Tag: lawyers

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The Mentality and Attitudes of Lawyers

Ordering Off Menu

Couple looking at menus.
Photo by Cottonbro Studio at Pexels.

I like eating out, but I don’t always like what is on the menu. I have been known to explain to the server that I consider a menu to be merely an indication of which ingredients the Chef has in the kitchen, together with samples of some of the ways that they can be assembled. With that information, I often request that they be assembled differently. Lose the beets from the beet salad; lose the feta cheese and replace it with goat cheese; add the spicy pecans from another salad, and so on.

I like to eat a bespoke lunch, and I expect that it may cost me a bespoke price.

read more about when the client is wrong “Ordering Off Menu”
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The Mentality and Attitudes of Lawyers

Shutting Down The News

Sale Boat moored in beautiful bay on calm water.
Photo by Roman Jaquez at Pexels.

I stopped reading the news this week. It has been affecting my mental health. No more scrolling from CNN to Associated Press to Apple News to Google News to National Post, to Jerusalem Post. I am even trying to scroll past posts on Facebook and LinkedIn which address hate around the world.

read more about protecting your mental health “Shutting Down The News”
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People I Met Practicing Law

Law Firm Primer For Articling Students and New Associates – Part Eight: The Chief Marketing Officer

People mingling at a bar.
Photo by Helena Lopes at Pixels.

Those of you who have been following this series know that I said that Part Seven was the final article in the series. It turns out that I lied.

The purpose of the series is to set out the questions which Articling Students and new Associates should figure out about their firms when deciding whether to stay there over the long-term.

This time it is about the Chief Marketing Officer (“CMO”).

read more about the chief marketing officer “Law Firm Primer For Articling Students and New Associates – Part Eight: The Chief Marketing Officer”
Categories
Murray The Wannabe Feminist

Feminists – Honesty Is Not Always The Best Policy

Sign on wall that says "Fight Sexism."
Photo by Markus Spiske at Pexels.

I was speaking to a newbie lawyer the other day.  I am going to call her Sue, which is definitely not her real name.

Sue is an intelligent young woman, but like many of us when we are starting out, is perhaps just a tiny bit naïve.

Sue told me that she was applying to a firm in a community where she lives in eastern Canada. To prepare for the interview, she checked out the firm’s website. She was delighted to learn that the firm prides itself on recognizing the importance of work life balance.

read more about the difference between a Firm’s marketing and its values “Feminists – Honesty Is Not Always The Best Policy”
Categories
Retirement

Reap What You Sow

Farmer planting rice.
Photo by Rattasat at Pexels.

Hey law firms!  Have you given much thought to your partners approaching retirement, and calculated what their retirement may cost you? 

read more about how much it is costing your firm to handle retirement badly “Reap What You Sow”
Categories
Law Students and Young Lawyers

Show Me the Money

Woman sitting at desk with dollar bills on the desk and in the air.
Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko at Pexels.

“Youth is always impatient, even though, ironically, youth alone has time for patience.”

Lucilla Andrews

In my new pastime as a cynical commentator on aspects of the legal profession which I whole-heartedly embraced and profited from for many years, I speak to quite a few folks at the early stages of their careers. I try to think back to when I shared their enthusiasm and optimism, but frankly it was way too long ago.

read more about choosing jobs based on salary “Show Me the Money”
Categories
Law Firm Management

Reading Between The Lines

Man in front of computer screen which says that his services are no longer required.
Photo by Ron Lach at Pexels.

At my law firm, we had great human resources management. It was so good that information was hard to come by. In fact, it was just about impossible to get any really good gossip out of management until it had made its way down to the partners, after which it became more readily available.

Since we had some really smart people at our firm (as well as a few who were not so smart), it should not be surprising that we had to compensate for the lack of information flow by learning to read between the lines.

read more about human resources in lawfirms “Reading Between The Lines”
Categories
Firm Culture

How Strong Are Your Roots?

A large tree which has been uprooted.

The image that accompanies this post is of a massive tree in the forest behind my house which came down in a storm, bringing down another tree, which brought down a third. As you can see, the root system was wide, but shallow.

These trees might have looked majestic, but when force was applied, their roots proved to be too weak to hold up their weight.

read more about the roots supporting your law firm “How Strong Are Your Roots?”
Categories
Mentoring

Users and Mentors

Photo by August de Richelieu at Pexels.

This is an abridged version of one of my first posts from several years ago.

Supervising lawyers fall into two groups. 

read more about real and fake mentors “Users and Mentors”
Categories
Firm Culture

When The Time Comes, Get The Hell Out

Man sitting in a jail cell.
Photo by Ron Lach at Pexels.

The worst partners meeting that I ever attended ended with me storming out, telling one of my partners to fuddle-duddle off (not in those exact words), and threatening to leave the firm. I was the managing partner and highest earning partner at the time. You would think that I should have been happy.

read more about getting out when the firm culture does not support you “When The Time Comes, Get The Hell Out”