There is More to Life than Hard Work
Photo by Rdne Stock Project at Pexels By Murray Gottheil | August 30, 2023 I was a socialist at age twenty. I went to law school because I wanted to help the poor and the oppressed. By the time that I was thirty I was a business lawyer. Stuff like that happens to people. Over the […]
Men Talking About Moms at the Partnership Table
By Murray Gottheil | August 9, 2023 Those of you who do not attend partners meetings may not know that why associates are not working hard enough is a common agenda item. And those of you who follow the statistics are aware that only 25% of partners in Canadian law firms are female. This means that […]
Will generative AI sink the billable hour pricing model?
David Cohen, senior director, client services delivery at McCarthy Tétrault LLP By Julius Melnitzer | August 2, 2023 Generative artificial intelligence could be the catalyst that portends the long-predicted death of the billable hour. “Clients have been clamouring for new pricing models for some time, and generative AI – which can produce answers in seconds instead […]
I Give this Post a Five Star Review
Photo by Nicola Barts at Pexels By Murray Gottheil | August 1, 2023 I was a super-fantastic lawyer. Really, almost everyone says so. And yet, there were a few clients who did not appreciate what I did for them or what it cost to have me do it. Luckily for me, during most of my career […]
There Seems to be Some Confusion – I Loved Practicing Law!
Photo by Andrea Piacquadio at Pexels By Murray Gottheil | July 30, 2023 This morning someone remarked that much of my writing about the legal profession is a tad negative. She said, “You practiced law for a long time; you were good at what you did; you made enough money to retire and travel the world. […]
Cybersecurity attacks in Canada hold steady, but things are getting worse
Sunny Handa says cybersecurity is an enterprise risk, not just an IT risk By Julius Melnitzer | July 24, 2023 At first blush, readers of Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP’s Canadian Cybersecurity Trends Study 2023 might take heart in discovering that 2022 did not see steady growth in the number of cyberattacks. “The number of attacks […]
Loose Lips and Sinking Ships
Photo by Alex Fawzy at Pexels By Murray Gottheil | July 22, 2023 Law firm partnerships like to project the image of a cohesive unit. One strategy that they employ is to insist that although partners may disagree with each other in a partners’ meeting, once they leave the room, they all must support the group’s […]
Some Stuff Matters. Some Not So Much.
Photo by JJ Jordan at Pexels By Murray Gottheil | July 16, 2023 This is for the young folks looking for jobs in private practice early in their careers. Here is what matters and what does not matter so much. Ignore this at your own peril (and I am sure that a great many of you […]
Law firm experience is no longer vital before transitioning in-house
Fernando Garcia, Andrea Wood By Julius Melnitzer | July 13, 2023 A few years of experience at a law firm, previously considered a must – or at least an advantage – may have lost some of its lustre for lawyers seeking in-house careers. “Things have changed, at least a bit,” says Fernando Garcia, who has over […]
Advice From The Uninformed
Photo by Inguaribile Viaggiatore at Pexels By Murray Gottheil | July 12, 2023 Let’s say that you get arrested and are in deep doo-doo. Would you rather ask for advice from an experienced criminal lawyer or a recent graduate? The answer sounds obvious, doesn’t it? And yet, when I was practicing law, I would often see […]