My good friend Felicity had a problem. Her relatives were making comments about how she takes care of her elderly father, who I will call Allan. She gave me the example of an aunt who asked, “Why is Allan still driving?” and expressed her opinion that Allan is too old and ill to be driving. She said it in a way that implied it was Felicity’s fault.
Some of you will know the origin of the title of this article. The rest of you will have to look it up.
These famous words convey the notion that when you are facing an existential crisis, you must devote yourself completely to the task of surviving. Other priorities become irrelevant.
My partner Sid was great at remembering names and faces. At one networking event, 15 people introduced themselves, spoke about their area of specialty, and shared something about their personal lives. After everyone had spoken, Sid said something like, “Let’s see if I have got this right,” and then repeated the details that everyone had provided. Sid was a great rainmaker.
Frank Ramos, a Miami litigation lawyer, writes intelligently on LinkedIn. Recently, he posted that potential legal clients are moving away from using Google searches, and toward AI, to find lawyers. His conclusion is that lawyers should stop worrying about SEO and start writing intelligent commentary so that AI will identify them as an expert and recommend them.
An American poet and critic named James Russell Lowell once said, “The foolish and the dead alone never change their opinions.” He forgot someone: Big Law lawyers.
Allow me to elaborate.
Newly qualified lawyers are not known for being mature, confident, well-rounded, and psychologically sound. And why should we expect them to be? Most of them are young, having just emerged from years of student life. Few have had a significant prior career. They have likely graduated, with substantial debt, from schools that have not adequately trained them to practice law.
Back when I was practicing law, I was so clued out about physical work that I thought that Manual Labour was the President of Mexico. After I became a lawyer, the only work that I did with my hands was typing. For many years I was thoughtful, creative, and strategic. I hired people to do the physical work that I needed done, so that I could devote myself to what I arrogantly thought were more sophisticated pursuits.
Vicky was my associate many years ago. She was bright and ambitious. She wanted to learn and she worked hard. If you taught Vicky how to do something once, she would get it right every time after that.
Do you remember the old stories about coal miners forced to rent their homes from the company they worked for?
The tech industry is pulling the exact same scam on your firm today. We happily traded ownership of our software for the convenience of the cloud. We are stuck renting our own data back from tech monopolies who change the rules, raise the prices, and take zero responsibility.
My cruise took me to Saigon the other day. My tour guide was an enthusiastic young man named Hung. He explained that his generation wants to focus on making money and supporting their families, rather than dwelling in the past. When it comes to what the Vietnamese refer to as the “American War,” he said that they are willing to forgive, but not to forget.