Whoops! They Forgot To Teach Us How To Manage People!

I have several law firms as clients - and if there's one thing I see they all have in common, it's friction between young, new lawyers and their support staff.

It's because law schools forget (or worse, don't care) about teaching law students how to manage people.

The fundamental problem is communication. All managers need to understand the motivations of their 'subordinates' - what makes them come to work and why. A mutual understanding, along with frequent and candid one-on-one communication, goes a long way.

It's not about 'do this' or 'do that'. It's about working cohesively together to attain mutual goals.

If there are law schools that include fundamentals of management courses, I'd like to hear about it.

In the meantime, my validation for this argument comes from Molly Peckman of New York Law Journal, writing in law.com.