Tag: lawyers

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Law Students and Young Lawyers

Partnership – Not The Holy Grail, Part  Four: The Beginning of the Journey

Thee serious looking business people in a formal office
Photo by August De Richelieu at Pexels.

Becoming a partner in a law firm is easy enough. You pay your money, you take your chances. But what exactly have you bought into?

We all know that what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas. Partnership meetings are much the same. Partners can disagree in a meeting but when you leave the meeting room, everyone supports the decision. As far as the associates and staff are concerned, every decision is unanimous. That is the theory. Of course, theory does not always align with reality.

In the real world, people talk. They don’t only talk, but they advocate. They not only advocate, but they criticize. And politic.

read more about figuring out whether you re joining the right partnership “Partnership – Not The Holy Grail, Part  Four: The Beginning of the Journey”
Categories
Law Students and Young Lawyers

Partnership –  Not  The  Holy Grail, Part Three: The Disadvantages

A group of professionals posting for a formal picture.
Photo by August de Richilieu at Pexels.

In Part One of  this series, I said that becoming a partner in a law firm is no longer the goal of every young lawyer. In Part Two, I wrote about the advantages of equity partnership.

Now, let’s talk about the disadvantages of equity partnership.

read more about the downside to being a partner “Partnership –  Not  The  Holy Grail, Part Three: The Disadvantages”
Categories
Mental Health and Work/Life Balance

You Can Measure My Career in Games

When I was younger, and did not have a house or a family or need to fund my children’s education, or want to travel the world, I used to say that if I was a professional athlete who was awarded a contract for some multiple of $10,000,000, you would be able to measure the length of my career in games played, not years.

read more about having enough “You Can Measure My Career in Games”
Categories
Retirement

Moving on Up

Older man lying down looking at his phone.
Photo by Kampus at Pexels.

One of my former partners checked out my profile on LinkedIn the other day. Since he is a litigator, my paranoid streak honed to perfection during my forty-year career got me thinking that perhaps he was trying to find an address for service. More likely, he was just checking to see if I am still alive and writing annoying things about my time in the legal profession.

read more about law firm friendships “Moving on Up”
Categories
Law Firm Management

Whose Client is it Anyway?

Woman wearing knee-high boots and carrying a red bag.
Photo by Ogo Johnson: at Pexels.

The people who make the most money in law firms are not necessarily the smartest lawyers, or the most strategic lawyers, or even the highest billing lawyers. It’s the lawyers who bring in clients who rake in the largest slice of the profit pie. We call these people the “client lawyers.”

read more about client origination credits “Whose Client is it Anyway?”
Categories
Mental Health and Work/Life Balance

An Action Plan for Becoming Less Miserable

Poster on a theatre for Les Miserables
Photo by Martino Battista at Pexels.

I understand that newbies to the legal profession who have student debt and no client base often feel locked into jobs that they hate.

I do not understand mid-level and senior lawyers who are financially stable and have a client base who stay in law firms that make them sick. I should understand them because I was one of them, but that is another story. Do as I say, not what I did.

Read more about reclaiming control over your life “An Action Plan for Becoming Less Miserable”
Categories
Law Students and Young Lawyers

It is Okay to Put Up With Some Injustice

Several generations of a family posing for a photo.
Photo by kseniachernaya at Pexels.

[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.

read more about whether young folks should toughen up a bit “It is Okay to Put Up With Some Injustice”
Categories
Client Development

Knowing What Type of Clients You Want

Picture of the beautiful Maureen McKay.

I think that lawyers should know who they are and what type of clients they want (and the answer is not “any client with a pulse.”)
Here is a great example from Maureen Mckay’s website (www.mckaylegal.com):

McKay Legal® has a select clientele.

You are the right type of client for McKay Legal® if you:

read more about being clear on what type of clients you want to attract “Knowing What Type of Clients You Want”
Categories
Law Firm Management

Law Firms Marching Obliviously into Oblivion

Black and white scene of damage and destruction.
Photo by Akin Akdag at Pexels.

Back in the old days when law school cost very little and you could rent an apartment in Toronto for a reasonable amount, law firms hired newly qualified lawyers at modest salaries and gave them simple assignments.  The firms also provided mentoring and training, so that the juniors could learn to do more challenging work. Firms neither made much money on the newbies, nor did they pay the  newbies much.  The pay-off came after a few years as the lawyers gained experience and could bill enough to earn their keep.

read more about the current state of the legal profession “Law Firms Marching Obliviously into Oblivion”
Categories
Client Development

How Can I Help You?

A Gold Mastercard on top of some other cards. Photo by Pixabay at Pexels.

One day, quite a few years ago, I was out for lunch with a banker who I will call Neal. Neal was a commercial account manager at a large Canadian Bank. As I always did at such meetings, I asked Neal, “how can I help you?”  (For those of you who need a masterclass in networking, this is how you do it.  You don’t tell referral sources how great you are, how your firm provides better quality services at lower prices, and all of the usual boring stuff. You ask people, “how can I help you?”)

read more about a strange adventure in marketing “How Can I Help You?”