Use your discretion, but don't

So this new project I'm on, on the face of it, actually requires some skill. Theoretically, that's why we were chosen -- something in our resumes led the firm to believe that we know our asses from a hole in the ground with respect to this particular kind of project, which is not a run-of-the-mill document review. Alas, the difference between my ass and a hole in the ground apparently has become vanishingly small, because our freedom to make a distinction between the two has disappeared. This is what we in the industry like to call The Fear Factor. Because they fear the consequences of being wrong about our ability to make a correct decision, and they fear even more that we cannot make a correct decision, law firms try to ensure that we have no discretion when it comes to making decisions. They try to write decision-making rules that make it impossible for us to go in a direction they don't want us to, regardless of whether that direction might actually be the correct decision. Usually this is in the context of a massive first review where the firm has no idea who is any good and who is the next Bridge Troll. I guess old habits die hard.