Dear Advy
My friend recently joined a new firm. This new firm is asking all the lawyers to make a significant donation to a certain political party and the firm will reimburse them. They feel pressured to go along with this and it is really stressing them out. How would you suggest they handle approaching the situation and their stress?
Sincerely,
Political Pressure
Dear PP,
I can’t help but point out that there is a very good chance that this arrangement is illegal. I don’t know the details of the relevant jurisdiction and level (federal, provincial, possibly municipal?) of government so I can’t make that statement definitively. It may also offend the Code of Conduct governing the lawyers at this firm. The Model Code of Conduct provides:
3.2-7 A lawyer must never:
a) knowingly assist in or encourage any dishonesty, fraud, crime, or illegal conduct.
b) do or omit to do anything that the lawyer ought to know assists in or encourages any dishonesty, fraud, crime, or illegal conduct by a client or others, or
c) instruct a client or others on how to violate the law and avoid punishment.
These lawyers may be putting their careers on the line even if the scheme is not a clear breach of the laws governing political donations in this case. Your friend may also have a positive duty to report this to the law society (See 7.1-3 of the Model Code), so that would be something to discuss with a practice advisor.
Aside from the legal and ethical objections mentioned above, compelling someone to donate to a political cause or party that they may object to is terrible policy on the firm’s part. In the 21st century donating to a political party or cause is not a one-time deal either. It means receiving e-mails, text messages and other contacts asking for more donations for the foreseeable future. In the long run it calls into question the firm’s judgment more broadly. If it is willing to possibly circumvent the law and compel its lawyers to engage in unethical behaviour about this, then what else might firm management tell its lawyers to do in the future? If the firm is willing to violate your friend’s integrity about one thing, it may well be willing to continue doing it.
Those are legal and ethical questions that an advice column is ill-equipped to answer. As mentioned, your friend should speak with a practice advisor and consult the Code of Conduct for your friend’s jurisdiction and/or get advice from someone with expertise in relevant electoral law. What is in the wheelhouse of an advice column is the fact that by potentially putting their careers at risk, the firm is subjecting these lawyers to a level of stress that is beyond the norm.
It would be easy for someone outside the situation like me to advise these lawyers at your friend’s firm to simply refuse to do what firm management is asking. My guess is you wouldn’t be writing to me if it was that simple. We’re assuming here that all the legal and ethical objections your friend may raise with management are going nowhere and your friend is faced with complying or going elsewhere to earn a livelihood.
What should your friend do?
Your friend should not go through this alone. Your friend has already spoken to you for some outside support and that is a good first step. Your friend would also do well to enlist some professional help to deal with the stress associated with this and, I’m guessing, other bad decisions the firm is making. Fortunately, that support is free and available confidentially through your jurisdiction’s lawyer assistance program. Your friend may also have access to an employee assistance plan through the workplace which can be another source of support. Even if your friend isn’t experiencing what they believe are symptoms of psychological distress, there is no need to wait for it to get to that stage before enlisting professional help. These are free services, and most programs are quite happy to help your friend prevent this problem from spiraling into a crisis.
It’s not for nothing that I mention stress associated with compelling lawyers to do things they feel are unethical or at least inconsistent with their own values. Your friend is experiencing cognitive dissonance - “Why am I donating to a political cause I disagree with? I’m an ethical lawyer but here I am participating in what may be an unethical and possibly illegal scheme to help disguise the firm management’s own political donations.” Over the long run that can be quite harmful, and again there is good reason to believe this will not be the last time the firm directs the people working for it to do something like this. Emotional burden and incompatibility of values is a source of stress identified by the National Study on the Psychological Health Determinants of Legal Professionals in Canada Phase 1 report (page 68). These and other factors can lead to burnout, depression, and other psychological challenges. If your friend is curious about what those can lead to if you don’t do something to resolve them, there are plenty of examples outlined in the Phase 2 report of the same study.
Once your friend has some professional support lined up, your friend should also develop their network of lawyers outside the firm. Policies like the one you describe are not the norm in the profession, although sadly they’re not uncommon. Sometimes the most important thing you need in situations like this is a sounding board to ask, “Is what’s happening in my workplace normal?” Your friend would have to exercise some discretion before asking a question like that of a complete stranger of course, but having mentors and even just peers outside of the firm can be a reliable lifeline when you’re questioning whether that feeling of cognitive dissonance described above is “just you” or an indication of a problem in the firm’s decisions. You can help your friend by introducing him/her to your peers in other firms and encouraging your friend to spend time with them. Your friend can also benefit from participating in section meetings offered by the CBA both locally and nationally and/or other organizations that provide opportunities to connect with others. Yes, those networks can help your friend find another place to work in the worst-case scenario, but in the meantime, they can help your friend maintain a sense of congruity knowing they is not alone.
Your friend’s concern also suggests that there is a broader workplace culture problem at the firm. Firm management is willing to impose a top-down solution to what the firm manager wants, i.e. providing financial support a political party that the firm manager backs and evading some kind of restriction that prevents the firm from giving that support directly. Over time that kind of approach to running a firm and the job of managing lawyers is pretty toxic to the workplace. Assuming challenging this particular policy is not an option (or not an option anymore at least) your friend can focus on helping to change the culture more broadly at the firm. The aim in doing that would be to prevent this specific incident becoming the norm in the workplace. You can read more about how to go about changing the culture at your firm in a previous Dear Advy letter.
Your friend has more power to change the office culture than you or your friend probably realize. With patience and persistence, you can make the firm a better place to work.
Be well,
Advy