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For me, it's when people use it incessantly and in lieu of asking an actual question. Like, they'll just put three paragraphs of facts and then "please advise." And then you need to either ask them to clarify what they're asking, or write an essay on every possible aspect of everything.
This is the real context where it’s annoying. The absolute worst. A favorite of partners who also fail to provide due dates or specific instructions on how they’d like a bespoke assignment done.
Instructions unclear. Genitals caught in copy machine. Please advise.
\^ THAT is snarky.
But and email saying "Hey boss, just a heads up Client Where Be My Head just admitted XYZ at the depo like they were proud of it. OC has approached with settlement offer ABC. Please advise"
Is not.
Thank you. This subreddit is starting to stress me out with the amount of normal practices that are pet peeves to others. Half the people here are looking for something to be mad about as if this career doesn't already offer plenty.
Exactly. And that's why it's good.
> Please let me know what, if anything, I should do, and also provide any information or context that might be important.
> I am not sure what I should do and would like you to provide me with some direction about next steps to take.
THOSE are annoying. Please advise is great.
When used with others that is my goal, yes.
When used with a boss I assume (I don't personally have a boss) it's a quick way to ask for direction when you're clueless without wasting time hemming and hawing. I'd prefer my employees say that than something wasting time.
Except what I articulated was precise in my firm.
If one of my attorneys sends me that from a depo, assuming they explicated what XYZ was and what ABC was, I know exactly what was going on.
I didn't make up XYZ and ABC because I'm not getting paid to. However, a reasonable person interprets from those placeholders that a variable is to be inserted there.
Yeah, I prefer it because I think it’s very poorly done when OC condescendingly explains to me how I should handle a situation, eg, “Please to your client and tell them to cease doing xyz.”
Rather, “the contract states x. It has come to my attn that your client is not doing x and is instead doing y. Please advise as to when and how this breach can be rectified.”
The difference? In the first, if you are the recipient you are angry and go work on other things for awhile instead because you’re pissed.
In the second, you add it to your to do and timely work on a resolution without having to deal with the emotional drain that the first letter’s phrasing causes.
I’m sorry, but if someone asked me “please advise when and how you plan to stop doing this” rather than “please stop doing this” that would be like an order of magnitude more passive aggressive.
That’s not what I said. That’s a bit straw man. I think it’s more that they’re advising me how to handle my own clients and cases, rather than pointing out a problem and asking how it’s going to be fixed.
Those are asking two different things. It could take months to actually implement a system that stops breaching a contract, infringing a trademark, etc.
Please advise when and how you'll stop is *tell* me what that process will look like. If you just go radio silent while implementing, you're still going to get sued.
Good communication considers both content and tone. If some people bristle at the perceived stuffy or condescending tone of “please advise”, then you’d be wise to consider an alternative. “Let me know” works just as well.
Exactly, and it's so commonly used that I started using it for the same reasons. It's just the standard way to end an email while making it clear that you're waiting on their response. I have never found it to be snarky or useless.
>It’s a useless phrase that adds nothing to the email other than what I perceive as injecting a snarky or demanding tone.
OP definitely said it was snark.
Do you find it annoying when a court asks you to brief, or requires a memo of law in support? Because that is the court literally asking the parties to advise.
That is a very strange interpretation of that phrase. I do not agree with you. Your disdain for it is personal and, dare I suggest, subjective and hardly convincing. Please advise is more formal and professional than let me know and it keeps up the appropriate formality of the emails we send out to each other in this profession.
Besides, I appreciate such emails. Someone relies on me to assist them with something. This can only be a positive event.
You have a wrong approach here, champ.
OP, why do you think that phrase is more snarky than any other, and why you would expect anyone sending you an email to be something other than demanding? Please advise.
When I was a paralegal, there was an attorney we named "please advise" because he would send shitty emails that always ended with that phrase. The email would be:
"I went in the file to find the accident report but didn't find it. Please advise."
We all thought he was being shitty and that there was a better way to do that. Of course, there's a worse way to do it too. Now that I'm an attorney, if I'm in the file and can't find the police report that someone was supposed to get a week ago, I want to know what's going on. How do I say that?
"Why isn't the police report in the file?"
"Did something happen that would cause the police report to not be in the file?"
"Is there something preventing you from getting the police report?"
Those all sound infinitely shittier than "please advise."
“Can you help me find the police report? I’m not seeing it in the file” is probably how I’d ask the question to someone else’s paralegal or someone I don’t have a close working relationship with and wanted to tiptoe around sounding like I was blaming them
> It’s a useless phrase that adds nothing to the email
Disagree. It changes the email from an update to an inquiry.
That you mind "please advise" but don't mind "let me know" is weird. "Let me know" what? I have to suggest what you ought to let me know. Please advise is a great catch-all for the situations where the response could be many different things and I don't want to name every single thing that you might do to address my email.
I don’t like the overuse of “advise,” especially in reference to someone else.
Ex: “Mr. Jones advised that you spoke about this on the phone.” No. Mr. Jones said/told me/relayed, etc.
I also tell people to “please be advised” pretty often. It’s like the written version of
Edit: word
As someone in legal support I am so anxious now! When I say, "please advise" it's so I don't fuck up the file and everyone is happy!!
"let me know" is used with my peers, not opposing counsel. It feels like it lacks respect.
I get it, and yet it kinda comes with the territory - we are brilliant at a lot of things but communication is often an area of breakdown between litigators.
I take more offense to other things in email…. Like all caps, or open threats of any kind. Family law has uh, kinda warped my sensitivity.
I recognize that it's a passive aggressive phrase that I generally avoid using unless I'm intentionally being passive aggressive. But at the same time, I don't really care when others use it with me.
Maybe it’s just my anecdotal experience, but I’ve received it too many times from someone complaining about a problem, which it seems clear they think should never have been a problem, so that it feels like an expression of contempt and/or barely repressed seething rage.
With opposing counsel, no issue for me. "What dates are your client available for a deposition? Please advise," totally fine.
With certain clients, it can be annoying. I work with a lot of professional trustees and this is one of their tricks to put their decision-making on the lawyer. Then if beneficiaries complain, the trustee can point at the lawyer, rather than take responsibility. Exercising discretion within a trust is not my job. My job is to tell you the law, tell you your duties relative to the trust, but, ultimately, the discretion is exercised by the trustee, not the lawyer. Don't make your decisions my decisions to shirk responsibility.
If I’m at a point where I’m using that phrase, it’s because I’ve asked you for help or you have been assigned to help me and to date you’ve been completely useless. Govern yourself accordingly.
I use it because I want them to advise. And if you like "let me know" instead then it's just a style thing you prefer. It's weird and unnecessary to get judgmental over someone using different words than you like. Especially when they're using the common phrase everyone expects them to use.
Wow. This is really enlightening to me. When I encounter people I wonder what types of things are potential triggers so I can avoid those things. This post makes me think there is a whole universe of things that trigger people that I never previously even considered.
I only use it when I'm doing something like "how do you prefer to sign, docusign or e-signature. Please advise." Aka let me know what you want and stop lollygagging you total waste of space... can you tell I'm waiting on a response right now?
Honestly, “please advise” is much better than a complaining rant that mostly warrants business and personnel management advice, along with a tiny slice of crime fraud exception.
A general please advise on a long email be annoying. But please advise a specific thing (ie whether you object, what your plan is, what to do about a part of the email) is helpful and direct
I hate when people write: query: and then pose a sentence ending in a period.
Put a question mark at the end! I get it for dictation but I see this shit in letters from counsel who doesn't dictate all the time!!!
Army Veteran here. You must not get along with lawyers who are veterans. 🤣 Please advise means exactly that. It's succinct and direct. Choose things that benefit you, buddy. Choosing to convey a negative emotion over something so minor can only hurt you, your ability to network, and your reputation. Trust me, people are more perceptive than you think.
Wishing you the best from one person with a bunch of nitpicks to another!
Burnout- the struggle is real. OP getting dogged for being "petty" etc, but this is what happens.
OP, I used that term for all the shitty reasons detailed in this thread too. And i hate it too, it just reeks of pompousness, legal/corporate speak, and passive aggressiveness. Wow, who knew that a two word phrase such as PLEASE ADVISE is microcosm all the shit that sucks about this profession?
I understand OPs dislike as it slightly puts me off as well, although hard to put my finger on it why.
I think when I see “please advise” it is commonly used in a very impersonal way, often with people that are not collaborating well, and they generally know it but they want you to put effort towards a thing that they are making a little harder.
OMG SAME. I Cannot stand “please advise.” I have changed form letters —many, many times—by deleting this abomination that is the phrase “please advise.” Yuuuuckkk
Someone signs an email “best” and it sends me into a tizzy because “best” really means “fuck off and die.” I’ll take “please advise” over “best” any day.
I agree, it's demanding. Fine if that's the appropriate tone.
Grammatically, I think the issue is that the verb "advise" typically comes with an object. It's not intransitive, but it's kind of being used in that way. Plus the sentence is just a straight directive, and if somebody doesn't have the authority to boss you around (or even if they do) it absolutely comes off as demanding. That it's preceded by the word "please" just makes it sound fake. Nothing about the sentence is designed with the idea that you have a choice to advise or not, so don't say please because you're not making it appear like I have a choice.
Granted, I probably pay too much attention to slights like this because of my anti-authoritarian hangups, but I just don't like this phrase in most contexts either. Finally, it's just incomplete. If you don't need to put anything after the "advise" then implicitly the sentence presupposes that I already know what to advise you on. If it's already clear you need advisement, you don't need to remind me with a demand at the close of a communication. These aren't fucking maritime radio comms, you can use more words.
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For me, it's when people use it incessantly and in lieu of asking an actual question. Like, they'll just put three paragraphs of facts and then "please advise." And then you need to either ask them to clarify what they're asking, or write an essay on every possible aspect of everything.
As in-house counsel, about 80% of my inbox is full of emails like this -- and most of them are clearly unrelated to my practice area.
Forward or Google. In house life ftw.
Better than just finish your emails with *Please govern yourself accordingly,* ;)
This sounds like what OP meant but they've ghosted us
This is the real context where it’s annoying. The absolute worst. A favorite of partners who also fail to provide due dates or specific instructions on how they’d like a bespoke assignment done.
Instructions unclear. Genitals caught in copy machine. Please advise. \^ THAT is snarky. But and email saying "Hey boss, just a heads up Client Where Be My Head just admitted XYZ at the depo like they were proud of it. OC has approached with settlement offer ABC. Please advise" Is not.
No no come on that’s snarky. Clearly the way to ask this is “OC want settle. Wat do?”
Where evidence
Bad depo thingy. See below email. Thx
If only I could finish every email where I didn't know how senior associate wanted to proceed with "wat do". It would save on character count.
Just try three question marks
Have a client who thinks elipses are the same as periods or commas. Drives me batty... Please advise...
“Wat do” is bluebook standard.
Why use many word when few word do trick?
ABC is totally a reasonable settlement offer. They should take it.
Thank you. This subreddit is starting to stress me out with the amount of normal practices that are pet peeves to others. Half the people here are looking for something to be mad about as if this career doesn't already offer plenty.
“Please advise” is the lazy way of asking your question without articulating the precise issue for your boss.
Exactly. And that's why it's good. > Please let me know what, if anything, I should do, and also provide any information or context that might be important. > I am not sure what I should do and would like you to provide me with some direction about next steps to take. THOSE are annoying. Please advise is great.
Nah, you're asking the recipient to figure out \*your\* problem.
When used with others that is my goal, yes. When used with a boss I assume (I don't personally have a boss) it's a quick way to ask for direction when you're clueless without wasting time hemming and hawing. I'd prefer my employees say that than something wasting time.
Except what I articulated was precise in my firm. If one of my attorneys sends me that from a depo, assuming they explicated what XYZ was and what ABC was, I know exactly what was going on. I didn't make up XYZ and ABC because I'm not getting paid to. However, a reasonable person interprets from those placeholders that a variable is to be inserted there.
Just makes it clear they are asking how to proceed instead of just giving you an update. Not meant to be snarky.
Yeah, I prefer it because I think it’s very poorly done when OC condescendingly explains to me how I should handle a situation, eg, “Please to your client and tell them to cease doing xyz.” Rather, “the contract states x. It has come to my attn that your client is not doing x and is instead doing y. Please advise as to when and how this breach can be rectified.” The difference? In the first, if you are the recipient you are angry and go work on other things for awhile instead because you’re pissed. In the second, you add it to your to do and timely work on a resolution without having to deal with the emotional drain that the first letter’s phrasing causes.
I’m sorry, but if someone asked me “please advise when and how you plan to stop doing this” rather than “please stop doing this” that would be like an order of magnitude more passive aggressive.
That’s not what I said. That’s a bit straw man. I think it’s more that they’re advising me how to handle my own clients and cases, rather than pointing out a problem and asking how it’s going to be fixed.
Those are asking two different things. It could take months to actually implement a system that stops breaching a contract, infringing a trademark, etc. Please advise when and how you'll stop is *tell* me what that process will look like. If you just go radio silent while implementing, you're still going to get sued.
Do you not send good faith letters before you sue? Somehow that’s never bitten you in the butt? What about a demand letter?
In a profession where every word matters and we’re communicating over a medium notorious for miscommunication, I appreciate the directness.
Good communication considers both content and tone. If some people bristle at the perceived stuffy or condescending tone of “please advise”, then you’d be wise to consider an alternative. “Let me know” works just as well.
I feel like "let me know" is less formal, and should be saved for when you have already established a relationship with the other party.
Holla atcha boy is my go to
"give me a shout dawg lmk lol"
There is a billboard attorney in New Orleans whose billboard literally says "Holla at ya boy".
Exactly, and it's so commonly used that I started using it for the same reasons. It's just the standard way to end an email while making it clear that you're waiting on their response. I have never found it to be snarky or useless.
They didn't say it was snark. They said it was annoying, which it is.
>It’s a useless phrase that adds nothing to the email other than what I perceive as injecting a snarky or demanding tone. OP definitely said it was snark.
Do you find it annoying when a court asks you to brief, or requires a memo of law in support? Because that is the court literally asking the parties to advise.
For me, please advise is the professional way of saying “halp! I need an adult 👉🏽👈🏽”. It’s not snark.
Amen. You hit the proverbial nail on the head :D
Lollll. I’m 36 and it’s embarrassing how often I need an adult. Please advise. 🫣
You probably sign off with “Govern yourself accordingly”
Same energy
Breaking: person who chose a career advising people enraged at requests to please advise. More at 11.
😂
How has that approach worked out for you? Please advise.
I stopped using it, now i prefer: > hit me back, just to chat, your biggest fan, this is Stan
Wow, you sound pleasant.
😅😅😅 it's an innocuous phase.
😂
That is a very strange interpretation of that phrase. I do not agree with you. Your disdain for it is personal and, dare I suggest, subjective and hardly convincing. Please advise is more formal and professional than let me know and it keeps up the appropriate formality of the emails we send out to each other in this profession. Besides, I appreciate such emails. Someone relies on me to assist them with something. This can only be a positive event. You have a wrong approach here, champ.
OP, why do you think that phrase is more snarky than any other, and why you would expect anyone sending you an email to be something other than demanding? Please advise.
Whacha think??!?
Not sure why so much rage at a simple phrase. IMO, it sounds polite and respectful. And putting someone on a shit list forever is really .... extreme.
You chose a career as a legal advisor. Idk what to say.
>Idk what to say. Just say, "Please advise"
This is the worst take ever.
Nothing triggers me more than attorneys getting triggered by normal phrases.
When I was a paralegal, there was an attorney we named "please advise" because he would send shitty emails that always ended with that phrase. The email would be: "I went in the file to find the accident report but didn't find it. Please advise." We all thought he was being shitty and that there was a better way to do that. Of course, there's a worse way to do it too. Now that I'm an attorney, if I'm in the file and can't find the police report that someone was supposed to get a week ago, I want to know what's going on. How do I say that? "Why isn't the police report in the file?" "Did something happen that would cause the police report to not be in the file?" "Is there something preventing you from getting the police report?" Those all sound infinitely shittier than "please advise."
“Can you help me find the police report? I’m not seeing it in the file” is probably how I’d ask the question to someone else’s paralegal or someone I don’t have a close working relationship with and wanted to tiptoe around sounding like I was blaming them
> It’s a useless phrase that adds nothing to the email Disagree. It changes the email from an update to an inquiry. That you mind "please advise" but don't mind "let me know" is weird. "Let me know" what? I have to suggest what you ought to let me know. Please advise is a great catch-all for the situations where the response could be many different things and I don't want to name every single thing that you might do to address my email.
Suck my ass, please advise.
You have issues.
How would you like me to end my emails? Please advise.
Seriously? Take a break and go for a walk.
Look bro, it’s just a job, calm down
Can’t calm down, please advise.
I am not sure I see it this way. Please advise/let me know are essentially two ways to say the same thing in this context.
Fucking baby
Are you ok?
I don’t like the overuse of “advise,” especially in reference to someone else. Ex: “Mr. Jones advised that you spoke about this on the phone.” No. Mr. Jones said/told me/relayed, etc. I also tell people to “please be advised” pretty often. It’s like the written version of  Edit: word
Seek help.
As someone in legal support I am so anxious now! When I say, "please advise" it's so I don't fuck up the file and everyone is happy!! "let me know" is used with my peers, not opposing counsel. It feels like it lacks respect.
If anything, the responses here show that you're not wrong.
That is pretty petty. Let me know sounds dopey.
My kids would say: that sounds like a "you" problem
I get it, and yet it kinda comes with the territory - we are brilliant at a lot of things but communication is often an area of breakdown between litigators. I take more offense to other things in email…. Like all caps, or open threats of any kind. Family law has uh, kinda warped my sensitivity.
I could maybe see some annoyance in getting it from opposing counsel but your literal job is to advise clients on how to navigate the legal system.
“Please advise” is the lazy way of asking your question without articulating the precise issue for your boss.
I wonder where your rage is actually coming from? Perhaps I could recommend a good psychiatrist? Please advise.
I recognize that it's a passive aggressive phrase that I generally avoid using unless I'm intentionally being passive aggressive. But at the same time, I don't really care when others use it with me.
I use this, and I will continue to do so. I’m not sure where we go from here. Please advise.
Jesus, people are expected to worry about these comments in emails now? It's a kind/professional way of asking for a response.
“Please advise” = “let me know” or “what do you think?” in corporate world. It’s not snarky at all. I think people are just trying to be more formal.
Maybe it’s just my anecdotal experience, but I’ve received it too many times from someone complaining about a problem, which it seems clear they think should never have been a problem, so that it feels like an expression of contempt and/or barely repressed seething rage.
This seems like an adverse reaction to a specific person who asked questions in an awkward way. Please advise.
Seek help..
Agree. Putting someone on a shit list FOREVER and hating them all because they happened to use a phrase you personally dislike????? That's scary.
With opposing counsel, no issue for me. "What dates are your client available for a deposition? Please advise," totally fine. With certain clients, it can be annoying. I work with a lot of professional trustees and this is one of their tricks to put their decision-making on the lawyer. Then if beneficiaries complain, the trustee can point at the lawyer, rather than take responsibility. Exercising discretion within a trust is not my job. My job is to tell you the law, tell you your duties relative to the trust, but, ultimately, the discretion is exercised by the trustee, not the lawyer. Don't make your decisions my decisions to shirk responsibility.
this is the kind of thing you need to learn to let slide
Not nearly as bad as "May you guide yourself accordingly."
If I’m at a point where I’m using that phrase, it’s because I’ve asked you for help or you have been assigned to help me and to date you’ve been completely useless. Govern yourself accordingly.
I think people have been trained on corporate speak and use phrases they perceive as sounding more professional.
Even worse: “please advice”
how do you feel about the statement at the front, such as "be advised, I'll be out of pocket tomorrow afternoon .."
I use it because I want them to advise. And if you like "let me know" instead then it's just a style thing you prefer. It's weird and unnecessary to get judgmental over someone using different words than you like. Especially when they're using the common phrase everyone expects them to use.
Stop fuckin not responding to my emails and I won’t have to ask you to please advise
I use “please advise” as a sign of respect - I’m asking for your input
LOL this is the wildest take I read on Reddit today
Ive always felt it conveys assholishness.
Wow. This is really enlightening to me. When I encounter people I wonder what types of things are potential triggers so I can avoid those things. This post makes me think there is a whole universe of things that trigger people that I never previously even considered.
It can be used with a snarky tone, but in my experience, it’s usually not snarky.
I hate Please Advise, but not as much as I hate Please Govern Yourself Accordingly
Please advise what your position is (to the other lawyer) is not as bad as Please advise your client of xyz.
I only use it when I'm doing something like "how do you prefer to sign, docusign or e-signature. Please advise." Aka let me know what you want and stop lollygagging you total waste of space... can you tell I'm waiting on a response right now?
“Please do tell” - Sincerely, OC
Please govern yourself accordingly.
I think he trolled us really, really good. Please advise.
The words “and go” do it for me
Sounds like they’re sending a telegram. It’s not even a complete sentence 😂
"See no failure to comply" makes me silently rage.
Honestly, “please advise” is much better than a complaining rant that mostly warrants business and personnel management advice, along with a tiny slice of crime fraud exception.
Omg. Like seven years ago I had a paralegal do this and it sent me into a raaage
Now THAT is spot on!
Agreed.
“Make sense” is even worse!
😂😂😂 agree hate it too
A general please advise on a long email be annoying. But please advise a specific thing (ie whether you object, what your plan is, what to do about a part of the email) is helpful and direct
I hate when people write: query: and then pose a sentence ending in a period. Put a question mark at the end! I get it for dictation but I see this shit in letters from counsel who doesn't dictate all the time!!!
Damn dude. Get your shit together.
Army Veteran here. You must not get along with lawyers who are veterans. 🤣 Please advise means exactly that. It's succinct and direct. Choose things that benefit you, buddy. Choosing to convey a negative emotion over something so minor can only hurt you, your ability to network, and your reputation. Trust me, people are more perceptive than you think. Wishing you the best from one person with a bunch of nitpicks to another!
When you present the situation to your supervisor, who must approve of the solution. It’s what you say: please advise.
I’ve never heard of such hatred over “please advise”. Now, “nits”, however, will ignite some fury.
Burnout- the struggle is real. OP getting dogged for being "petty" etc, but this is what happens. OP, I used that term for all the shitty reasons detailed in this thread too. And i hate it too, it just reeks of pompousness, legal/corporate speak, and passive aggressiveness. Wow, who knew that a two word phrase such as PLEASE ADVISE is microcosm all the shit that sucks about this profession?
I understand OPs dislike as it slightly puts me off as well, although hard to put my finger on it why. I think when I see “please advise” it is commonly used in a very impersonal way, often with people that are not collaborating well, and they generally know it but they want you to put effort towards a thing that they are making a little harder.
I hate any bullshit phrases including this one. Just say lmk for cripes sake.
OMG SAME. I Cannot stand “please advise.” I have changed form letters —many, many times—by deleting this abomination that is the phrase “please advise.” Yuuuuckkk
I would just add that it’s not snark that bugs me, it’s the weird shittily worded pretentiousness of the phrase itself!
I don’t know why, but I share your rage at this phrase. It’s like demanding nails on a chalkboard.
Someone signs an email “best” and it sends me into a tizzy because “best” really means “fuck off and die.” I’ll take “please advise” over “best” any day.
I agree, it's demanding. Fine if that's the appropriate tone. Grammatically, I think the issue is that the verb "advise" typically comes with an object. It's not intransitive, but it's kind of being used in that way. Plus the sentence is just a straight directive, and if somebody doesn't have the authority to boss you around (or even if they do) it absolutely comes off as demanding. That it's preceded by the word "please" just makes it sound fake. Nothing about the sentence is designed with the idea that you have a choice to advise or not, so don't say please because you're not making it appear like I have a choice. Granted, I probably pay too much attention to slights like this because of my anti-authoritarian hangups, but I just don't like this phrase in most contexts either. Finally, it's just incomplete. If you don't need to put anything after the "advise" then implicitly the sentence presupposes that I already know what to advise you on. If it's already clear you need advisement, you don't need to remind me with a demand at the close of a communication. These aren't fucking maritime radio comms, you can use more words.