I get a lot of professional management advice consultant speak pass by my desk but this helpful hint to the junior lawyer was so funny yet potentially damaging and I thought it would be a good opportunity for general review:

As a junior lawyer, you will inevitably get some assignments that have made their way to you because no one wants them and everyone above you has managed to avoid them. Its not always fair, and sometimes the product of nothing more than laziness on the part of more senior counsel, but it is going to happen. Just keep smiling. The lawyer who assigned you this task probably knows it is a “dog” (even if he or she won’t admit it) and you will be appreciated for getting it done. Do these (and your other assignments) well, and soon your superiors will find someone else to do these unenviable tasks.

I wonder whether the real focus for junior ought to be rather finding a way to ensure the senior would never give you that sort of file again while still getting your bonus. There is little likelihood of being appreciated and, if you do end up doing it well, there is really no way in hell L. Azy Sr. QC would put the next file anywhere but your desk.

One must avoid being a jerk magnet in all facets of life, no?