Quite a few years ago, I really ticked off a lawyer at one of the major firms.
It was the early 1990’s, someone had called a recession, and everyone had shown up. This big firm lawyer was acting for a bank trying to put the squeeze on a delinquent debtor. My client was the delinquent debtor. The bank had screwed up. They had given him 30 days notice to repay his operating line and bounced cheques that were within the credit limit the very same day that the notice was given. That is a no-no.
Eleanor practiced family law. She was pretty smart, and she knew all of the technical stuff cold. What Eleanor was not that good at was the part about dealing with clients. Especially vulnerable clients. Such as people going through a separation or a divorce.
Patricia was a good lawyer. She knew her law. She worked hard. She produced billings. She brought in clients.
We all have character flaws. Even me. However, Patricia had more than most of us. She was uber competitive. She liked to win. She hated to lose. Patricia and others saw these attributes as positives. If she had been able to keep them under control, they might indeed have been assets. She was not, so they were not.
They say that the Americans are tougher than we are when it comes to business. I think that it is probably true.
I met John in the early 90’s, shortly after he had arrived in Toronto to set up a Canadian branch of his large Buffalo law firm. John was a very senior lawyer by then and he was the managing partner of the Toronto branch office of his firm, and in charge of the firm’s cross-border practice.