Labor & Employment
Big UK Firm Bans BlackBerrys for Attorneys on Vacation
Posted Jul 22, 2008 6:21 PM CST
By Martha Neil
Apparently seeking to help associates maintain a better work/life balance, one of London's major "magic circle" law firms has banned attorneys from using their BlackBerrys while on vacation.
But the recent edict by Linklaters, which applies both to partners and to associates, hasn't been received with unqualified agreement, reports the Lawyer.
One partner is quoted saying, "'Total communication blackouts couldn’t work, as you could be working on a major deal while someone’s on holiday and they need to be contactable."
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Comments
hung like a shingle
Jul 23, 2008 9:32 AM CST
hows the big firm life going, chumps?
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associate
Jul 23, 2008 2:00 PM CST
That just means that everyone is going to have to take even shorter vacations; like 4 day weekends max.
I mean, it’s hard enough to take a full week off, but if I couldn’t answer urgent email, then I couldn’t be gone for more than a couple of days.
While I would appreciate the sentiment, a policy like, “We value our attorneys’ sanity and expect they will be completely unavailable for large portions of their vacation times,” would seem to be a better balance.
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whitlockd@cwbpa.com
Jul 25, 2008 3:06 AM CST
Those lazy Brits.
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Al DeMeola
Jul 25, 2008 6:24 AM CST
What they DONT tell you is that the lawyers have to take their LAPTOPS, not their blackberry’s since they’re expected to download, print, edit and return 35 page documents within 24 minutes! It’s an epidemic, though—Ive seen non-lawyers with non critical jobs checking their blacberry’s while waiting to cross the street; like anything meaningful would need such immediate attention. It’s become a status symbol for people to hold these. Pretty soon, you’ll have knockoff mockups of these for 8 year olds to play with in school. I say to them—get real, man!
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Nancy Lieberman
Jul 25, 2008 7:16 AM CST
Maybe it will catch on.
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Chris
Jul 25, 2008 7:22 AM CST
I never understood the people who criticize those who carry a blackberry and work on things throughout the day. Maybe the blackberry crowd just isn’t as lazy as other folks. I mean, I get annoyed when people are talking, loudly, on their cell phones in public. But doing e-mail/text stuff? Who cares? People have an inferiority complex about it. If I want to check my e-mail on the bus or at lunch or any other time, what’s it to you?
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Ronnie
Jul 25, 2008 7:42 AM CST
Knockoff mockups? Please, they’ll have the real thing! I love vacation. I don’t work on vacation. I don’t take phone calls during vacation. I vacation during vacation. I REFUSE to call my boss during her vacations. Nope, last thing she needs is to hear from me. Beautiful thing about domestic; I know exactly what needs to be done before I leave, and she does too. I have no problem with people blackberrying their little hearts off, just don’t do it when we’re out at a social gathering. If we go to a baseball game together, don’t spend the first seven innings blackberrying your girlfriend! That’s just rude. And don’t pay so much attention to blackberrying that you forget little things like crossing the street and getting off the metro at the right stop, and then getting mad because someone does do backflips to accommodate you. Just common courtesy, though I must say the thing that aggravates me most: walkie talkie phones! Who wants to hear your conversation?!? Now THAT is an aggravation of the worst sort!
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fakin' it
Jul 25, 2008 9:18 AM CST
you realize i’m reading the NYT on my blackberry as i walk across the street, right?
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Super Lawyer 2008
Jul 25, 2008 11:48 AM CST
Hey, Al - what’s a blacberry?
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JJ Walker
Jul 25, 2008 12:49 PM CST
The Brits hate anything black.
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