Categories
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
The Practice of Law

Reflections on M&A, Musical Chairs, and Mental Health

People of my vintage remember playing musical chairs at birthday parties, back before the days when money was so plentiful that it seemed to be important to impress the neighbours by hiring clowns and musicians or renting bouncy castles to entertain five-year-olds.

For those of you who did not have the pleasure of being pushed off of a chair by some mean kid who had fifty pounds on you, the idea was that music would be played while the children would circle a number of chairs that was always one fewer than the number of kids marching around them.