Author: Murray Gottheil

Categories
Legal Fees

Stupid, Stupid, Stupid

A collage of photos of the same woman with many different expressions.
Photo by Andrea Piacquadio at Pexels.

I once proposed raising our hourly rates and was met with furious resistance by the head of our litigation department who assured me that no assessment officer would ever permit lawyers to charge the amounts that I had proposed. He was a brilliant litigator and he was completely correct. However, he was not much of a businessperson and had not considered how rarely our accounts were assessed. I was more than willing to lose all of the assessments and rake in the extra dollars on more than 99% of our files.

read more about how hourly billing rates are set “Stupid, Stupid, Stupid”
Categories
Legal Tech

Artificially Human?

Man playing chess with a robot.
Photo by Pavel Danilyuk at Pexels.

I have a theory about life which I espouse in my less optimistic moments. My theory is that for many people, things become less and less familiar as they age. What is socially acceptable changes, people dress and act differently, friends and family move away and pass away, technology changes, and so on. Eventually everything is so unfamiliar that they do not feel that they belong in the world, and they are then ready to die of natural causes.

read more about using ai to write content “Artificially Human?”
Categories
Firm Culture

The Zero You Deserve is Finally Here

A can of Dr. Pepper with other soft drink cans in the background.
Photo by Brandon Richardson at Pexels.

The title of this post is taken from an advertisement for Dr. Pepper’s zero sugar soft drink and is a nifty introduction to the topic of entitlement.

One of my minor pet peeves is advertisements that tell me that I “deserve” things. How do people trying to sell me stuff know what I deserve?  On the other hand, one of my major pet peeves is people who actually believe that they deserve stuff – especially when they have not worked to earn it.

read more about entitlement “The Zero You Deserve is Finally Here”
Categories
Legal Tech

Just Sit Home and Eat Doritos

Huge red and black Transformer robot.
Photo by Somchai Kongkamsri at Pexels.

I was telling my wife about the recent post by Frank Ramos about LinkedIn having an AI product to help us write our posts. Those of you have followed me for a while know that I think that I am kind of smart, but I know for a fact that my wife, Maureen McKay, is way smarter than me. She has a great ability to look at a fact situation and see where things are going to end up. Here is her take on the use of AI to write posts:

read a tiny bit more about maureen’s take on where ai is headed “Just Sit Home and Eat Doritos”
Categories
Client Development

Would You Rather Die or Give a Speech?

Officiant standing over coffin and holding a book.
Photo by Pavel Danilyuk at Pexels.

“According to most studies, people’s number one fear is public speaking. Number two is death. Death is number two. Does that sound right? This means to the average person, if you go to a funeral, you’re better off in the casket than doing the eulogy.”                   Jerry Seinfeld

Early in my career I spoke to a group of lawyers about opinion letters. I was awful. I read the entire presentation, which was chock full of technical details, and bored the audience to tears. To this day, if I close my eyes, I can still hear them snoring and crying at the same time.

read more about Tips for giving presentations “Would You Rather Die or Give a Speech?”
Categories
Firm Culture

Real Friends and Friends Light

A group of young people eating pizza.
Photo by Cottonbro Studios at Pexels.

Most of us consider ourselves to be lucky if we have a handful of real friends. Usually these are people who we know from way back. They know who we really are, and they want nothing from us. If we need them, they will be there for us.  When we get busy with our careers, we sometimes do not speak to them very frequently, but when we see them again it is like no time has passed.

read more about situational friendships “Real Friends and Friends Light”
Categories
Mental Health and Work/Life Balance

They Care… in Their Spare Time

Woman looking pensive in the back seat of a car.
Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko

The other day my wife, Maureen, told me about a friend who was complaining that his busy adult children do not call him very often.  Her friend asked Maureen, “Don’t they care about their dad?”  To which Maureen replied, “they care… in their spare time.”

Maureen had it exactly right. Busy people tend to focus on the issues in their life that require their immediate attention. They put the things that they can take for granted aside to worry about when they can find the time.

read more about creating a law firm that is about more than money “They Care… in Their Spare Time”
Categories
Law Students and Young Lawyers

Bad and Worse Advice for Law Firm Associates

An older professional woman speaking to a younger woman who appears to be frustrated with what she is being told.
Photo by Cottonbro Studio at Pexels.

“Do not confine your children to your own learning, for they were born in another time.” Chinese proverb

The Chinese were on to something. We all make the mistake of teaching things to younger generations based on our own experience. Here is some of the bad advice that I gave to my Associates:

read more about the bad advice that i gave associates “Bad and Worse Advice for Law Firm Associates”
Categories
Murray The Wannabe Feminist

Men Talking About Moms at the Partnership Table

Leipzip-Dresdem Railway Company's Board of Directors (1852)

Those of you who do not attend partners meetings may not know that a common agenda item is why the associates are not working hard enough.

And those of you who follow the statistics are aware that only 25% of partners in Canadian law firms are female. This means that the problem is primarily defined by men, who identify the mothers of young children as part of the problem.  Which indeed they are since they often undertake a disproportionate share of the childcare responsibilities and have less time to bill hours.

read more about believing what you want to believe “Men Talking About Moms at the Partnership Table”
Categories
Law Students and Young Lawyers

Talking to Partners about Problems

Two women sitting across from each other on brown chairs talking to each other.
Photo by Cottonbro Studio at Pexels.

Since I retired, I do not speak to law firm partners very often, which is just fine with me. For one thing, I cannot afford to speak to them about professional matters. For another, I have had quite my fill of speaking to partners about topics that they know precious little about, such as how to run a law firm profitably while maintaining a positive and welcoming culture.

read more about how to talk to partners about problems “Talking to Partners about Problems”