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.
I write this from the perspective of retirement after having practiced law for four decades and having had what I believe was a successful career.
I articled in 1979 for the now defunct firm of Goodman & Carr which at the time was an excellent mid-sized Toronto law firm.
I was not a great articling student. What a ‘not great articling student’ does not need are some exceptional articling students to work alongside so that the comparisons are easy for everyone to make.