Category: Firm Culture

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Firm Culture

The Storm (or Just Grow Up Already)

The Storm by Pierre Auguste Cot, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (A young couple in ancient times running to seek shelter from a storm.)
Pierre Auguste Cot, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

There is a young adult in my life who, as he breezed through his teenage years, could not understand the stress that I experienced as I managed a busy legal career and all of the other aspects of ‘adulting’ that each of us grown-up people have to deal with. When, in my stressed-out state, I used to remark critically upon his somewhat laissez-faire attitude on topics such as attending class, cleaning up after himself, mowing the lawn, or shoveling the driveway, he would just look at me and wanting to help, he would sincerely say, “you should learn to be chill like me, Mur.” Of course, that made my blood boil.

read more about the lack of empathy in law firms “The Storm (or Just Grow Up Already)”
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Firm Culture

An Alternate View of the Legal Universe

The galaxy.
Photo by Pixabay at Pexels.

When I was young, so much younger than today, I completely bought into the fairy tale that the best and brightest lawyers are all at the large law firms and that everyone else is just not that good. After all, they practically teach you that at law school, although they never quite say it aloud, so I imagine that they have plausible deniability.

read more about whether big law lawyers are smarter than the rest of us “An Alternate View of the Legal Universe”
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Firm Culture

Lamenting Never Having Found the Legal Dream Team

Sign saying "It Was All A Dream"
Photo by Nadi Lindsay from Pexels

You may have heard the saying that ‘If you owe a $100,000 to the Bank, you have a problem; but if you owe $100,000,000 to the Bank, the Bank has a problem.’ 

The first time that I saw this principle in action was in the case of a rather large company that became insolvent years ago. This company owed so much money and there was so little chance of any of it being recovered, that the Bank could not be bothered to spend the money required to shut it down, and no other creditor thought that it was worth their while to drive it into bankruptcy. So, the insolvent company kept sputtering along for quite a while.

read more about why great lawyers are often not appreciated in law firms “Lamenting Never Having Found the Legal Dream Team”
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Firm Culture

Of Sisyphus and Speakerphones

A wall of boulders with the sea in the background.

When I started out in the legal profession many years ago, becoming a Partner at a law firm was the dream of every new lawyer.  At the firm where I articled in 1979, each new Partner received two gifts from the firm upon being admitted to partnership.  The first was a gold sculpture of Sisyphus, pushing the boulder up the hill.  The second was a speakerphone, which at the time was new and exciting technology. 

read more about lessons about the legal profession from the ancient greeks “Of Sisyphus and Speakerphones”
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Firm Culture

Has the Legal Profession ‘Souled’ Out?

A black and white winter scene with a chapel in the background and trees in the foreground suggesting an older, simpler time.

Back in the day, the practice of law was considered to be a profession first, and a business second.  Over the years, there was a great deal of talk about how lawyers had to recognize that the practice of law was also a business, and to become more business-like in their approach.  I expect that this had a lot to do with some combination of law firms becoming less profitable and law partners, like many in the corporate sector, becoming greedier.

read more about whether law firms still have a soul “Has the Legal Profession ‘Souled’ Out?”
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Firm Culture

Law Firms: Are You Getting What You Are Paying For?

Single Jet Ski on the ocean under beautiful setting sun

How can you possibly explain why a lawyer at a substantial firm took on a file that was outside of his expertise and made a costly mistake, when that very same lawyer had three partners and two law clerks in his department, all of whom would have easily spotted the error if consulted?  To make matters worse, had the lawyer involved one of the law clerks on the file to keep costs down, as would normally be done, the clerk would have immediately spotted the error.  However, this lawyer chose to do all the work himself at a billing rate higher than the billing rate of the law clerks.

read more about how why firm culture matters to clients “Law Firms: Are You Getting What You Are Paying For?”
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Firm Culture

How Law Firms Drive Associates Crazy

Wild Turkeys headed off in different directions implying lawyers are under too much pressure

(Part 1 of Many)

Law firms like to encourage their lawyers to produce as many billable hours as possible.  In order to keep the lawyers ‘motivated’, law firms usually set a target number of hours that they expect each lawyer to bill.  Some firms like to set the target at a number which is higher than they expect the lawyers to bill. 

rEAD MORE ABOUT BEING DRIVEN CRAZY “How Law Firms Drive Associates Crazy”
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Firm Culture Uncategorized

When Does Size Matter?

A snowy mountain in Austria.

I practiced with a medium sized firm in Mississauga, Ontario, which many of you may be surprised to know is the sixth largest city in Canada, just after Edmonton and ahead of Winnipeg and Vancouver. Back in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s several Toronto firms opened offices there. At that time, the buzz in the legal profession was that there was no future for medium sized law firms, and they would all be wiped out by the larger firms with their greater expertise. In fact, almost all the Toronto firms closed their offices in Mississauga after a short time, and the local firms have been doing just fine ever since. 

read more about why big law is not always the better experience “When Does Size Matter?”