Put a group of associates together in a room and the conversation will quickly turn to war stories of dealing with difficult people. It might be the partner who has no idea how long it takes to actually do the work, the counsel who believes that you have nothing else to do but work on their matters 23 hours per day seven days a week, or the senior associate bent on showing the partners how hard he or she can drive more junior associates.

Some of the war stories are the stuff of legend (and we suspect that many are in fact urban myth). Below are some thoughts on how to deal with difficult people, which we have organized into five basic rules. While it would serve you well to follow these rules in your everyday practice, they are especially important when dealing with those more difficult personalities.

This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.

To view this content, please continue to their sites.

Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now

Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now

Why am I seeing this?

LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law are third party online distributors of the broad collection of current and archived versions of ALM's legal news publications. LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law customers are able to access and use ALM's content, including content from the National Law Journal, The American Lawyer, Legaltech News, The New York Law Journal, and Corporate Counsel, as well as other sources of legal information.

For questions call 1-877-256-2472 or contact us at [email protected]