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 […]
The Year Was 1995
By Murray Gottheil | July 10, 2003 One of the many nice things about being retired is that I feel free to write about topics that I would not have had the guts to speak up about back in the day. So, here we go again! The year was 1995. It was one of my first […]
Alone again, naturally
Photo by Alex Azabache at Pexels By Murray Gottheil | July 6, 2023 I speak to many lawyers who strike out on their own soon after being called to the bar. They have various reasons for doing this. Some cannot obtain positions at established firms. Others get positions that come with no mentoring and abominable […]
Of Boomers and Beemers
Photo by megapixelstock at Pexels By Murray Gottheil | July 4, 2023 It just doesn’t matter – Bill Murray in Meatballs I am a Boomer who never owned a Beemer. The best that I ever did was a Honda Accord and I had to make my way through a Chevy Citation, Dodge Aries, and a couple […]
Wilfrid Laurier University GC Dahlia Bateman on steps to success for young in-house counsel
Bateman says private law firm experience is not the “be all and end all” to in-house success By Julius Melnitzer | June 20, 2023 Dahlia Bateman, general counsel and lead for the Office of Legal Services and Fair Practices at Wilfrid Laurier University, is well-placed to opine on what it takes to succeed as a young […]
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. […]
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 […]
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 […]