Quote:
Originally posted by notcasesensitive
I'd be surprised if that happened w/r/t the deals that I participate in b/c 99% of the time the other side is trying to get money from my client. Seems counterproductive. What I am referring to is not assholish negotiating tactics but literal tooishness. Like I'd never want to have a conversation with this person away from this deal. It is some combination of the manner of speech and the words used that makes me think that these (typically) guys are way to full of themselves and are generally worthless human beings.
As far as negotiating tactics go, I think that there is a difference in level of results between assholish behavior and persistence. Persistence (whether warranted or not) in bringing stuff up or holding onto points typically pays in my experience, not assholishness.
There are assholes and tools everywhere, but in my experience there is a specific breed of NY toolishness that I run into about half the time I work with bigger NY firms (even with NY offices of non-NY firms). That's why I thought maybe it is learned behavior there.
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This isn't typical of NYC lawyers, it's typical of NYC. A buddy of mine (let's call him Glenn, only b/c the name makes me laugh) works for a large bank. The bank was transitioning something or the other and needed Glenn to go to NYC to oversee the transition. It was a week-long project. Glenn shows up, observes a little bit and begins to offer suggestions and solutions. He has to deal with the group as well as individuals. Many of the NYC people asked him where he was from. He said "Chicago" and they basically wrote him off. For the first two days, they didn't pay attention to him at all. Glenn is a very patient person. He waited. He watched. He observed that the only thing this NYC office was good at was bitching and moaning. No wonder they couldn't do this shit themselves. They were too busy complaining. Charlotte did fine on its own. Hell, Mexico City was smoother than this. This was the most inefficient group of people he had ever seen in his life. Finally, they realized that they couldn't do it w/out Glenn. They started to ask questions and Glenn answered. By Thursday, Glenn was basically doing everything for them. They begged Glenn to stay. For another week. They loved him, the savior from the Second City. Permanently? No way, he told me, he didn't have the fucking energy to deal with those fucking babies. Not only were they assholes and condescending, but they were stupid to boot.
