Tag: mentoring

Categories
The Practice of Law

The Games That Lawyers Play

Arial view of a county fair.

When negotiating an agreement, clients are often happy to hear that the other side’s lawyer is going to do the drafting.  They assume that their lawyer will spend less time reviewing an agreement than he or she would have spent drafting the agreement in the first place, and that allowing the other side’s lawyer to draft the agreement will be cheaper for them.  Lawyers who are overwhelmed with work, or who are inexperienced, or who are lazy, or who are just not that bright, will readily agree with this approach.

read more about why good lawyers want to do the drafting “The Games That Lawyers Play”
Categories
The Mentality and Attitudes of Lawyers

Bullies in the Boardroom

A children's ride in the form of a donkey.

In my 6th year of practice, I represented an insolvent client in his negotiations with his Bank.  The retainer came upon me suddenly as the client was summoned to a meeting with the Bank and its lawyers on virtually no notice and told to bring counsel. 

I met the client for the first time just before the meeting, and off we headed downtown to meet with the Bank’s representatives and a senior insolvency lawyer at a large Toronto firm. I will call this lawyer Tom since I want to make it clear that he was an asshole, but I really do not want to be sued for writing this article. (Although I suppose that the risk of a successful lawsuit would be low since truth is a complete defense). 

read more about bullies in the legal profession “Bullies in the Boardroom”
Categories
Law Students and Young Lawyers

An Article About Articling Students

Young girls in traditional Peruvian costumes.

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.

read more about succeeding at articles “An Article About Articling Students”
Categories
Murray The Wannabe Feminist

A Feminist Rant from an Old White Guy

A building under constrruction.

Erin Durant of Durant Barristers recently posted the following on LinkedIn:

“A pain point for women who create firms is the narrative that they have quit rather than have built something. I did not quit my practice. I took my practice and built something better for my clients. I agree with a mentor who says that male founders do not face that assumption.”

read more about whether getting out of big law is quitting “A Feminist Rant from an Old White Guy”
Categories
The Practice of Law

The Sharp Employ The Sharp

A pig lying in the mud.

“The sharp employ the sharp; verily, a man may be known by his attorney.”

Douglas William Jerrold

Criminal lawyers are often required to represent those among us who are morally and ethically challenged.  Their role as guardians of the rights of all of us is crucial to our democracy and their choice of clients does not usually reflect negatively on their character.

read more about protecting your reputation “The Sharp Employ The Sharp”
Categories
Law Students and Young Lawyers

Lessons from my Loony Early Days of Practice

Two Loons swimming on a lake.

When I started practicing business law immediately after being called to the Bar, I had just been rejected for hire-back with the firm where I had done my articles.  I was told that the reason that I was not hired back was that I had not shown sufficient self-confidence.  Compounding my insecurity was the fact that I was younger than most first year lawyers, having entered law school after just one year of university.  Worse still, I had no prior business experience.

read more about surviving the early days of practice “Lessons from my Loony Early Days of Practice”
Categories
The Mentality and Attitudes of Lawyers

What, Me Worry?

View from a cable car looking down a mountain suggesting fear.

In my first four years of practicing law, I learned how to be a lawyer through the “sink or swim” approach.  I did this by working 12 hours a day and 6 ½ days a week, without supervision, mentoring or training.  I was also worrying 24 days a day, 7 days a week, and waking up screaming at night. I do not recommend this approach to learning the practice of law.

read more about stress in the legal profession “What, Me Worry?”
Categories
Legal Ethics

Ethics Matter, But Don’t Be Naive About It

The author standing on a train track suggesting the danger of walking the ethical line.

In my first year of practice, a client asked me to advise him concerning his plan to build a sign for his restaurant.  The sign was to sit at sidewalk level and would be 6 feet high and 20 feet long with flashing neon lights.  It did not take long for me to determine that the sign would contravene the city’s by-laws and to tell him not to do it.

The client was furious with me.  He angrily explained to me that it was not my job to give him business advice.  In his mind, my role as the lawyer was simply to tell him what the law said and what the penalties were for breaking the law.  It was his job to make the determination whether it was a good business decision to break the law.  

That was my introduction to business ethics and how the practice of law fits in.

read more about determining where the ethical line is “Ethics Matter, But Don’t Be Naive About It”
Categories
The Practice of Law

What’s Law Got To Do With It?

Court House in Ecuador

There is an old saying that a jury consists of twelve people who are selected to determine who has the better lawyer. Whatever the truth of that saying, there is no doubt that the people who prevail in legal disputes are not necessarily the people who are legally “right”.

read more about what really matters in a legal dispute “What’s Law Got To Do With It?”
Categories
Client Development

My Brilliant Marketing Mind

A very poorly worded and confusing advertising sign

Young lawyers often think that there is some magic secret to building a client base, and that marketing is a mysterious and complicated endeavour.  I disagree, and I say that as a lawyer who did not really “get” marketing until I had been practicing for quite a long time.

read more about why marketing is easier than you think “My Brilliant Marketing Mind”