Tag: articlingstudents

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The Practice of Law

Professional Negligence 101

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Once upon a time, one of my litigation partners had a field day suing a very senior partner of a reputable law firm in the Toronto area. I will call that defendant “Max.”

The crux of the matter was that our client, who I will call Sue (appropriately, because that is what she ended up doing to Max) was involved in the sale of some shares of a corporation to the other shareholder. When Sue did not get paid, she came to see if we could do anything about it. When my partner asked Sue whether she was represented by counsel in the sale transaction, she identified Max as being her lawyer.

read more about how to get yourself sued “Professional Negligence 101”
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Law Students and Young Lawyers

What’s Law School Have to Do With It

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Few lawyers would disagree with the statement that “law school does not teach you what you have to know to be able to practice law.” I imagine that the general public would find that to be surprising. It is called “law school” after all.

read more about what’s wrong about law school “What’s Law School Have to Do With It”
Categories
Legal Fees

Racing to the Bottom of the Legal Profession

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Many of you will be familiar with the old saying (sometimes attributed to John Adams and other times to Winston Churchill) to the effect that “if you are not a socialist at age 20, you have no heart, but if you are still a socialist at age 30, you have no brain.”

read more about legal practice areas becoming commodities “Racing to the Bottom of the Legal Profession”
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Substantive Legal Content

Yet Another Way for Business Lawyers to be Negligent

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Let’s say that you represent a 40% shareholder in a corporation. You are reviewing a shareholder’s agreement which says that in certain circumstances (death, disability, termination of employment) your client is required to sell his or her shares at fair market value. So far, so good.

read more about minority discounts “Yet Another Way for Business Lawyers to be Negligent”
Categories
Legal Ethics

How To Lose Your License to Practice Law in One Easy Step

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Let me start by saying that I really, really, like accountants. I had deep and valued relationships with a number of accountants when I practiced law, and they were by far my best referral sources. Many became good friends. So, the negative stories which I am about to tell relate to a tiny minority of the accountants who I came across.

read more about unethical professionals “How To Lose Your License to Practice Law in One Easy Step”
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Substantive Legal Content

Of Death and Taxes (And Shareholders Agreements)

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Death: My favourite topic in a shareholders agreement.

What I like about the death provision is that it is usually not controversial, especially if the shareholders do not have an inkling about who is likely to die first.

read more about survivorship provisions “Of Death and Taxes (And Shareholders Agreements)”
Categories
Client Development

The Power of Doubt

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Back when I was practicing law, I used to say that my greatest skill was doing lunch. I did an awful lot of lunch with some pretty good business development results. I have previously written about how I used my lunch meetings to develop personal relationships. You can read about that here: Eating Your Way to A Great Client Base

During my lunch meetings with potential clients, I often used the power of doubt to sell my legal services.

read more about using the power of doubt in your marketing “The Power of Doubt”
Categories
Law Firm Management

Tales of Fundamentally Flawed Founders

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I have decided not to pick on Big Law today for a change. Let’s talk about smaller firms with entrepreneurial founders instead.

Sometimes lawyers call me and tell me about how they feel about their law firms. They don’t call me if they are happy. They call me when they want out. Out of the firm, out of their practice area, out of private practice, out of the practice of law altogether. Out of something.

I have heard a good number of tales of woe. One interesting theme is around the flaws of law firm founders. Serious flaws. The type of flaws that drive good people to head for the exits. I have termed this Founder Deficiency Syndrome. It sort of has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?

read more about founder deficiency syndrome “Tales of Fundamentally Flawed Founders”
Categories
People I Met Practicing Law The Mentality and Attitudes of Lawyers

The Narcissist

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There was once a law firm which had a particular department which experienced some turn-over in its associates. Lots of turn-over, actually.

The department in question was headed by a lawyer with a ‘strong personality.’ I am not qualified to give a psychological diagnosis of this lawyer, but if I were, I would probably say that this person was a narcissist. If I was being nice.

read more about bad-mouthing departing associates “The Narcissist”
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Substantive Legal Content

You May be Negligent if…

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Canadian Business Lawyers:  You may be negligent if you don’t know that:

read more about tips to avoid being negligent “You May be Negligent if…”