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Holiday Season advice for lawyers and their staff, which can save a lot of time and money. And almost all this advice is what NOT to do.
1. Thou shall not send holiday cards to a lengthy list, maintained by your office, of lawyers and others you have dealt with. Chances are, the attorneys will never know or care you sent the cards, and they will be opened by support staff. It is simply viewed as sort of a rote, mass-type mailing, and no one will view it as being a personal gesture toward them.
2. Thou shall not send the info. letter re: your family. If you ignore #1, and send the cards anyway, never include the bragging family update mass letter. Those who know you well, already know about your life, and will resent that you sent them the same impersonal mass-produced letter you sent everyone else. And those who don't know you well really don't care about your family, and may well resent reading about your son's or daughter's accomplishments, particularly if they are experiencing family difficulty and feel their kids and family don't quite measure up. So, the mass letter is bad form. Instead, if you insist on sending something concerning your family, you can send a family photo holiday greeting card.
3. Thou shall send no cards or anything to past or present clients. Clients will refer cases to you if they are satisfied with your services. They know any card they receive is a rote mass type, impersonal exercise on the part of your office, and is meaningless.
4. Never, ever send anything to judges or staff. The only type of gift which could actually generate preferential treatment from a judge, or even having a judge view you more favorably, would need to be a gift in an amount the judge could not possibly accept because it would clearly violate ethical rules. If a judge is running for re-election in the future, a contribution might be most helpful and appreciated. But, during the holidays, don't waste your time or money sending chocolate-covered pop corn or fruit baskets to judicial chambers. Most of the time the staff divides it up and takes it home and the judges never even know who sent what. In fact, judges are advised, or even instructed, to have their staff not tell the judge about any holiday gifts. The judge then instructs the staff they can divide and take home any food sent to chambers, or the judge instructs them to send the food to another agency in the building(like in Family Court it can be sent to Child Haven or whatever).
So, heed my arrogant advice to the letter, and save money and time and have a great holiday season! I realize it is the season to give, but the above examples of giving are utterly meaningless and a gross waste of time and money.
Your post, at 9:06 casts too wide a net and implies that no one should ever bother sending anyone any card, photos, or written materials over the holidays. But there are three areas I agree with the post.
I agree up to a point that holiday cards are generally meaningless, but I qualify this in that they can be a worthy undertaking if one takes the time to make a brief personal reference beyond their mere signature and holiday salutations. So, I partially agree on this one.
As to the family update letters, at least from my anecdotal experience I tend to agree with the post because the letters either generate resentment, or, more often, ridicule behind the back of the sender.
I completely agree as to food sent to judicial chambers. Instead, wait until you can send them a re-election contribution. That is always very useful and most appreciated. But don't bother with the glazed popcorn or the individually wrapped pieces of chocolate with your firm's name stamped all over them.
The above comments are clearly not written by staff. Be real; staff LOVE goodies to share over the holidays! Do send them out, but don't expect any return favors. Just expect that you've made some probably hard-working grunts happy for a few minutes.
I agree that staff enjoys the goodies. But I agree with the comments that sending out mass, impersonal cards, with the mass letter about family accomplishments, is bad form.
I'm kind of amazed by all these comments against family photo cards from people you may not actually be friends with. I don't like them either but I figured it was just me; if we're not friends then no, I am not really interested in how your kids are doing. Also this is an important PSA to get out, as many many lawyers (and other professionals) continue to send exactly those types of cards every year.
I don't think people are against the photo cards, but rather the letter saying Suzy did this and Johnny did that and Clark got a promotion and Jane ran a marathon. I for one like the photo cards that give a little glimpse of an attorney with her family. It humanizes them and reminds me that they have a family and a life. Also, I enjoy seeing kids grow up over the years. I'd guess that if you survey the older crowd, they like these cards more than the younger people, but as they get older, they will begin to value these too.
I agree about the cards, letters, photos, etc. I completely disagree about the food to the judicial chambers. Yes the food goes to the staff rather than the judges, but it is the staff that all year really control your experience dealing with that department. The staff acts as the gatekeeper of information received by the judge, decides for the most part about scheduling issues, determines whether something gets expedited or takes the slow train to China, has unfettered access to the judge to praise or vent about people, etc.
The law clerk prepares the bench brief for the judge (frequently with a recommended ruling). They decide whether there is an error in the order and whether it can be corrected by interlineation or rejection of the document. Many judges delegate a limited authority to the law clerk re: OST (serving as a gatekeeper) having the law clerk only bringing to the judge those requests that the law clerk believes have merit and should be granted.
I for one want those front line individuals as my allies, favorably inclined to grant courtesies where they legally and ethically can. If it is a legitimate discretionary call, I would always prefer them thinking how can I grant the request rather than how can I reject it.
Finally, don't worry, the judge will hear about the food gifts that you give to the staff. It makes their day and the judge hears the joy and happiness in their voices when you made their day. The staff having a happy day ultimately filters down to the judge having a better day with a staff being more productive.
Although some disagreement about sending food to judicial chambers at the holidays, it seem unanimous that people should forget about the mass letters trumpeting how great someone's family is.
I've never sent, nor received, a card or letter talking about a person's family from any other lawyers or other professionals. I get them from relatives who live far away and who we don't see often, but that's it.
Do lawyers really send out a bunch of stuff about their families to other lawyers, judges, clients, etc.? That seems weird to me.
Or are we now just talking about "here's what my family did all year" letters in general?
I get the G. Bongiovi newsletter. It is pretty entertaining.
https://www.ktnv.com/3069921969/april-parks-others-plead-guilty-in-guardianship-exploitation-case.html
Link is bad already. Got a new one?
https://www.ktnv.com/news/contact-13/april-parks-others-plead-guilty-in-guardianship-exploitation-case
I kind of think 9:06's advice is based on the fact that he is never ever going to send out holiday anything and doesn't want anyone else to (possibly) get one up on him. Keep those cookies and cheesy popcorn balls coming!
You are correct, Sir!