Viewpoints: March 2023

In the January “Ask Ash” column (“Antisocial behaviour?”) a legal professional writes to share their feeling that a new member of their team is being “quite rude” by not agreeing to attend social events. Without a hint of insight, the “complainer” writes that the new employee has been asked repeatedly, despite declining the invitations, but it seems that that is acceptable because “I thought it would be good for him to attend such events”.

Ash’s advice included “please do not necessarily write him off as rude”. At the risk of being rude myself, her correspondent might be invited to “wind yer neck in” and stop harassing their fellow worker. More constructively perhaps, they might be invited to consider their firm’s liability under employment law and the Equality Act 2010. 

Brian Dempsey, School of Law, University of Dundee

As well as our Blog of the Month, we thought it worth highlighting the contribution by the Society’s head of Education Rob Marrs on how to get the most from a trainee’s quarterly performance review.

Although these take time, he writes, when done properly the time is worth the investment, leading to a quicker, smoother process for the trainee and helping avoid conflict.

Adapting the model for giving effective feedback and applying it to a case study, he suggests how preparing a constructive approach may help uncover any underlying issues behind a matter that is causing concern.

“This approach – preparation, building understanding, evaluation, and then developing a course of action and review – should lie at the heart of quarterly performance reviews”, Marrs writes. “A meeting that allows open, fair feedback both ways and is focused on positive development is surely the aim.”

While the reviews may seem to a busy solicitor like something that gets in the way of real work, they are important and can be a useful development tool. “The content and tone of the discussion is massively more important than the filling in of the form.

“To trainees they are something that matters a great deal so getting them right, and using them effectively, is important. Many of the issues we see come before the Admissions Subcommittee, or that we discuss with trainees, could have been avoided (and much heartache stopped) if matters had been openly discussed at trainee reviews.”