In Defense of the Billable Hour
Photo by Victoria Rain at Pexels By Murray Gottheil | June 29, 2023 The other day I heard a story about a furniture store in Toronto known to cater to the wealthy. The owner purchased an unusual item in Vietnam for twenty dollars. He brought it back to his store and promoted it as a one-of-a-kind […]
Yoga, Mental Health, and Law Firms
Photo by Antoni Shkraba at Pexels By Murray Gottheil | June 27, 2003 If any among you have not yet happened upon the writings of H.L. Mencken, you should correct that. Among his many pithy quotes are the following gems: One of H.L. Mencken’s quotes that seems particularly apt for law firm management is this one: […]
Call ME, Maybe!
Photo by Brett Sayles at Pexels By Murray Gottheil | June 22, 2023 There once was a law firm which marketed itself as lawyers with deep expertise in different areas of the law who worked together seamlessly to deliver the best possible outcomes for their clients. Let’s call them “Super Team Lawyers.” Super Team compensated its […]
Welcome to the World of Clients
Photo by Alex Green at Pexels By Murray Gottheil | June 19, 2023 When I practiced law, drummed into my head was the notion that every mistake was a potential catastrophe and a source of shame. I was a perfectionist and proud of it. I was also a little bit intense and not particularly healthy. […]
A Retirement Primer for Slow Partners
Photo by Magda Ehlers at Pexels By Murray Gottheil | June 15, 2023 I recently wrote an article titled You are Old. We are Greedy. Get the Hell Out! In that article, I lamented the fact that law firms often nudge (or push, or shove) lawyers out of their firms when they hit their sixties. If […]
Justifiable Paranoia – Nothing New Under the Sun
Photo by Cottonbro Studio at Pexels By Murray Gottheil | June 13, 2023 All of this has happened before. All of this will happen again – Battlestar Galactica, Peter Pan, and Ecclesiastes 1:9 It is not often that I quote the Bible, but when both Peter Pan and Battlestar Galactica validate the quote, it has […]
The More Things Change, the More Lawyers Still Screw Up Marketing
Photo by Oussama Bergaou at Pexels By Murray Gottheil | June 10, 2023 Either you follow-up or you fold-up – Bernard Kelvin Clive I recently observed a law firm doing some impressive online marketing. At the same time, to quote Shania Twain, when it came to the follow-up, “that [didn’t] impress me much.” Here is […]
Never Trust a Lawyer Who Doesn’t Make Mistakes
By Murray Gottheil | June 8, 2023 Back in the day, I would have an associate join a client meeting with instructions to speak up if they thought I was getting something wrong. Of course, they would only do so occasionally because I was not wrong all that often. When they did, if their point […]
You are Old. We are Greedy. Get the Hell Out!
By Murray Gottheil | June 5, 2023 Since professional firms are usually partnerships, the well-compensated people at the top of the pyramid are partners, not employees. As a result, all of that stuff that protects employees from discrimination on the basis of age in the Human Rights Code does not apply to them, at least […]
Silent Stupidity
Fools believe silence is a void needing to be filled; the wise understand there’s no such thing as silence – Michael J. Sullivan, Age of Myth By Murray Gottheil | May 30, 2023 Client: Why do I want to pay for two lawyers to be in this meeting? Acceptable answers: Unacceptable answers: You might think that […]