Tag: lawfirms

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Firm Culture

A Matter of Trust

One woman comforting another woman.
Photo by Liza Summer at Pexels.

Trust is the glue of life. It’s the most essential ingredient in effective communication. It’s the foundational principle that holds all relationships.

~ Stephen Covey

A Canadian grocery chain has just announced that it will launch a new brand to sell low-priced groceries in Canada. Their announcement is being greeted with great skepticism. The reason? Canadians do not trust them. It could be because we just do not buy it when their CEO says that their increased profits have nothing to do with their increased prices.

read more about Trust in the Legal Profession “A Matter of Trust”
Categories
Legal Tech

My Cousin the Watchmaker

A watchmaker looking at a time piece.
Photo by Tima Miroshnicher at Pexels.

Click here to read about why your future success as a lawyer will depend on you being able and willing to keep up as technology changes:

My Cousin the Watchmaker
Categories
Mental Health and Work/Life Balance

Soaked to the Skin

Woman sitting in the rain with a book over her head.
Photo by Min An at Pexels.

I don’t consider myself a pessimist. I think of a pessimist as someone who is waiting for it to rain. And I feel soaked to the skin.

~ Leonard Cohen

I have a friend who is a Dermatologist. I will call him Howard.  Howard knows a great deal about skin cancer, so he worries about contracting skin cancer. He wears long pants, long-sleeved shirts, and a hat all summer, and covers any exposed areas with sunblock. Some say that Howard is obsessive about that.

read more about worrying in the legal profession “Soaked to the Skin”
Categories
Law Students and Young Lawyers

Murray’s Masterclass in Managing Client Expectations

Female teacher standingi in front of blackboard filled with mathematical equations.
Photo by Max Fischer at Pexels.

Murray (M) at my first rodeo:

Client (C):  We need to close this transaction in two weeks.

M: That is impossible.

C: The Vendor said that his lawyer told him that deadline is perfectly reasonable. Why are you creating roadblocks? If you cannot get it done, I will find someone else who is willing to do whatever it takes to get the job done.

read more about how to manage client expectations “Murray’s Masterclass in Managing Client Expectations”
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Law Students and Young Lawyers

Gladly Suffering Fools

Woman in medieval fool costume.
Photo by Eduardo Gonzalez at Pexels.

Back in the day, before I became as warm, compassionate, empathic, and all-around loveable as I am today, I had something of a reputation as being someone who did not suffer fools gladly. There were even a few people around the office who found me to be intimidating. Of course, self-awareness not being my strong suit, I did not understand how anyone could have possibly found me to be anything other than wonderful.

read more about Difficult supervisors “Gladly Suffering Fools”
Categories
The Mentality and Attitudes of Lawyers

Zero is the Loneliest Number

A bench in an austere room with a Zero drawn on the wall.
Photo by Santesson89 at Pexels.

In law firms, more zeros are better than fewer zeros.  For example, announcing, “look at me! I just closed a $100,000,000 acquisition” impresses your colleagues more than saying, “I just did a deal worth $10,000,000.”  A deal that was only worth $965,000 is not even worth mentioning. There just are not enough zeros. Frankly, it is almost embarrassing to have been involved with it.  

read more about the fascination of lawyers with zeros “Zero is the Loneliest Number”
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The Mentality and Attitudes of Lawyers

It Just Doesn’t Matter

A bowl of meatballs in sauce.
Photo by SartenPorElmango at Pexels


When I had been practicing for about six years, I attended a meeting with two more senior lawyers to pitch a potential client on leaving a Big Law firm and coming to our mid-sized suburban firm. The other two were: (1) Sam, who was our managing partner, very business savvy, and a great marketer; and (2) Chuck, who was the senior corporate lawyer and also a great marketer. My late father would have described him as, “all flash, no cash.” Poor Chuck was an administrative disaster and despite his intelligence, a truly awful lawyer.

read more about what matters most in law firms “It Just Doesn’t Matter”
Categories
Firm Culture

Twenty-Four Hundred Hours

A young woman lying down and propping her head up, next to a giant pink alarm clock.
Photo by Koolshooters at Pexels.

I spoke to two law firm partners this week, both of whom told me that their hourly expectation was 2,400 hours per year, consisting of 2,000 billable hours and 400 non-billable hours (administration, firm events, continuing education, business promotion, and mentoring).

I set about to do some math and determine how many hours these people have to spend on their mental and physical health and personal relationships. The law firms are all advertising their  mental health initiatives, so I knew that it would be substantial!

read more about why working 2400 hours is impossible unless you are working on weekends and holidays “Twenty-Four Hundred Hours”
Categories
Law Firm Management

Big Law Does It Better

Book shelf with ladder in front of it.
Photo by Pixabay at Pexels.

I am willing to bet that you did not expect that headline from me!  And to be fair, I do not intend it as a general statement. What I am going to talk about is legal research, and it is a fact that Big Law does  that better than the rest of us.  While Big Law (and occasionally Medium Law) employs specialists to do their research, the rest of us  either do it ourselves or give the job to articling students, summer students, or  junior lawyers.

read more about doing research Poorly in Law Firms “Big Law Does It Better”
Categories
Fluff

If You Feed Them, They Will Come

A man and a woman having a business lunch.
Photo by Gustavo Fring at Pexels.

When I articled, if lawyers or law students worked past 6 pm, they were welcome to dine at the firm’s expense, as long as they returned to the office to work after dinner.

That sounded like a great deal to a lowly paid student, and I was impressed with how considerate the firm was. Being a slow learner, it took me a while to realize that the firm was trying to encourage lawyers to work late into the evening. It took me even longer to figure out that the lawyers would often work until just after 6 pm, go to dinner until 7:30 pm, and return to the office just long enough to be seen by some partners, and then leave.

read more about free food and law firms “If You Feed Them, They Will Come”