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Law Students and Young Lawyers

It is Okay to Put Up With Some Injustice

[Note from Murray: Many of my readers are younger professionals. They may not be crazy about the content of this article. In my defense, I can be a curmudgeon sometimes, but that does not necessarily invalidate my old-fashioned opinions!]

After much thought, I have concluded that young people should be more willing to put up with tyranny. Before the howls to cancel me for this outrageous statement start, let me clarify. I am not talking about physical, sexual, emotional, or even financial abuse. I am talking about that other stuff that we used to call ‘life,’ such as uncomfortable or inconvenient situations.

Categories
Law Students and Young Lawyers

How I Almost Failed Out of Law School Taking Accounting 101

I did pretty well in law school.  I studied all of the time, had no life, and got great marks. By my final year, I may have gotten just a little bit full of myself.

When selecting my courses for my final year of law school, I needed one more credit. So, devoid of any experience in the real world, I somehow decided that any course which was offered outside of the Faculty of Law would be easier than taking another difficult law course. 

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Law Students and Young Lawyers

Capitalism Run Amok in the Legal Profession

There were good things about the old days when law was primarily a profession, and lawyers joined law firms with a view to learning, working hard, and becoming partners. One of them was that law firms cared about their associates progressing, developing clients, and becoming self-sufficient.

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Law Students and Young Lawyers

From Big Law to Law School and Back: Follow the Money

One cold December evening when I was twenty-two years old,  I lined up outside for almost an hour to get into an exclusive club in Montreal.  The gatekeeper allowed the beautiful people in and passed over the others. I would still be waiting if I had not pretended to be part of a group that had been waived in.  

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Law Students and Young Lawyers

Pivoting From Big Law

Sometimes I meet a young lawyer whose career goal is to work in Big Law.  That path might not be my first choice, but as long as they know what they are getting into, they should go for it. This article is not about those folks.

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Law Students and Young Lawyers

Murray’s Masterclass in Managing Client Expectations

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.

Categories
Law Students and Young Lawyers

Gladly Suffering Fools

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.

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Law Students and Young Lawyers

A Sucker’s Game

Imagine the following scenario:

Jordan is a third year Associate with a mid-sized firm in Calgary who has a billable hour target that is somewhat reasonable compared to the targets in Big Law. He typically achieves that target and receives a bonus of $18,000. He is also paid 10% of the billed and collected business that he brings in.

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Law Students and Young Lawyers

Believe in Yourself or Perish!

I have something important to say.  It is so important that I will say it three different ways in the hope that those of you who are too busy trying to achieve your ridiculous hourly billing target to do anything other than skim read will not miss it. Here I go:

Categories
Law Students and Young Lawyers

Understanding Crazy

According to the fictional Professor Kingsfield in the movie “The Paper Chase,” law students “come in … (to law school) … with a skull full of mush and … leave thinking like a lawyer.”

I have often wondered whether I would have been better off keeping my mushy mind so that I could think like a normal person, but that is a question for another day.

Although law schools teach students to understand and apply legal principles, there is plenty of stuff that they never mention, including the importance of having a rudimentary understanding of psychology.