What do You have in Common with Fast and Slow Lawyers?
…and which one should you hire?
Goal: discuss how we judge lawyers and are judged ourselves
Many years ago I read a book called Successful Intelligence. The first third of the book was used to argue against standardized tests. The rest of the book was very educational.
Why do we need standardized tests?
It has been shown that standardized test forecast near future performance. They do not predict success years later. They can not. Key word is near future.
SAT test, and all other entrance tests, only predicts how well a student will do during their first year in college. That is it. NOT how well they will do the next 3 years after that OR in their life.
The tests are not perfect predictors of ability. I took the SAT in high school and did exceptionally well on the math portion but did horrible in the English portion. Why? Because I had only learned how to speak English 3 years earlier and did not have the vocabulary needed for the test.
Where is this going?
The other day I was listening to a Revisionist History podcast and Malcolm talked about the LSAT tests. They are intended to predict success in near future for lawyers BUT only a certain type of lawyer. The LSAT test artificial time constraints are beneficial to fast lawyers. Interesting that is what the top 14 law schools and biggest law offices prefer.
So why do law firms prefer fast lawyers?
It is about the pedigree from a top T14 school for the law schools. They want to taut that their lawyers went to the top schools so they can charge top dollars.
BUT one of the supreme court justices said some of the best lawyers are slow lawyers BUT he still continued to hire fast lawyers. He was from a top law school and kept the system going.
Why do you care?
Most of our jobs have gotten faster and faster. We have demands on us 24/7. Things are constantly rushed. Often unnecessarily.
Does your job require you to be fast or methodical? I would say that neither extreme exists. We are all required to be faster than we used to be BUT still be slow enough to not create errors. Hurry BUT do not rush.
Are errors forgiven? Usually not. They are used against you.
It is interesting the corner we have painted ourselves in as a society. We tend to prefer speed over quality. We expect quality but are willing to settle for something less. As long as we get good enough we are content.
Well the same is with our own perception of coworkers and from our boss. We have all become fast lawyers and good enough BUT not great.
