Tag: lawfirms

The Lunatic Fringe

Two rams butting heads. — Photo by Pixabay at Pexels.

Back in the day, there was a law firm in which the partners were – how do I say it sort of nicely – not ‘culturally aligned.’

Sam was the Managing Partner. He was charming and charismatic, and nice to everybody, at least most of the time. Aligned with him were enough partners to vote with him on everything that mattered, sometimes more out of personal loyalty or ignorance than conviction.

Gordon was the other high billing partner with a huge client base, which qualified him to lead a group of dissidents. He and Sam tended to be competitive about things such as compensation.

Mental Health: Marketing or Operations?

Post author By Murray Gottheil
Post date November 5, 2022
No Comments on Mental Health: Marketing or Operations?

Womanmeditating. — Photo by Natalie at Pexels

I like to bake bread. In my opinion, and in the opinion of a family member named Aidan, the crust is the best part of my bread. When he was younger, Aidan would sometimes help himself to both end pieces. I did not like that.

Once, Aidan asked if it was okay for him to take a slice of my freshly baked bread as it was cooling on the counter. I told him to take just one slice. The next thing I knew he had sliced the entire top of the bread off and was happily munching way.

When I confronted him, Aidan was not particularly remorseful. He said, “you said that I could have a slice. You didn’t say anything about how I had to slice it.”

Tags articlingstudents, attorneys, lawfirms, lawstudents, lawyers, mental health, mentoring, worklifebalance

Legal Tech

Danger Ahead!

Back in the day, I used to teach junior lawyers how to practice law. I had me some rules. They went something like this:

Do not delegate something that you do not know how to do yourself. If you do, how are you going to know if the work product is correct?
Do not include anything in a document if you do not know why it is there. I will be unimpressed if you give me a document and cannot explain why you included every single word in it.
As a corollary to Rule number 2, never say to me that you included something ‘because it was in the precedent.’ If you do that, I will be apoplectic and that will not be a good thing for either of us.

These rules helped me train a number of junior lawyers to be pretty good at what they did.

Tags ApparaPartner, digitaltransformation, lawfirms, lawyers, legaltech

Mental Health and Work/Life Balance

My Journey From Law To Mental Health *

Post author By Murray Gottheil
Post date October 7, 2022
No Comments on My Journey From Law To Mental Health *

It took me eight years after I first realized that my life in law was not working for me until I was fully retired. It went like this:

2012: Best financial year ever. Worked incredibly hard in the last quarter. My hours in November and December were insane. I was so proud of myself. Got a huge slice of the compensation pie.

January 2013: Went to the doctor worried that I was not well enough to go on a trip to Australia for a meeting of our international association. Diagnosed with a thyroid issue. The doctor said it had nothing to do with the stress of my career. I did not believe him.

Tags attorneys, lawfirms, lawyers, mental health, mentoring, retirement

The Practice of Law

The Difference Between a Rut and A Grave

Post author By Murray Gottheil
Post date October 6, 2022
No Comments on The Difference Between a Rut and A Grave

Old grave stones. — Photo by Mike B at Pexels.

When asked about my complaints about the legal profession, I am forced to admit that back before I escaped the profession and became happy, I did in fact have some good days. Three of them. (Okay, I am kidding about that last bit. There were more good days than that.)

Tags articlingstudents, attorneys, lawfirms, lawstudents, lawyers, mentoring

Law Students and Young Lawyers

Tell Me Another Story from the Old Days, Grandpa

Post author By Murray Gottheil
Post date October 6, 2022
3 Comments on Tell Me Another Story from the Old Days, Grandpa

Couple sitting on the back of their vehicle with their heads down and boxes behind them. — Photo by Karolina Grabowska at Pexels.

As a recession may be looming and Banks may be enforcing their mortgages, I thought that I would share this story from the recession in the early 1990’s.

There was a law firm that did volume mortgage remedy work for a Canadian Bank. A somewhat junior real estate lawyer who I will call Barbara managed the files. The work was somewhat routine but required precision and organizational skills, and Barbara did it well and earned a reasonable salary.

If You’re So Smart, Why Ain’t You Rich?

Post author By Murray Gottheil
Post date September 25, 2022
No Comments on If You’re So Smart, Why Ain’t You Rich?

Female Professor with complicated scribbles on the blackboard. — Photo by Andrea Piacquadio at Pexels.

My father used to ask, “If you’re so smart, why ain’t you rich?”

There are probably a million things that are wrong with that question, but his basic point is worth considering. He was asking why it is that some people believe that they know better concerning just about everything, but they do not generate any results from their supposed brilliance.

Tags articlingstudents, attorneys, lawfirmmanagement, lawfirms, lawstudents, lawyers, marketing, mentoring

The Mentality and Attitudes of Lawyers

Things I Used to Think Were True

Post author By Murray Gottheil
Post date September 24, 2022
No Comments on Things I Used to Think Were True

Scrabble pieces spelling the words "Speak Truth." — Photo by Brett Jordan at Pexels.

I said and thought a lot of stuff while I was practicing law. I believed every single bit of it. Over time I figured out that some of it was kind of dumb. Here are some of those gems:

Tags articlingstudents, attorneys, lawfirms, lawstudents, lawyers, mentoring

Legal Fees

Let’s play Jeopardy: I’ll take ‘Expert in Ottawa’ for $300

Post author By Murray Gottheil
Post date September 23, 2022
No Comments on Let’s play Jeopardy: I’ll take ‘Expert in Ottawa’ for $300

Game board for the television program ''Jeopardy!''

When I practised law in Mississauga, Ont., our fees were cheap compared to the Toronto firms, and kind of expensive compared to firms in places like Guelph, Belleville and Kingston. I occasionally wondered whether my clients might prefer to deal with firms in smaller cities at lower rates. Then I would reassure myself that doing so would be terribly inconvenient for them and that they would rather pay more to deal with me.

Now I am not so sure.