Q & A Table of Contents
They Want Me To Stay, But Where Are The Incentives?
From: Amber Rochester, Minnesota
Question: I have been working for a law firm for the past year and a half. When I was hired, my boss knew that I intended on pursing my JD degree, and was concerned that I would end up leaving within a year or so.
Because I enjoy my job so much, I have decided to attend law school on the weekends and continue to work full time at the law firm. My boss was VERY excited about my decision, and told me he would give me time off whenever needed. He has said that this is the best staff he has ever had. He also promised me a position as an attorney when I finish the program. He would like to retire, and plans to do so when I finish. He will remain on as "of counsel." As of now, he is only in the office an average of one week a month, and vacations the rest of the time. He is 66, and has earned it, but that means that the rest of his staff (one other legal assistant, one legal secretary, and one attorney) run the firm.
With all that said, he has never mentioned anything about helping me with my tuition, which will be around $70K when I am finished. This is a very small firm, but very productive. I know that he had offered to pay the other legal assistant to go back to school to finish her undergraduate degree as well as law school. However, she has been with him for 15 years and he would not be able to run the firm without her. Regardless, she did not want to go back to school.
How do I approach my boss about helping or even paying my student loans? I just started school, but have already had to take out a loan for over $20k for this year alone. I have been a very productive employee, and usually bill out more hours than the others in the firm. I also know that he does not want me to leave. How do I go about this???
Response: In your last paragraph you make some very telling points that should help you structure your conversation with your boss.
You need to have a private conversation with your boss to discuss your current status, your education, its costs, and the long-term plans you share. It would probably be a good idea to discuss the agenda of your conversation with your boss to see if he wants to add anything -- or remove any items you want to discuss. Each of these possibilities will help inform you of what negotiation strategies or tactics you should employ.
Find out from your boss what he thinks of your work, how he envisions the future of the firm and its current employees and clients, and how you fit into the picture. Developing a long-range view which you and he share can be a significant step, particularly if you can create a document both of you sign which records the elements of the bargain to which you have agreed.
Depending on what you learn in that conversation, you can make a number of suggestions: if your loan is from a bank and you have to pay interest, perhaps you could ask your boss to lend you the money at no interest. Perhaps the boss will pay the current interest on the loan, leaving the principal payments as your responsibility once you are deriving a larger income. Or maybe the money you spend on law school could be used to 'buy' a current interest in the law firm as a partner (not a law partner, but a business partner).
If your boss subsidizes your tuition and other school costs, he has every reason to hope that his investment in you will be returned in the form of long-term retainers to himself or his estate (depending on how long the payback period may be).
Being honest with him and with yourself should encourage reciprocity on his part. He may not owe you as much as longer-term employees, but he may see you as a key to his future.
Going to law school is expensive; in theory it works out because you should earn a good living once you are actually a practicing lawyer. Look to the long-term; it puts short-term aggravation into proper context.
Good luck,
Steve
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