Tag: lawfirms

Categories
Legal Tech

AI: Ask a Stupid Question, Get a Stupid Answer

A young girl in class raising her hand to ask a question
Photo by Anastasia Shuraeva at Pexels.

Martin is a lawyer who has closed many residential real estate transactions. Back when he was starting out, Martin read the relevant statutes and regulations and prepared all the documents himself. For each transaction, Martin drafted a Statement of Adjustments, adding numbers in his head. Eventually he used a calculator, and then a software program. Then, he hired a law clerk and taught her how to do it. Should the situation arise where Martin needs to prepare a Statement of Adjustments manually, he can easily do so, because he knows everything that there is to know about them. When a dispute arises as to the accuracy of a Statement of Adjustments, he can resolve it.

read more about doing legal work without having a strong conceptual understanding “AI: Ask a Stupid Question, Get a Stupid Answer”
Categories
The Mentality and Attitudes of Lawyers

Meet Marta – The Ideal Law Firm Partner

Woman sitting at her computer.
Photo by Olly at Pexels.

Back when I was attending Vanier College in Montreal, I met a girl named Marta who was quite beautiful. I could see myself dating someone like Marta, so I tried to get to know her. I was very happy when Marta told me that she thought that I was a nice guy, she liked me a whole bunch, and she cared very deeply about me.

read more about the relationship among partners in a law firm “Meet Marta – The Ideal Law Firm Partner”
Categories
The Mentality and Attitudes of Lawyers

We Are Not in the Results Business

Two men arguing at a business meeting with a woman looking frustrated and stressed.
Photo by Vlada Karpovich at Pexels.

Back in law school, my criminal law professor told us that our job would be to use every bit of our intelligence, ingenuity, and strength, and to work tirelessly, to deliver the best possible outcome for our client. “But,” he told us, “if at the end of the day, someone has to go to jail, make sure that it is your client.”  He was warning us not to become so zealous in our representation of our client that we crossed over the ethical or legal lines.

read more about not taking responsibility for outcomes “We Are Not in the Results Business”
Categories
Legal Fees

Pay Me Now or Pay Me Later

Woman staring at dollar bill.
Photo by Karolina Grabowwski at Pexels.

“Don’t tell me what you value, show me your budget, and I’ll tell you what you value.” 

~ Joe Biden.

It used to make sense to me to try to scare businesspeople into wanting to pay legal fees. I would tell them one of my many stories about clients who started a business without including an adequate budget for legal fees.

read more about paying a bit now to avoid paying a lot later “Pay Me Now or Pay Me Later”
Categories
Firm Culture

Stabbing Back in the Law Firm

Smiling woman holding an knife.
Photo by Valeriya at Pexels.

I liked some of my partners all of the time; most of my partners most of the time; and one or two, almost never. I suspect that my partners, as a group, had similar sentiments about me.

The first thing to know about being a partner in a law firm is that you do not have to like all your partners all the time, but you are supposed to pretend that you do.

read more ab0ut partners behaving badly “Stabbing Back in the Law Firm”
Categories
Family Business Succession

Family Business Succession – Don’t Send in the Clowns

An evil looking Joker character.
Photo by Antonio Friedemann at Pexels.

By Maureen T. Mckay

 In an earlier article in our series, Murray Gottheil quoted these words from Leo Tolstoy: “all happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”

The sad truth is that there is unhappiness in all families, and many families do not like to share their secrets. Working with these families on business succession requires professionals to be trusted, and, as Arthur Ashe said, “Trust has to be earned, and should come only after the passage of time.”

read more About why specialists are needed for family business succession work “Family Business Succession – Don’t Send in the Clowns”
Categories
Family Business Succession

Behold, the Powers of Attorney!

A hand holding a pen and signing a legal document.
Photo by Pixabay at Pexels.

By Maureen T. McKay

One upon a time, I had a client named Jack, whose mother had granted him a Power of Attorney (“POA”).  Some years later, Mom’s capacity became questionable. Jack’s sister, Jill, wanted to have Mom create a new POA in her favour that would terminate Jack’s POA. The future of a family business hung in the balance. Someone was likely to come tumbling down the hill. The dispute made quite a few family members unhappy, and quite a few lawyers a lot of money.

read more about the fiascos that can occur if you use powers of attorney carelessly “Behold, the Powers of Attorney!”
Categories
Family Business Succession

Family Business: Team Sports in the Legal Profession

A rugby team kneeling in a circle.
Photo by Pixabay at Pexels.

“A dysfunctional family is any family with more than one person in it.”   ~ Mary Karr

read more about the team approach to family business succession “Family Business: Team Sports in the Legal Profession”
Categories
The Practice of Law

The Truth About Consequences

A man holding a broom and garbage bags.
Photo by Omer Sav at Pexels.

Sometimes when I consider what tremendous consequences come from little things, I am tempted to think there are no little things. 

  ~  Bruce Barton

I used to ask my litigation partners how it felt to issue a Statement of Claim and ruin someone’s day. Mainly I wanted to annoy them, but I also thought that it was a useful reminder that the things that we do as lawyers can have serious consequences for other people.

read more about being aware of the consequences of what we do “The Truth About Consequences”
Categories
People I Met Practicing Law

Who Do You Want To Be in the Legal Profession?

Woman pulling a suitcase on a country road, seen from behind.
Photo by Ivan Aguilar at Pexels.

There was once a mid-sized law firm that wanted to develop a specialty in a niche area of litigation.

At the bottom level of that specialty, there were general commercial litigation lawyers who wrongly thought that they knew enough to be competent. One step above, there were lawyers with a decent reputation who gave good, creative, advice and achieved decent results most of the time. And then there were the Tier One superstars. Big reputations, high billings, and in demand for the most difficult assignments.

read more about who you want to be in the legal profession “Who Do You Want To Be in the Legal Profession?”