Something I think is missing from the late-night emails discussion: the distinction between internal and external communications and the potential power imbalances that make the former trickier. /1

If you're emailing opposing counsel, have at it. You have no power to affect each others' working hours or workplace culture. You can laugh at each other or commiserate or hate each other or be friends. Whatever. /2

And when it comes to internal communications, if you're the junior person, send those emails whenever. Again, you aren't going to affect the senior person's working style or schedule. They might worry about the hours you're keeping, but they're not going to change their own. /3

But. I think if you're a senior person working with very junior people, and you're in the habit of sending late-night emails, it's also *really* important to communicate that you do not expect them to answer those emails in the middle of the night. Communicate that explicitly. /4

It's easy to forget what it's like being a newbie in an unfamiliar profession and unfamiliar workplace, but junior people look to senior people for clues about expectations. Lemme give an example. /5

When I first started working, I didn't understand that the annual billable hours expectation was a bare minimum, not a target. Nobody explained that to me. Maybe they assumed I just knew it was like pieces of flair. /6

I figured it out from watching senior people, but things could have gone sideways so easily. Unspoken workplace rules can be gnarly, and it's easy to assume something is an unspoken workplace rule if you see it happen enough. /7

It's why, for most of my years in BigLaw, I slept about four hours a night, answering late-night emails from one partner (who I now realize was working late because she had kids) and early morning emails from another partner. /8

Now let me be clear: I'm not saying it's rude to send late-night emails. You get the work done when you can, especially nowadays when everything is on its ear. This pandemic has screwed working parents, especially moms. But. /9

If you're sending late-night emails to a junior colleague, it's a kindness to communicate that you don't expect an answer right away, and to be firm about that, repeatedly. It will help you retain good talent and will foster a healthier workplace. /10

I still remember a 3 am email I got from a young partner at my second firm about six months after I'd joined. He prefaced it with, "I'm up in the middle of the night with the kids. I do not expect a response to this right away." It blew my mind that he was so thoughtful. /11

And that's what I mean about being clear about expectations. Don't assume your junior colleagues know what the expectations around late-night emails are. You might know you don't expect an answer--but they don't. Tell them. Regularly. /12

And then back it up with actions. Make sure they're not penalized on reviews for not answering late emails and keep giving them good work. People can see when you're all talk. Don't be. /end