公司法務危機管理反思

Attorneys must be prepared to not panicupon realizing that the curveball is not going to drop into the strikezone.

當意識到事情并非按設想軌跡進行時，法務必須做好不驚慌的準備。

I learned two life lessons from myparticipation in the “The Fifth of July” (affiliate link), a play by Lanford Wilson. One was during myfirst-ever male kissing scene. I learned what actresses go through with piggishactors who decide to “go for it” when the lights come up; we’ll leave it atthat. And two, I learned that when required to wear short shorts as part ofyour costume, you should always —always — wear underwear if you’re ever going to besitting down during your scenes.

我從蘭福·威爾遜的《七月五日》這部劇里學到了兩個人生教訓。一個是在我首次看到的男性接吻場景中。當燈亮起來貪心的男演員決定要接吻的時候，我能感受到女演員的尷尬；這件事暫且不討論。第二個是如果要穿超短短褲演戲，一定一定要穿內衣，尤其是如果你要在演戲時坐下。

I relay those two lessons tongue halfin cheek. They relate to in-house work in the sense that while preparation iskey, when the spit hits the fan, you need to first “grab the canoe”….

我講這兩個教訓其實是另有用意。它們都和法務工作有關，這個聯(lián)系在于雖然提前準備很重要，但當事情要發(fā)生嚴重后果時，你要先“抓住獨木舟”……

See, one hot summer day, my then-fianceand I went for a canoe trip on some unremembered Northeast river. The water wasnot deep, but the water was flowing swiftly. Somehow, we tipped the canoe, andshe began to panic. As the canoe began to float away from us, I told her to “grab the canoe.” This wasimportant because without our boat, we’d be up a creekholding only paddles. That phrase has become a code for us when things goquickly awry.

一個炎熱的夏天，某一天我當時的未婚妻和我去某條東北部河流劃獨木舟。河水不深，但是水流很急。不知怎的，我們把獨木舟弄翻了，她開始慌張起來。獨木舟開始越漂越遠，我讓她“抓住獨木舟”。這很重要，因為如果沒有船，我們就只能拿著船槳走上小溪�，F(xiàn)在當事情不順利時，那個短語已經(jīng)成了我們的處事原則。

First, you must “grab the canoe” and get back tofloating; only then can you assess what else might be wrong (missingpossessions, food, wet socks, etc.). Things are going to go screwy during yourtenure as an attorney — they just will. You cannotpossibly plan for everything, but you can remember the mantra of “grab the canoe.” The canoe is a metaphor forthe stasis that usually surrounds your job. You are first and foremostrepresenting an entity. Chief Justice Roberts argues the fiction that theentity is somehow a person, but I digress. The entity is what keeps you and theother employees afloat. During a crisis, all of the happenings within theentity are to be worried about after first taking care to right your primaryclient, the business. Some things that occur in an emergency, or a quicklymoving negotiation, can be left behind, such as obsolete contractual language.Other issues are absolutely necessary in a publicly traded company — reporting requirements, for instance. And in the time it takes toread this column, some of these issues can overturn your company’s sense of balance, and leave you drifting.

首先，你必須“抓住獨木舟”回去接著漂；只有那樣你才能判斷有什么其他問題（丟失了財物、食物以及襪子濕了等等）。你做律師的時候，事情也會出錯—就是會出錯。你不可能計劃好每件事，但是你可以記住“抓住獨木舟”這句咒語。獨木舟是對你工作不順的一個比喻。你首先是代表一個企業(yè)。首席大法官羅伯茨認為，企業(yè)從某種程度上是個人，但是我不同意。正是這個企業(yè)讓你和其他的員工生存下去。在危機中，在小心安撫主要客戶（業(yè)務來源）后，你要關注企業(yè)內發(fā)生的所有事情。發(fā)生在緊急情況下或快速進行的談判中的有些事情可能會被遺漏，例如過時的合同用語。發(fā)生在上市公司中的一些問題一定要關注，例如報告的要求。另外，在你閱讀這篇專欄的時候，這些問題可能嚴重影響公司，讓你深陷危機。

I have written before about thenecessity of contingency plans, but what if there is simply no time to pull outthe book and turn to page 63? You are in a state of emergency, your stomach isin a knot, and the CEO is asking you some very difficult questions. Grab thecanoe. Take a breath and do your best. Put the issue of staying afloat at theforefront of your analyses. You may come up wrong, but you’ll likely surprise yourself. When I was brand new to law,I used to become easily awed by elder attorneys who could argue severaldifferent points of a legal issue, seemingly all at once. I wondered how theydid it, and despaired that I would never be that smart. It is not always “smarts” that gets you through, but theability to think quickly, act decisively, and rely on experience. There is nobetter teacher than failure. Those same attorneys who seemingly have theanswers to every turn of an issue will be quick to inform you that their “expertise” is largely borne of experience — especially when the canoe overturns.

我以前寫過關于應及計劃必要性的文章，但如果你就是沒有時間拿出書翻到第63頁閱讀呢？如果你處于緊急狀態(tài)下，你心里七上八下，而且首席執(zhí)行官在問你一些難題，那就抓住獨木舟，深吸一口氣，努力做到最好。分析問題時，把生存下去的問題放在首位。剛開始你可能出現(xiàn)錯誤，但是你會讓自己感到驚訝的。在我完全不懂法律時，當我看到一些年長的律師似乎可以一次性辯論一個法律問題的幾個不同點時，我經(jīng)常感到很驚奇。我想知道他們是如何做到的，但同時又感到很絕望，因為我永遠也不能變得那么聰明。能幫助你成功的并非是“各種小聰明”，而是快速思考、果斷行動并且利用經(jīng)驗的能力。記住沒有比失敗更好的老師。那些似乎能夠對一個問題的任何一面都應對自如的律師很快會告訴你他們的“專業(yè)技能”大部分來自經(jīng)驗——尤其是出現(xiàn)危機時。

That is what makes our professionspecial. Of course we are not saving lives, or curing dread disease. Wepractice law. The key is in the word “practice.” As you practice, answers become ingrained, and your expertisebegins to grow. After years of “practice,” you enable yourself to right tipped canoes, and assist stressedCEOs quickly, efficiently, and appropriately. But in the recesses of your mind,you must always be aware of the possibilities for crisis. Remember that in themoment you will rely on what you know and keep the primary focus on stayingafloat. You can allow yourself to let the what-ifs creep in once you are pastthe crisis and are happily ensconced at the third seat at the bar, with amartini safely in hand.

這就是讓我們的職業(yè)變得特殊的地方。當然，我們沒有挽救生命，或者治愈可怕的疾病。我們是做法律實務的。關鍵在于“實務”這個詞。做實務時，解決問題的方法會在你的頭腦里根深蒂固，你的專業(yè)技能也會得到加強。在做幾年“實務”后，你就能解決危機，并且快速、有效并適當?shù)貛椭�緊張的首席執(zhí)行官們。但是，在腦海的深處，你必須意識到危機發(fā)生的可能性。記住在危機發(fā)生的那一刻，你會依靠你知道的東西并且專注于生存下去。一旦你度過危機并且手里拿著一杯馬提尼高興地安坐在酒店的第三張椅子上時，你就可以允許自己想想特殊狀況。

By David Mowry作者：大衛(wèi)·毛瑞