An American poet and critic named James Russell Lowell once said, “The foolish and the dead alone never change their opinions.” He forgot someone: Big Law lawyers.
Allow me to elaborate.
Although I retired six years ago, I am still plugged into the legal community through my work with mentees and my contacts in senior positions in law firms of all sizes. I hear their stories about dealing with lawyers who work in Big Law, and frankly some of them sound like the stories I was telling 40 years ago.
Most recently, I spoke to an excellent business lawyer with over 20 years of experience. She is a sole practitioner working in a small town in Ontario. In a past life, she was with a mid-sized Toronto firm and worked with some sophisticated clients. I will call her Victoria.
Victoria still has excellent clients who do some complex transactions. We are not talking about reverse takeovers or buying General Motors but the type of work that many mid-sized or large Toronto firms would be happy to have. She was working on one such transaction recently for a mid-market client who has been around, run some businesses and made some money. I will call him Tom.
Tom was setting up another business that required some significant capital. A large company wanted to get involved, and of course they hired a large law firm. One of Canada’s largest, in fact. The file landed on a partner’s desk. Let’s call him William.
Victoria reached out to William with a deal memo crafted to send a simple message, which I would summarize as follows: (1) Tom and I both know what we are doing; (2) Here are the business points that are important to Tom; (3) Let’s not play games — let’s get this deal done.
William responded with a letter of intent, which sent the following message: (1) My client is big; (2) I am from Big Law; (3) You and your clients must be hicks; (4) Let’s see what we can get past you; (5) It is always done this way; (6) This is “market.”
Tom called off the deal and went to the suitor behind Door Number Two — another big company, but one that is playing the game straight up.
Victoria never sent any comments to William. He did not deserve the courtesy. William probably has not even figured out why he has not received any comments on his letter of intent and may or may not care. Perhaps his client would, though.
I cannot tell you how many times during my 40 years working with a mid-sized suburban law firm I saw Big Law lawyers assume I was an idiot and try me on for size.
Apparently, some things never change.
This article was originally published by Law360 Canada, part of LexisNexis Canada Inc.