Tag: articlingstudents

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Law Firm Management

Lawyers: Understand the Math

Orange calculator on a note pad.
Photo by cottonbro from Pexels

I sometimes hear from young (and sometimes not so young) lawyers who do not understand the math that supports their compensation in a law firm. They know that they are unhappy and they believe that deserve more. They are thinking of answering the romantic call of the recruiter. However, they often do not have a deep understanding (or any understanding) of how their contribution is measured by the firm, apart from the obvious factor of tracking billable hours.

read more about whether you deserve to earn more “Lawyers: Understand the Math”
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Fluff

Translations From Lawyer Talk Part Five: Partner Talk

Group of lawyers speaking to each other.
Photo by August de Richelieu from Pexels

You know me.  Always giving back to the profession. Today I want to help associates understand what the partners mean when they use certain phrases. Here is your handy, dandy guide to some translations of partner talk (“PT”) to plain English (“PE”).

read more to understand what the partners are saying “Translations From Lawyer Talk Part Five: Partner Talk”
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Law Students and Young Lawyers

Lawyer, Know Thyself

Precision flying with one plane flying upside down almost touching the bottom plane.
Photo by Pixabay at Pexels.

One of my favourite clients was an engineering firm. I once wrote a letter of intent for them concerning the purchase of a business. They only had one comment on my draft document. They asked me why I had only taken the numbers to two decimal places, which is not a surprising question coming from a group of engineers. However, I found the question to be quite amusing, since the numbers in question were dollars, where the use of two decimal places is quite an accepted custom. (Did you ever have a store clerk say, “that will be $5.0156?). But at least they read the document, which is more than I can say about many of my other clients.

read more about being precise (or not) in the legal profession “Lawyer, Know Thyself”
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Fluff

Translations from Lawyer Talk Part Four: Speaking to The Other Side (Deal Making)

Group of lawyers speaking to each other.
Photo by August de Richelieu from Pexels

Once again, since I am all about giving back and public service, I offer these translations from legal talk (“LT”) to plain English (“PE”) to help lawyers communicate effectively with opposing counsel.  I hope that you find them helpful.

read more about translating Legal TAlk To Plain English “Translations from Lawyer Talk Part Four: Speaking to The Other Side (Deal Making)”
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Law Firm Management

Targets (On Our Backs)

A target with lots of holes but no arrows
Pixabay at Pexels

Law firms give lawyers minimum billable hours targets to meet. There is nothing wrong with setting expectations, I guess. The theory is that you make the lawyers aware of the firm’s expectations, and they then work to achieve them. Transparency is good.

read more about the problems inherent in setting billable hours targets “Targets (On Our Backs)”
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The Mentality and Attitudes of Lawyers

New Year’s Resolutions for Lawyers… And Likely Outcomes

Fireworks over building.
Photo by Maczkó Gábor from Pexels

Yet another public service. Lawyers are busy people and often do not have the time to get to personal stuff, so I thought that I would help by providing a first rough draft of New Year’s Resolutions for you. Of course, feel free to use this as a precedent and edit for your personal circumstances.

read more about lawyers fooling themselves…again “New Year’s Resolutions for Lawyers… And Likely Outcomes”
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Law Firm Management

More About Compensation Systems

Young woman standing over table on a construction project holding documentation
Photo by Los Muertos Crew from Pexels

I recently authored an article about law firm compensation systems, lamenting how they are usually laser-focused on billable hours and business brought in, but not so much on all of the other skills required to build a great firm. Of course, there is a great deal of lip service paid to the so called ‘soft factors,’ but the conversion rate of lip service to cash for ‘soft factors’ is not particularly great.

read more about how to design a humanized compensation system “More About Compensation Systems”
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People I Met Practicing Law

People I Met Practicing Law Episode Six: Tragically, Terminally, Toxic

An angry looking, roaring lion.
Petr Ganaj of Pexels

I met Paul at my very first job as a lawyer. Paul was a commercial real estate lawyer. He was hard-working and extremely capable.  Paul thought quite a bit of himself and other people who he considered to be intelligent and diligent. However, Paul did not suffer fools gladly.

read more about Toxic Lawyers “People I Met Practicing Law Episode Six: Tragically, Terminally, Toxic”
Categories
Law Students and Young Lawyers

Keeping Your Options Closed

railway tracks branching off in different directions

I was born and raised in Montreal. I started my legal education at the Faculty of Law at McGill in 1975. My plan was to obtain my Bachelor of Civil Law and practice law in Quebec.

In 1976, the Parti Quebecois was elected in Quebec for the first time. As an Anglo in Quebec, I thought that it was a good idea to also obtain a common law degree so that I could get the hell out of Quebec should the need arise.

read more about having too many options “Keeping Your Options Closed”
Categories
Law Firm Management

All About the Lead Dog

Dogs leading a dog sled that is out of frame.
Photo by Olya Kobruseva from Pexels

Many years ago, the managing partner of my firm, who I will call Sid because that was his name, had on his desk a replica of a dogsled with a team of dogs in single file. There was a pithy saying attached to the sled which read, “if you are not the lead dog, the scenery never changes.”  Think about that for a minute. No, I mean really think about it. Take a moment to focus on exactly what every dog following the lead dog had to look at for the entire trip.

read more about law firm leadership “All About the Lead Dog”