Dealing with Psychological Disorders at Work

I have mentioned earlier in the book that attorneys are basically out of their minds. Most attorneys feel that they are so important that if they drowned at sea, the world would grind to a halt. Personally, my sympathies would be with the fish. Narcissism and arrogance can be overwhelming. The staff can also be out of their minds. Some of the best paralegals I have ever worked with can be neurotic, aggressive, and full of anger as well. In this chapter, I will go deeper into the psychological state of a typical personal injury law firm staff.

I am not a psychologist, but by working for a personal injury and medical malpractice firm, you tend to learn a lot of medical facts as well as psychological disorders. Between the military and college, where I studied psychology, I picked up quite a bit of useful information about abnormal psychology. If I were a licensed psychologist and was to diagnose a typical personal injury attorney and the staff, the list of psychological disorders would be large, ranging from bipolar disorder to delusion disorder.

For the most part, most attorneys seem to have one thing in common. Most seem to be a high risk for alcohol, drug, or other vice abuse, but I will get to those details in the next chapter. In many cases, it is a combination of all three. Aside from alcohol and drug abuse, many attorneys exhibit serious aggression disorder and the levels of narcissism I have never seen. They can lash out at the most trivial issue. Funny enough, after a few seconds of lashing out, they immediately calm down as if nothing has happened. Then the delusion or denial comes in, and they act as if you are the one seeing things or that nothing has happened. This is one pattern, which is the most common. An attorney would create a scenario where he would lash out and point fingers at you that you were either seeing things or over-exaggerating. Many attorneys are really good at making you think that you’re the one going crazy.

And it is not just attorneys. Managers are also out of their minds. One attorney’s manager, in particular, really pissed me off. By attorney’s manager, I mean it exactly how it was in that firm. You saw the lawyer’s name on the building, but it was the manager who “owned” the firm. I could not deal with this “manager’s” mental instability. He was a hyper-aggressive, delusional, heavy drinker and was paranoid beyond measure. I was also amazed by him as well because he somehow managed to impregnate one of the staff workers, and due to his hyper-aggressive nature and paranoia, no one was allowed to speak to her. She happened to be the office bookkeeper and in charge of salary. That means if there was a problem with your paycheck, you could not complain about it to her unless you wanted to risk losing your job or dealing with the manager’s wrath. I had to quit that place asap. I’m not sure if it is in my genes or my military background, but I can get very arrogant as well. I butted heads with this idiot day in and day out. At some point, we came to an agreement that all communication would be done via email. That way, I did not have to deal with his shit. I locked myself in my office, settled cases, and reported to him via email.

However, that did not always work as planned. He sometimes had so much aggression in him that he went on rage tantrums and plowed through the whole office as he was looking for his next victims to verbally abuse. Enough was enough for me. I hate switching firms, but my sanity was more important than salary. I needed to sleep well at night without getting any anxiety the night before or in the morning when I was on my way to work. At some point, he pissed me off so bad that I calmly went into his office and simply told him, “for your own safety, I’m quitting.” I was literally inches away from jumping over his desk to strangle him until he turned every color in the rainbow.

Moving forward from that mental asylum, I could never catch a break. The next office was not any better. The attorney I went to work for next was probably within spectrum of autism. I am not an autism specialist, but I know enough to be able to tell when someone is autistic. Even with mild levels. He always seemed to repeat himself multiple times, got fixated with the most random thoughts or tasks to the point where he would re-do them over and over, whether they were completed correctly or not. For some strange reason, he had it locked in his head that every case in litigation would settle or get resolved during or after depositions, which is a rarity. In fact, the chances of a case getting settled during deposition are so slim that you have a better chance of catching a bigfoot riding on a unicorn. He would repeatedly say, “If they don’t settle, fine, we’ll get them at deposition! ” Since most defendant depositions are done by per-diem attorneys who have no idea what the case is about, they never have any authority, and naturally, they never settle. But he would continue to argue either with examiners or attorneys and would always say, “If you don’t give us the money that we’re looking for, we’ll get you at deposition! ” Lol! I couldn't help but laugh and ask how we were going to “get” them during deposition, but he always came back with weird answers such as “We will get the defendant to admit to the accident.”

For the most part, even if the defendant is 1% at fault, the plaintiff or the client is in theory entitled to the full policy. New York State is a comparative negligence state. Plus, there are other ways such as police reports, point of impact, and the VTL (Vehicle Traffic Laws) to prove who is really at fault. So, to come back constantly with the “We’ll get them during deposition” line was comical because, for the most part, we didn’t “need” to get them because we technically already got them. It also got frustrating because I would be the one yelled at for not settling the case after deposition. Especially when the client (the boss) was not accepting the offer because we supposedly “got them” during depositions.

Narcissism and anti-social behavior is probably the most common trait in most attorneys. I have seen countless people who were the nicest people I have ever met, who were full of dreams, supportive, and caring. They graduate law school, pass the bar, and eventually get admitted. A few years later, after practicing law, I have noticed the same pattern repeatedly in most people. They become angrier, overly stressed, narcissistic, and in many cases, delusional. After establishing this consistent pattern in most attorneys, I realized why attorneys hire non-attorney settlement negotiators. They need someone who has an objective view on things, street smarts, and someone that is not clouded with years’ worth of academics, which is mostly based on legal theories, pressures of student loans, endless court appearances, and long hours of motion practice. They need someone who can just focus on settlements.

I honestly have no solution on how to deal with attorneys who have mental health issues. Especially if they are suffering from delusion or some type of hyper-aggressive disorder. At the end of the day, their thought process is revolved over two truths.

1) They are the boss and you can’t argue with the boss

2) Attorneys are highly argumentative and will lash out if you do not see it their way. Even if you tattoo contradicting evidence in your favor.

I find it remarkable how most attorneys do not get committed to a psychiatric ward. As if the deterioration of mental health is a prerequisite to run a successful law firm. Lawyer bosses indulge themselves by bringing their staff to anxiety-provoking situations. But here is a kicker… Most attorneys who have some kind of mental breakdown or suffer from some kind of psychological issues are men. Most women that I have worked for were calm and collected. With the exception of one, who resorted to abuse of prescription drugs, most were a pleasure to work for. They seemed to keep their shit together when things got tough and were always objective without any emotional garbage when it came to making any decisions. The female attorneys were also good at keeping their home problems at home. They would not dare to bring their personal problems into the office. At least for the most part. So, if you are a woman who is planning to go to law school, you probably have a better shot at keeping your sanity in the legal field. We need more women lawyers!