Categories
Firm Culture

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil

There is nothing funny about child abuse, so I hesitate to tell this story. But there is a point to it, so please bear with me.

Back in the day when parents did not see anything wrong with occasionally giving their kids a smack, there was a very young boy who believed that if he shut his eyes tightly, no one could see him. When his father was angry, the boy would close his eyes and feel safe. When he got hit anyway, he was initially shocked. But eventually he learned that hiding did not make him safe.

Categories
The Practice of Law

Ten Days to Close

One of my best clients was a partnership between two men who I will call Ken and Gordon.

Ken was the sales guy.  Gordon was the strategic thinker and administrator.  The company had offices in several Canadian cities and a few U.S. states.  There were a good number of companies and trusts on the corporate chart.

Ken and Gordon owned the main company, which had made money for many years and was valuable. It was financed by bank loans secured by personal guarantees of the owners.

Categories
Law Students and Young Lawyers

I Want My Parents Dead

Many years ago when I was working 1,000 hours a week and my daughter was very young, I was trying to get her to eat an apple after a busy day at work. She was having none of it. Frustration levels were rising on both sides. Finally, with tears streaming down her face, she blurted out, “I want my parents dead.”

Categories
People I Met Practicing Law

A Piece of the Big Blue Sky

“Blue Sky Law” refers to securities regulation. The expression is said to have originated in Kansas and refers to hucksters who could sell ‘a piece of the blue sky’ to unsophisticated farmers.

Back when I was more impressed with Big Law than I am now, we were approached by a senior lawyer who I will call Jake who wanted to leave Big Law and join our medium-sized suburban wannabe downtown law firm.

Categories
Legal Tech

Old Law, New Law: Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places

In the old days, the path to success in the legal profession seemed fairly straight forward: Get top marks; article for a good firm (the larger the better); get hired back; work a tonne of hours; become a partner.

With success came prestige and money.

Categories
Firm Culture

Partners Be Crazy

“It had evidently not occurred to her as yet that those who consent to share the bread of adversity may want the whole cake of prosperity for themselves.”
― Edith Wharton

I cannot think of anything more important in a law firm partnership than associating yourself with partners who share your values.

Categories
Mental Health and Work/Life Balance

Why are You Wasting Time Reading this Drivel?

Back when I was practicing law, I considered publications like The Lawyer’s Daily to be an unwelcome but necessary evil. I would skim the headlines and case digests looking for information that I had to know to remain competent. There were many times that I did not even read news about upcoming legislation. I figured that it was a waste of time to focus on things that may never be enacted, and I could just wait until it became law to worry about it.

Categories
The Practice of Law

On Being Decisive. Or Not.

In the 14th century, the philosopher Jean Buridan told a story about a donkey who, equidistant between two piles of hay, starved to death because he could not decide which one to eat.

Categories
The Mentality and Attitudes of Lawyers

I Want to Be a Fire Truck

Adults often ask young children what they want to be when they grow up.  I knew one child who insisted that he wanted to be a fire truck. Nobody could convince this fellow that he could not be a fire truck. You can be a “firefighter” they told him. But no, he insisted that he wanted to be a fire truck.

Categories
Legal Tech

Hiring Grandma and Grandpa

My friend Steve tells a story about the loss of his uncle at age 58, when Steve was 18 years old. While Steve’s parents were aghast at the tragedy of losing their relative at such an early age, Steve remembers thinking, “what are they talking about, the guy was 58 years old. He had a good run.”