How do lawyers do at giving assignments?

I sent 22 lawyers this one-question survey, asking them to check one.

__ Most senior attorneys are good at giving research-and-writing assignments and instructions.
__ Most senior attorneys are average at giving research-and-writing assignments and instructions.
__ Most senior attorneys are poor at giving research-and-writing assignments and instructions.

I was expecting a lot of “poor” responses, but I suppose I should have been able to predict the results, given that I’m a teacher who grades a course on a curve:

  • Good = 7
  • Average = 9
  • Poor = 6

That’s a pretty decent bell curve. Here are two interesting comments from my respondents:

“I think senior attorneys struggle to understand and acknowledge all the information and background they retain and know but don’t always explain to a newer attorney who might need that information and background to effectively perform the  assignment.”

Well said. This is the curse of knowledge, the frustratingly common phenomenon of being unable to recognize that others don’t know what you know.

“It depends on the cut-off between senior attorney and junior attorney. I would say folks in their first 3-5 years are good, folks who’ve practiced for 10 or more are confusing or poor, and folks in between are average.”

Makes sense, right? The farther you get from the novice level, the harder it is to communicate at the novice level.