"One of the lawyers, an extremely competitive "superjock", is literally a loose cannon who goes off on people for no apparent reason"

Dear Office-Politics,

I love my job; it's the undercurrent that I hate. I work in a small law firm of 6 lawyers. One of the lawyers, a 40-year old extremely competitive "superjock", is literally a loose cannon who goes off on people for no apparent reason,
usually triggered by his lack of clear instructions or for no reason that we can see. We began to see his change when he became a partner, going from a "nice guy" to a very unstable personality.

Everyone other than his partners has been a victim of his abuse, but I managed to avoid becoming his target until a period of several weeks when, for no apparent reason. Here are 3 examples:

(1) he lost it because he remembered the day before a vacation flight that he had to contact the airline HIMSELF in order to upgrade his flight as the airline would only deal with him, which I knew nothing about;

(2) I was jotting down notes to myself in a steno pad regarding a project for another attorney in the firm which, for some reason, ignited his anger to the point that he put both hands on my desk from the other side and proceeded to lean over aggressively toward me, causing me to have to back away from my desk despite being on the other side from him, telling me that that was "his" steno pad I was using and I had no business using it, then taking a co-worker I am close to into his office and yelling to her about me;

(3) demanding to borrow my new car as his was in the shop so he could run an errand (which did not happen as he ended up catching a ride with a pal who stopped by).

He is rude, abrupt, crude, and we suspect his partners have mentioned his behavior because he now is careful not to have an audience except his intended victim and he will not even speak to the staff unless it is either bitingly sarcastic (such as referring to one of the women as an "old ho" to another.) There are 5 women in the office, and we are at a loss on how to deal with him. Any suggestions?

Victims

Dear Victims,

The behaviour you describe is abusive and harassing. My suggestion is that the five women working in your firm meet with the senior or managing partner and provide details of the behaviour. You would be best to provide written
accounts, including dates. You should then ask the senior partner to meet with the abusive lawyer and develop a plan of action to address the behavioural problems. For the time being he should be prohibited from meeting alone with any female staff.

He should be required to take anger management training and also training in how to manage staff in a program
that includes a component on abuse and harassment. If the senior partner fails to require that this lawyer undertake such a program to modify his behaviour I would suggest that you consult legal counsel. Before retaining independent counsel you might want to ascertain whether the Bar Association or Law Society in your jurisdiction has a staff member whose responsibility is to provide advice to the public on harassment and abuse. Many jurisdictions now provide this service. By all means, don't just put up with this behaviour.

Thanks for writing to Office-Politics.

Dr. John Burton
Office-Politics
www.officepolitics.com

Feedback from an Office-Politics reader:

Dear Office Politics:

I read the letter on your website from "victims" regarding the attorney in their office who was a "loose" cannon. I also experienced a similar situation, and lost my job.

In our law firm, we had an attorney that was so condescending to the staff that he went through three secretaries in the eight months that I worked there. I was a paralegal for the firm. One day, through a memo, it was announced that the secretary that was working for him was going to be moved to another attorney. (She had told me that he took it out on her that they had moved his previous secretary, and she had to work with him.) On that day, while my door was closed, he barged into my office three times looking for documents that were in the file, although he would not go through the file himself. I stopped and got the information for him. On the fourth time, he came in and was upset that he could not find a judgment we recorded listed on the County Recorder's website. I looked through the file, and found our recorded document. When I showed it to him, he started yelling at me and telling me he knew that it was in the file. His instructions were unclear, so I told him I did not know what he meant and that he was talking down to me. He closed the door to my office, and proceeded to stick his finger in my face as I was sitting at my desk and yell at me with his face turning bright red. He told me that he wasn't talking down to me and I said he was. He started yelling about another document that was supposed to be recorded. I didn't know what he was talking about, and he became even angrier (it turns out he gave that document to someone else to record - which they did not do.) I got up and opened my door. He continued to yell several people lined up at the end of the hallway to listen to him yell at me. When it was over, I closed my door and proceeded to get the information for him. Four people knocked on my door and asked me if I was ok. They had heard everything, and said that they would support me if I needed.

Later, the office manager came in and told me that they would have to let me go. When I mentioned that he had this trouble with many people in the office (in fact one girl walked out twice the week before, and returned to her job), they said that people were using this attorney as a scapegoat.

I am very upset over this incident, as he was involved in many arguments with other staff members, and I was the only one fired. I just want to know if I have any recourse, and what is the best way to explain to potential employers my reason for leaving this job? Thank you for your help.

Note: Franke James and Dr. John both advised the reader to contact a lawyer.