Working From Hell
Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko at Pexels By Murray Gottheil I was at the receiving end of a rant from a young associate recently, whom I will call Mike. I don’t mind when Mike calls me to rant, usually late at night on his commute home from work. He needs to unload, and I am happy […]
Hate Everything or Risk the Consequences
Photo by Bastian Riccard at Pexels By Murray Gottheil | April 10, 2026 I would have to guess that some of the people at the law firm where I toiled for 34 years like what I write on LinkedIn and some don’t. The reason that I have to guess is that, with the very occasional […]
Pro Bonzo
Photo by Arindam at Pexels By Murray Gottheil | April 8, 2026 A brave articling student once quipped that, “If you say ‘pro bono’ near Murray, you’d better be talking about Sonny and Cher”. Now that was a tad unfair. It was not that I was against our firm doing pro bono work, but I did […]
I am Perfect. Why Aren’t You?
Photo by Furkan Salihoğlu at Pexels By Murray Gottheil | March 22, 2025 Paul is a junior lawyer. His supervising lawyer expects every document that Paul creates to be perfect. To ensure this, the supervisor reviews and often revises all of Paul’s draft documents, no matter how routine they may be. Paul resents the extra time […]
Law Means Never Having To Say You’re Sorry
By Murray Gottheil | February 20, 2026 The old timers among us will remember the 1970 movie Love Story, which featured what may be the stupidest line of dialogue ever. I refer to the statement that “Love means never having to say you’re sorry.” It would take a lawyer to build upon that bit of nonsense […]
Cruising with Bill W. and Doctor Bob
By Murray Gottheil | February 16, 2026 I have been on many cruise ships. Every single one featured a daily meeting listed in the schedule of events for the “Friends of Bill W. and Doctor Bob”. After my first 10 or 12 cruises, I remarked to someone that these fellows must cruise a lot, because they […]
Poison Darts
Photo by Cottonbro at Pexels By Murray Gottheil | January 20, 2026 My friend Peter was an accountant. He told me that there were partners at partners meetings who worked hard to build the firm for the benefit of all. Then there were others who stayed mostly quiet and out of sight, but every so […]
Sharing Tips
Photo by Mads Donald at Pexels By Murray Gottheil | January 15, 2026 I spent last winter on cruise ships, trying to escape the cold, the snow, and everything back home that reminded me of working in a law firm. With a cruise ship comes shore excursions, and with shore excursions come buses, and with buses […]
It is Okay to Put Up With Some Injustice
By Murray Gottheil | January 5, 2026 [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 […]
Whose Client is it Anyway?
Photo by Ogo Johnson: at Pexels By Murray Gottheil | December 3, 2025 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. […]