Weeds

Office anthropology™ →Go uptown A target-rich environment, yesterday. The JC puts on his pith-helmet, grabs his butterfly net and a rucksack full of marmalade sandwiches, and heads into the concrete jungleIndex: Click ᐅ to expand: Work anthropology Tell me more Sign up for our newsletter — or just get in touch: for ½ a weekly 🍺 you get to consult JC. Ask about it here.

Weeds
/wiːdz/ (n.)

(usage: into the ~; deep in the ~ etc.)
A lush undergrowth of spontaneously propagated indentures, subscription agreements, confidentiality agreements and the like which traditionally provide abundant nesting materials (flax, dry twigs, liability carve-ins and carve-outs, indemnity scoping arguments, governing law and jurisdiction clauses, wild celery and so on) for local legal eagles. Sometimes their chicks find these nests so comforting that many spend their entire lives feasting on the rich biodiversity they find there.

Inhouse lawyers and the fear of the weeds

Another popular means of career progression, for inhouse lawyers, is to convert them into managers. The JC was once told,

“JC, if you want to progress in this firm, you must get out of the weeds and manage”.

“Manage? like as in middle management?”

“Yes! That’s just it!”

This is like buying a cricket bat and using it to play tennis. Now he has no data beyond anecdote to support this assertion, but he still feels it strongly: most people in the world who spent the five or more years it commonly takes to qualify as a lawyer did so because they want to practice law. They do not want to be middle managers. Anyone can be a middle manager. It requires little acumen. In fact, it seems to require a lack of it. Middle management works even better when it isn’t undertaken at all.

So, if you want someone to do some middle management, hire a middle manager. Let the lawyers get on with what they are best at.

See also

• Deep dive