N.Y. Law Firm Bans BlackBerrys at Major Meetings

Law Firms

N.Y. Law Firm Bans BlackBerrys at Major Meetings

Posted Apr 7, 2008, 10:56 am CDT
By Martha Neil

A law firm in suburban New York City has banned electronic devices from major meetings to prevent distractions caused by cell phones and BlackBerrys.

The six-month-old "no-device policy" at the Long Island law firm of Meltzer, Lippe, Goldstein & Breitstone is intended to prevent even vibrations from incoming calls and e-mail messages from interrupting the flow of business, reports Newsday.

At routine meetings, new guidelines allow participants to bring electronic devices but require them to step out into the hall when an essential call or e-mail demands an immediate response.

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Posted by Alien Heffernan - 4 months, 3 weeks, 5 days, 18 hours, 13 minutes ago

Hail to this firm! I hate all these jerks going around with blackberries, acting so important, like they’re needed 24/7. Most of the time, they’re the same jerks who are on the cellphones on the bus, but they’re really just talking about things that could wait (i.e., what they’re eating for dinner, what they’re wearing (primarily women) and other dummies that really are trying to look important. I once sat on a train to Albany from NYC next to a neurotic woman who checked her blackberry about 3 times every minute, and I don’t think she received or sent more than 2 messages in 3 hours! It was really a nervous habit--like a twitch, that caused her to have to do something with her fingers. It was sick! I couldn’t help but think this woman needed a sedative. There was no one bothering her on the blackberry; she was just waiting for something to do.
Posted by L.M.S. - 4 months, 3 weeks, 5 days, 16 hours, 3 minutes ago

Oh give me a break. This article is about banning blackberrys in work situations - not outside of the office. So people check their blackberrys. I’m fine with banning them at meetings, and admit that they can be disruptive - but if someone wants something to pass the time while riding on a bus, why do you care? So long as their conversation isn’t disturbing the driver, it doesn’t seem like a big deal to me. I might feel differently if someone was answering their phone in a quiet restaurant or movie - but a bus - get over it! And the fact that you had to point out that it’s the women that talk about what they’re wearing is ridiculous - what the heck does that false stereotype have to do with an article discussing banning blackberrys at the workplace?
Posted by L.M.S. - 4 months, 3 weeks, 5 days, 16 hours, 2 minutes ago

Oh give me a break. This article is about banning blackberrys in work situations - not outside of the office. So what if people check their blackberrys. I’m fine with banning them at meetings, and admit that they can be disruptive - but if someone wants something to pass the time while riding on a bus, why do you care? So long as their conversation isn’t disturbing the driver, it doesn’t seem like a big deal to me. And the fact that you had to point out that it’s the women that talk about what they’re wearing is ridiculous - what the heck does that false stereotype have to do with an article on banning blackberrys at the workplace?
Posted by ed kelly - 4 months, 3 weeks, 5 days, 15 hours, 30 minutes ago

While waiting for a flight in the Detroit airport last year i went into a restaurant for lunch. I had a surreal moment when I was taking my lunch to my seat when I realized that EVERY single person was either on the phone or working their Blackberry. I wonder if it occurred to any of them that their primary purpose in that moment might have been....to eat lunch!
Posted by Paul Scott - 4 months, 3 weeks, 5 days, 15 hours, 26 minutes ago

Hey, I like using my Blackberry and looking important? What’s wrong with dat???
Posted by Dan - 4 months, 3 weeks, 5 days, 15 hours, 12 minutes ago

It reminds me of when people used to chain smoke because they had nothing else to do.
Posted by J. Laevin Weiner - 4 months, 3 weeks, 5 days, 15 hours, 5 minutes ago

There is some merit to this restriction. However, a ban is shortsignted. It is the very people conducting these meetings that are requiring from their associates more timely and informed participation. One would hope that restricted use could be responsibly policed without a ban that is by definition counter-productive.
Posted by Hector Wasapup - 4 months, 3 weeks, 5 days, 14 hours, 47 minutes ago

What a great idea! People who are addicted to these things find the constant checking and clicking annoying. Truly important people do not need to be in contact with others 24/7-they simply summon others to assist.
Posted by John B. Payne, Attorney - 4 months, 3 weeks, 5 days, 14 hours, 43 minutes ago

What’s the deal? I won’t say I could never be wrong, but isn’t “Blackberries” the plural of “Blackberry?” Is there a special rule for a capitalized blackberry?
Posted by Todd Rainer - 4 months, 3 weeks, 5 days, 14 hours, 31 minutes ago

I get this. There are times that the FULL ATTENTION to a particular subject is necessary (it’s a very Buddhist concept in nature...calming our monkey mind). Our lives are so full of distractions that we have a hard time focusing on the important tasks at hand.

If you’re having a meeting, then obviously there is something important to be said. Outside folk CAN leave messages.

Meetings are a great first step, next we should ban them in cars, at least for the drivers. As a motorcyclist, I see people in coffins (cars) do stupid things all day long and 7 out 10 times there is a cell phone of some sort involved.

Too many distractions!
Posted by Joe Kimball - 4 months, 3 weeks, 5 days, 14 hours, 27 minutes ago

I agree wtih J.Weiner. With the almighty billable hour still driving the business, you can get an couple of tenths in while listening to the senior or managing partner drone on about billings being down x%
Posted by Steve - 4 months, 3 weeks, 5 days, 14 hours, 26 minutes ago

Believe me, the important people don’t need Blackberry’s. Us slaves, do.
Posted by Andrea Cannavina, Virtual Assistant - 4 months, 3 weeks, 5 days, 14 hours, 21 minutes ago

BlackBerry is capitalized as it is a proper noun.
The plural of BlackBerry (according to RIM) is BlackBerry devices or smartphones.

There’s a good read about this issue on CrackBerry.com: http://www.crackberry.com/great-plural-blackberry-debate
Posted by Linda Richmand - 4 months, 3 weeks, 5 days, 14 hours, 7 minutes ago

The plural of “Blackberry” follows the same grammatical rule for the shorthand for U.S. Treasury securities, which are properly referred to as “Treasurys”, because “Blackberry” is an adjective modifying “devices” and “Treasury” is an adjective modifying “securities”
Posted by Bill - 4 months, 3 weeks, 5 days, 14 hours, 6 minutes ago

I believe the plural of proper nouns ending in “y” is “ys.” The Grammy Awards are the “Grammys,” not “Grammies.” A bunch of Irishmen are the “Murphys,” not “Murphies.”

I had the exact same zen thought as Todd - our Western culture is rapidly losing sight of the importance/benefit of focusing on the task we’re doing.
Posted by Mark - 4 months, 3 weeks, 5 days, 14 hours, 2 minutes ago

Well it’s certainly not “Blackberry’s.”
Posted by Jared - 4 months, 3 weeks, 5 days, 14 hours, 2 minutes ago

To Todd @ #8:

“If you’re having a meeting, then obviously there is something important to be said.”

You must go to a better class of meetings than I do.
Posted by Bob Ellis - 4 months, 3 weeks, 5 days, 13 hours, 41 minutes ago

I think there is merit to having a ban on the devices in meetings, although a general ban is obvioulsy going to hurt productivity. Thus, it any policy should be very specific as to when they are resticted. J.Weiner at No. 6 is on point.

Anyone that knows how to use a BB (text, e-mail, pins) will tell you how much more productive they are with them.

I have rarely been to a meeting with I could not multi-task.
Posted by Karen - 4 months, 3 weeks, 5 days, 13 hours, 39 minutes ago

Quey, How many of you are reading this during a meeting from your Blackberry or smart phone like me?
Posted by Pat - 4 months, 3 weeks, 5 days, 13 hours, 19 minutes ago

Who gets to decide what a major meeting is?
Posted by Bill - 4 months, 3 weeks, 5 days, 13 hours, 9 minutes ago

I hope those of you discussing the “proper” use of “Blackberry” are not lawyers. Blackberry is a registered trademark, and therefore is not properly used as a noun, but only as a source descriptive adjective in conduction with the noun it modifies - e.g. Blackberry(R) devices… Blackberry(R) phone, etc. Sheesh.
Posted by Scott - 4 months, 3 weeks, 5 days, 13 hours, 7 minutes ago

This is the LAMEST story ever. The policy “banning” Blackberrys has so many loopholes it is meaningless. What exactly is a “major” meeting? Even then you can still step out into the hall to get a call. This would indicate to me that the devises are still taken into even “major” meetings. Meaning that people still have them with them and are messeging or surfing. The headline is totally misleading. Maybe “limit” instead of “ban” would be more appropriate.
Posted by DL - 4 months, 3 weeks, 5 days, 13 hours, 5 minutes ago

If a partner wants me to sit in a long meeting that isn’t billable, I’m going to do billable work while sitting there. Either that, or give me credit for wasting my time so I’m not taking more time from my family and friends so the partnership can explain to me why they drew on average over $1 million last year.
Posted by d - 4 months, 3 weeks, 5 days, 12 hours, 57 minutes ago

Who wouldn’t trash their blackberry if they could? They are for slaves and slave masters. Slaves need them to respond immediately to slave masters’ impatient requests. Slave masters are not going to stop using them, and if slaves don’t like it, well, there are millions of slaves in the sea.
Posted by Brigitte HERZOG - 4 months, 3 weeks, 5 days, 12 hours, 1 minute ago

At last..It is so annoying to make a presentation and see people looking at their messages on their blackberry ..I know multitassking is in but if we want to avoid mistake but sometimes need to focus on what we are doing..
Posted by Peter - 4 months, 3 weeks, 5 days, 11 hours, 12 minutes ago

OMG, I’m ROTFLMAO! LOL and XO my Blackberry! And WTF to their critics! TTYL!
Posted by DM - 4 months, 3 weeks, 5 days, 11 hours, 10 minutes ago

At least people with Blackberrys are silent. This morning on the train I had to listen to a Bridzilla yakking on her cell phone about her messed up wedding invitations for half an hour, after telling the unfortunate caller that she couldn’t talk about it because it upset her so much.
By the way, #17, were you multitasking when you wrote “I have rarely been to a meeting with I could not multi-task”?
And #18, what does “quey” mean?
Posted by Michael Nordin - 4 months, 3 weeks, 5 days, 10 hours, 57 minutes ago

I’m sorry. I was checking emails. What did you say?
Posted by Ron - 4 months, 3 weeks, 5 days, 10 hours, 56 minutes ago

The underlying (and much sadder) issue is what we have allowed ourselves to become. Technology (e.g. cell phones, facsimile machines, photocopiers, desktop and laptop computers, the internet) was supposed to allow us to be more productive--it had the promise of allowing us to do what we used to do in 40-50 hours a week in less than 40. But it was really a trap. Now, instead of giving us a saner existence, it just caused employers to demand more deliverables, more hours of contact with the office, more, more, more. I am as guilty as the next person about tech products. I have a pda, a personal cell phone, a Blackberry for work, a desktop at the office, a laptop at the office, etc. I am totally connected, but I don’t feel any more productive. These devices don’t help me to decide to have more free time or disconnect when the workday is done--I fell into the trap like many, and I am now deciding how to get out.
As for the meeting rule, it is coming at the issue all wrong. Very, very few run quality meetings. The vast majority of meetings I have ever been to could have been summed up in a memo--the participants did not need to meet. There are specific techniques for running concise, useful meetings, and most managers who have meetings DO NOT know them--there is training out there for it, and every office should require anybody who has to the power to convene meetings to get that training. If nobody is paying attention at your meeting because of Blackberry usage, you probably run a crappy meeting. Find out why and change.
Posted by Marvin Gardens - 4 months, 3 weeks, 5 days, 10 hours, 35 minutes ago

Am I missing something? I work in-house and the thought of people using Blackberrys during a meeting strikes me as incredibly rude behavior that would never be tolerated at this company.
Posted by R - 4 months, 3 weeks, 5 days, 9 hours, 45 minutes ago

I’m just a country bumpkin and we don’t have many of them thar fruit phones out where I live. But I was in New York City recently and visiting with a lawyer friend I hadn’t seen in 10 years. I swear to God, every 30 seconds he’d be pulling out his Blackberry and fiddling with it - he was obviously getting tons of work messages at 7:30 pm on a Friday night. I felt kinda sorry for him.
Posted by blame canada - 4 months, 3 weeks, 5 days, 1 hour, 46 minutes ago

I love Ron’s comment. He bitches about how technology is ruining is life and all that focus on productivity is just sooo bad. Then, he follows up with a lecture about how to run concise and useful meetings, because god forbid you have to spend 5 minutes on an inconcise meeting run by some dick with no respect for productivity. Your post is an awesome read, Ron.

All you guys are totally right: electronic devices that permit you to take a call or check your email while hanging out in pajamas at home with a ballgame on tv in the background rather than having to drag your ass to the office to log into your desktop - are the root of all evil in this world.
Posted by Kate - 4 months, 3 weeks, 3 days, 10 hours, 8 minutes ago

I have never taken the time to read comments responding to a posted article. Hilarious--thanks for the entertainment! I particularly love when one individual criticizes another, all the while making blatant typos, whether spelling, punctuation, or grammar. Another favorite: the witty remarks. Thanks for the laughs.
Posted by Sheila - 4 months, 3 weeks, 3 days, 8 hours, 21 minutes ago

Good for them!
In my opinion, mulitasking does not lead to more productivity - just busywork that gives an illusion of productivity.
Maybe “uni-tasking” - defined as concentrating on one thing in depth and being in the present moment -will become the new buzzword.
Oops - I’m having a Zen moment.
Posted by Houston Lawyer - 4 months, 3 weeks, 2 days, 15 hours, 8 minutes ago

Since leaving my last employer, where I was addicted to my BlackBerry (R), I don’t even bring the stupid thing to meetings anymore. My new employer won’t pay for the cell phone on the thing, so I don’t need to bring it in case I get a call, and nothing is so important that I can’t go to a meeting and leave the ridiculous thing behind. I don’t even look at it on the weekends anymore. I used to carry it around with me on weekends. I think it all depends on your attitude and the atmosphere at your workplace. I know why I’m here, now, instead of there.

Now, my iPhone, which is my personal device, I do look at on the bus, etc., because I can pass the time surfing mindless web sites or watching YouTube. It’s all for fun, not work, though.

I really like my new job, and it pays way better than my old job where I was a crackberry addict.

Just wanted to share my good fortune. Good for this law firm for banning Blackberry (R) devices.
Posted by Paul G. - 4 months, 3 weeks, 2 days, 14 hours, 15 minutes ago

I was going to post a long responses but my Blackberry buzzed, gotta go. Maybe next time Jokers!
Posted by Bob Ellis - 4 months, 3 weeks, 2 days, 8 hours, 33 minutes ago

Responding to No. 27 who apparantly had quoted from me but cited incorrectly.

“By the way, #17, were you multitasking when you wrote “I have rarely been to a meeting with I could not multi-task”?
And #18, what does “quey” mean? “

No, it was a typo much like your error when you miscited two times over.

BTW - I think “Quey” is spanish it means “what” and is pronounced “kay”.
Posted by St. Louis Lawyer - 4 months, 3 weeks, 10 hours, 14 minutes ago

Can’t help but point out to #37 that “what” in Spanish is spelled “que”. Further, given the context of #19’s “Quey,” it was probably just a case of a missing “r”, which would make the word “query”, which would make sense since what followed was a question (a.k.a. a query). Now, let’s all get back to work.

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