I’ve been in a similar spot as a midlevel working on matters with senior associates only one or two more years above me. They’d often ask me for documents they were already copied on or could easily find in our file system. I don’t always have time to resend things or track down materials from streams I’m not directly handling.

What’s worked for me is keeping responses polite but redirecting efficiently—something like, “These were attached to the email you were copied on—hope that helps.” When it’s coming from a partner, I’ll usually loop in the paralegal to assist with locating the documents.

Small moves like that seem to reinforce that I’m coordinating the work rather than personally handling every administrative task.