... really get under my skin. I have no idea why. I can't explain it. Actually, I can, sort of. It's about how certain people choose to interact with others.
A bit of background -- I am representing a client in a certain transaction. There is someone in my office who is representing a different client on the opposite side of the transaction. I will refer to that person as "Opposing Counsel". Both of our clients are aware that our firm is on both sides of the deal -- conflict waivers have been signed, etc... This transaction also involves getting approvals from various government agencies which are notoriously nit-picky.
I have been asking Opposing Counsel for comments on a certain document for over 3 months. THREE MONTHS! About 2 months ago I sent the the same draft that I had sent to OC for review to the various government agencies for their review -- knowing that the government moves at a glacial pace. This morning, OC walks into my office and asks me all manner of questions in a very combative tone and demands answers. I'm in the middle of reviewing something else on a different deal, I don't have the document in front of me, and it's been 1 month since I've looked at it. OC says that the document doesn't make any sense that it needs to be re-drafted, OC doesn't understand why certain language is in the document, blah, blah, blah. I feel like I was totally ambushed, and in my own office!
After OC left my office, I found the file which was literally buried under all the other work that has come my way over the past few months, and I read what I had drafted, and what the various government agencies had reviewed, commented on, and approved. I am pretty sure that OC did not actually read the document for content -- skimming it and not bothering to process what was written. It's all there, spelled out in excruciating detail, the whole process identified step-by-step, so that anyone who has no idea what happened behind the scenes knows what's going on.
I hate that OC made me doubt my abilities. Upon further reflection, I realize that this was likely a tactical move -- the barging into my office without any warning. There was no phone call or email to say that OC reviewed the document and that we should discuss the comments. These are things that I would NEVER do to another attorney. Maybe that's why I'm so upset by all this. On top of all this, transactional work is supposed to be about getting people to agree, about getting the deal done. Asking for last-minute changes to a document that has already been reviewed ad nauseum not only by staff level attorneys, but by the head of the legal department of a government agency is uncalled for. I really wish OC wasn't part of my group. OC is killing this deal and it's really starting to get to me.
3 comments:
i am going to barge into your office and demand that you play a RANDOM song from the rock band setlist on EXPERT difficulty. take THAT!
My predecessor had a velvet rope set up around her office-- so it was difficult to barge in (and even more difficult to see a computer screen showing blogs, not work!). Maybe consider the velvet rope?
You should make OC cry. That is what I do at work when people agitate me. It is usually effective.
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