneys used to make fun of the guy for being such a kiss ass, being taken advantage of so often, and being so generally accepting of and nice to his bosses.

He is still working at the law firm and I bet he is still laughing at bad jokes, carrying bags, kissing up, and now probably makes over $500,000 a year. In the time he has been at that firm, I have seen countless attorneys come and go, but this guy is still there and his job is still protected. All of the young attorneys I know that used to make fun of the guy would now be 10+ years out of law school. None of them are with the law firm, and none of them have done anywhere near as well in their careers.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4883117&forum_id=2#42821646)



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Date: July 22nd, 2021 11:25 AM
Author: Spectacular corn cake



(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4883117&forum_id=2#42823008)



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Date: July 22nd, 2021 11:27 AM
Author: Kink-friendly church

TRUSTED to carry the bag

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4883117&forum_id=2#42823022)



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Date: July 22nd, 2021 11:31 AM
Author: Judgmental kitchen love of her life

Another stupid poast by Harrison. What are we supposed to extract from this allegory? If you went around freely sucking the cock of everyone you met you might also be able to “stick around” but that doesn’t mean you should do it. Also, to bring this discussion back to reality away from Harrison’s fantasy, I’ve seen plenty of the bag holder type get shitcanned before. You want partners to respect you as a colleague for longevity not view you as a doormat.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4883117&forum_id=2#42823045)



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Date: July 22nd, 2021 11:31 AM
Author: Spectacular corn cake

maybe I should have labeled it a "cautionary tale"

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4883117&forum_id=2#42823049)



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Date: July 22nd, 2021 11:34 AM
Author: Judgmental kitchen love of her life

That would have been a much better lens for the article IMO. The last paragraph comes off as “if only they’d followed his lesson.” But I’d argue he’s worse off than anyone who has left the firm. Life as a doormat is pitiable not enviable no matter how much money you make. The compensation can become intoxicating and make you ignore the shit state of your life. That’s true of every white collar wagecuck to some degree but this is an extreme. It’s up to every attorney to set the tone of their career and to modulate it as they need to as time goes by and they evolve. If you stick to sucking proverbial cocks at the firm then it’s no big surprise you’ll end up being known as the cocksucker and that’s sad.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4883117&forum_id=2#42823063)



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Date: July 22nd, 2021 11:42 AM
Author: hairraiser hall mexican

Then the bag man joins xo and goes solo and flames out and kills himself. The end.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4883117&forum_id=2#42823115)



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Date: July 22nd, 2021 11:42 AM
Author: Judgmental kitchen love of her life



(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4883117&forum_id=2#42823116)