Dispatches from a legal profession on the brink
Filed under: Law21
And thus, at last, I fulfill a long-held goal of using an album title from my favourite band in a blog post. You can always tell when a blog is nearing the end of its natural life: the author starts making apologies for not having posted in so long. I’ve seen enough defunct blogs in my time whose… Read more »
Filed under: Ethics, Governance
Malcolm Mercer, who’s been a driving force in the debate around legal service regulation changes in Canada, wrote a terrific post at Slaw titled “A Different Take on ABS – Proponents and Opponents Both Miss the Point.” Malcolm’s post galvanized a lively exchange in the comments section, to which I was drawn and compelled to add… Read more »
Filed under: Leadership, Purpose
I recently had the opportunity to speak with John Kain, managing partner of Kain C + C Lawyers in Adelaide, Australia. John’s company (it’s an incorporated legal practice, not a firm), which specializes in high-end corporate, commercial and M&A work, is one of the more progressive and innovative legal service providers that I’ve come across in… Read more »
Filed under: Compensation
I was chatting recently with a U.S. law firm managing partner, who asked me about the Canadian health-care system and how I’d compare it to its American counterpart. Stepping carefully around that minefield, I did allow that health-care regimes worldwide are like partner compensation schemes in law firms: there’s at least one thing seriously wrong with every version, but so long… Read more »
Filed under: Careers, New Lawyers, Purpose
This article was just published in the “I Wish I’d Known” column in the October 2014 issue of Student Lawyer, a terrific publication of the ABA’s Law Student Division. My thanks to Marilyn Cavicchia and Darhiana Mateo Téllez of the ABA for the invitation and opportunity. “You’re going to learn to think like a lawyer,” said one of… Read more »
Filed under: Big Firms, Innovation
My older brother used to give my teenaged self (with some justification) a hard time about playing Dungeons & Dragons. I eventually grew tired of the cracks about wasting time in a fantasy world, though, and I assembled what I considered a strong defence of the game. “D&D helps you build a lot of skills,” I said. “You… Read more »
Filed under: Innovation, Management, Research
Lawyers hardly ever talk about research and development. We might be the only major industry or professional sector that fails to do so. Last year, total spending on R&D by the world’s 1,000 largest companies was about $638 billion, according to the Strategy& 2013 Global Innovation 1000 Study. The 10 companies that spent the most on R&D (from Volkswagen… Read more »
Filed under: Governance, Innovation
This morning, the Canadian Bar Association released the widely anticipated Final Report of its CBA Legal Futures Initiative, “Futures: Transforming The Delivery Of Legal Services In Canada.” I had the benefit of receiving an advance copy a few days ago, so I’ve had time to review the report and prepare some thoughts. My primary thought is this: The… Read more »
Filed under: Clients, Competition, Uncategorized
That’s a question I sometimes like to ask when visiting a law firm or speaking to an audience of lawyers: “Who is your biggest competitor?” I usually let the respondent decide what “biggest” means — sometimes they interpret it to mean the competitor who poses the greatest threat to their book of business, or who… Read more »
Filed under: Careers, New Lawyers, Technology
Earlier this summer, I was asked by Mario Ferrer of Responsea, an online lawyer platform in Spain, if I could answer a few questions for their readers, especially those who are just starting off in the law or grappling with the onslaught of technology. My brief replies sound much better and more elegant when translated into Spanish, as the resulting… Read more »
