Author: Murray Gottheil

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Murray The Wannabe Feminist

Ode To Dan and Mara

Young girl and boy jumping on a bed.
Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko at Pexels.

This is a story about a boy named Dan who never cleaned his room. Dan’s mom tried the three ways that she knew to get Dan to clean his room. She threatened him. She bribed him. She tried child psychology. Nothing worked. Finally, she ordered Dan’s little sister Trish to clean Dan’s room.

Trish was unhappy and accused her mother of gender bias, but being socialized to be somewhat more compliant than Dan, she did what she was told. Trish’s friend Mara had a similar experience and also ended up doing her brother’s chores.

read more about Who does the non-billable stuff in law firms “Ode To Dan and Mara”
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Murray The Wannabe Feminist

Mansplaining About Women in Law Firms

Man speaking to woman. Photo by Allan Mas at Pexels.

[The events described in this article are true. However, some details have been changed to protect both the innocent and the guilty.]

My wife says that I have more guts than brains for daring to write about the female experience in law firms. But here goes anyway.

read more to find out whether I am going to get into trouble for writing about this “Mansplaining About Women in Law Firms”
Categories
Legal Tech

Danger Ahead!

Tiger
Photo by Pixabay at Pexels.

Back in the day, I used to teach junior lawyers how to practice law. I had me some rules. They went something like this:

  1. Do not delegate something that you do not know how to do yourself. If you do, how are you going to know if the work product is correct?
  2. Do not include anything in a document if you do not know why it is there. I will be unimpressed if you give me a document and cannot explain why you included every single word in it.
  3. As a corollary to Rule number 2, never say to me that you included something ‘because it was in the precedent.’ If you do that, I will be apoplectic and that will not be a good thing for either of us.

These rules helped me train a number of junior lawyers to be pretty good at what they did.

read more about the danger junior lawyers face using legaltech “Danger Ahead!”
Categories
Law Students and Young Lawyers

The View From the Bottom of the Pyramid

Ancient Pyramids
Photo by David McEachan at Pexels.

Throughout my years as a partner, managing partner, practice group leader and supervising lawyer, I used to speak to young lawyers who told me what they thought that I wanted to hear. Things like how much they loved their jobs, how supportive the firm was, and how they loved working evenings and weekends. They were quite right. That is exactly what I wanted to hear.

read more about what young lawyers don’t know “The View From the Bottom of the Pyramid”
Categories
Law Firm Management

Those Who Got Away

Man loading is things into a box marked "Fired."
Photo by ANTONI SHKRABA at Pexels

Let me tell you about a lawyer named Josh. Josh was not very good. Everybody said so, especially the partner who was his practice group leader.  Eventually the firm redirected Josh’s career path. He moved on and started his own practice. Josh did very well on his own. He developed a great reputation in the profession practicing the same type of law that he was not good enough to practice at his old firm.

read more about firms letting good lawyers get away “Those Who Got Away”
Categories
Work/Life Balance

My Journey From Law To Mental Health *

The author paddling a canoe.

It took me eight years after I first realized that my life in law was not working for me until I was fully retired. It went like this:

2012: Best financial year ever. Worked incredibly hard in the last quarter. My hours in November and December were insane. I was so proud of myself. Got a huge slice of the compensation pie.

January 2013: Went to the doctor worried that I was not well enough to go on a trip to Australia for a meeting of our international association. Diagnosed with a thyroid issue. The doctor said it had nothing to do with the stress of my career. I did not believe him.

read more about my journey into retirement “My Journey From Law To Mental Health *”
Categories
The Practice of Law

The Difference Between a Rut and A Grave

Old grave stones.
Photo by Mike B at Pexels.

When asked about my complaints about the legal profession, I am forced to admit that back before I escaped the profession and became happy, I did in fact have some good days.  Three of them. (Okay, I am kidding about that last bit. There were more good days than that.)

read more about being in a rut in the legal profession “The Difference Between a Rut and A Grave”
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Law Students and Young Lawyers

Tell Me Another Story from the Old Days, Grandpa

Couple sitting on the back of their vehicle with their heads down and boxes behind them.
Photo by Karolina Grabowska at Pexels.

As a recession may be looming and Banks may be enforcing their mortgages, I thought that I would share this story from the recession in the early 1990’s.

There was a law firm that did volume mortgage remedy work for a Canadian Bank. A somewhat junior real estate lawyer who I will call Barbara managed the files. The work was somewhat routine but required precision and organizational skills, and Barbara did it well and earned a reasonable salary.

read more about making career Decisions “Tell Me Another Story from the Old Days, Grandpa”
Categories
Legal Fees

Paperwork, Practitioners and Panties

Woman looking at two pieces of paper.
Photo by Mikhail Nilov at Pexels.

Some years ago I went off on a cruise and took the opportunity to have some renovations done at my house while I was away. George did a great job on the drywall, but when he sent me the invoice, he made one tiny little mistake. Instead of giving me the invoice for the construction work, he sent me an invoice for his “other business” which, unbeknownst  to me, was producing racy videos. He was quite embarrassed when I asked him what a “panty teaser” was and what it had to do with my ceiling. I never did find out whether my house was the setting for his cinematographic masterpiece.

read more about being smart about how you bill “Paperwork, Practitioners and Panties”
Categories
Work/Life Balance

You Can’t Fix Crazy

Woman with contorted face.
Photo by Andrea Piacquadio at Pexels.

“Lawyers make wonderful (psychiatric) patients: they have excellent health insurance and they never get better.” Niles Crane on Frasier

As a completely unqualified, amateur mental health consultant, I have diagnosed myself with post-professional stress syndrome which I believe results from my forty-year legal career. My symptoms are not sleeping well and worrying too much, even in retirement when on any rational basis I have very little to worry about.

read more about not letting the legal profession drive you crazy “You Can’t Fix Crazy”