Sometimes, I Just Don’t Care About The Client’s Damn Budget
Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko at Pexels By Murray Gottheil | May 1, 2025 A young lawyer named Eve called me today about a fee dispute. She had quoted an hourly rate without providing an estimate and issued an interim bill for the time spent. The client did not think it should have cost that much […]
A Masterclass on Quoting Fees For Lawyers Who Bill by the Hour
By Murray Gottheil | April 28, 2025 Estimating is what you do when you don’t know ~ Sherman Kent A young lawyer named Eve called me today. She had made the same mistake I had made numerous times in my first years of practice. She quoted an hourly rate for reviewing and reporting on a draft […]
BARE BONES BRIEFS: Lawyers’ fees approach $1/second | Cheap AI outperforms costly LexisNexis | Death sentence looms as counsel solicits sex in court | “Bimbo” is not a valid TM | Perry Dellelce receives Coronation Medal
By Julius Melnitzer | April 27, 2025 LEGAL FEES: A LICENSE TO PRINT MONEY? American law firms with more than 750 lawyers will be charging $1 per second within a decade, according to the latest annual trends report from LexisNexis CounselLink. An overview of the report in The Law Society Gazette notes that the median […]
Client gratitude: Is a free lunch a reality?
By Marcel Strigberger | April 24, 2025 Thank you. Thank you very much. But how often do we experience gratitude from our clients? Actually, sometimes they do make your day. George owned a coffee and doughnut franchise. Whenever he came to my office, he would bring fresh doughnuts. Once, I joked with him while munching […]
A Matter of Trust
Photo by Liza Summer at Pexels By Murray Gottheil | April 16, 2025 Trust is the glue of life. It’s the most essential ingredient in effective communication. It’s the foundational principle that holds all relationships.~ Stephen Covey A Canadian grocery chain has just announced that it will launch a new brand to sell low-priced groceries in Canada. […]
BARE BONES BRIEFS: LexisNexis: AI will allow lawyers to charge $10K hourly | Why criminals love law firms | Everything you’ll want to know about taxes | Novel grounds of appeal: Too Fat to Die | Not a valid TM: “This is the Fucking News”
By Julius Melnitzer | April 13, 2025 AI MAKES LAWYERS MORE EXPENSIVE Sean Fitzpatrick, Lexis Nexis’s CEO, told Business Insider that AI could facilitate lawyers charging $10K per hour because it gives them “that extra set of eyes” that allows them to deliver better service. To some, including myself, this could imply that lawyers charging […]
Living Paycheque to Paycheque on $6,574,000
By Murray Gottheil | April 2, 2025 Photo by Pixabay at Pexels. It’s Not a Principle Until it Costs You Money – Bill Bernbach We have all been reading about the Paul Weiss law firm settling with the Trump Administration to get out from under an executive order, the legality of which is, to say the least, […]
BARE BONES BRIEFS: Law firm risked becoming a terrorist agent | Fearful lawyers refusing cases against Trump | FBI criminalizes environmental groups | Legal Aid can’t refuse to pay for 90% of firm’s document review | Avatars are the new court spokepersons
By Julius Melnitzer | March 26, 2025 CENTRAL LONDON FIRM HIT WITH C$47,000 ALM FINE The UK’s Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has imposed a maximum fine of C$47,000 on PCB Lawyers LLP, a central London property law specialist, for breaches of anti-money laundering regulation that exposed the firm to being used as a conduit for […]
BARE BONES BRIEFS: Dentons faces AML charges | Is private equity taking over the profession? | Historic Shell emissions judgment overturned – but landmines remain | Hogan Lovells mistakenly discloses 4,321 privileged documents | Sun Life report: Canadian pension risk transfers exceed $3 billion in 2024
By Julius Melnitzer | March 23, 2025 DENTONS MUST FACE AML CHARGES The Law Society Gazette reports that the UK’s High Court has overturned the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal’s (SDT) dismissal of anti-money laundering charges against Dentons. The SDT ruled that Dentons’ breach was “inadvertent” and did not amount to professional misconduct. But on appeal by […]
Soaked to the Skin
Photo by Min An at Pexels By Murray Gottheil | March 17, 2025 I don’t consider myself a pessimist. I think of a pessimist as someone who is waiting for it to rain. And I feel soaked to the skin – Leonard Cohen I have a friend who is a dermatologist. I will call him Howard. Howard […]