A noteworthy item in the National Law Journal today, interesting for a bunch of reasons. The thrust of the article is that with a recession likely to arrive in 2008, associates at many top US firms are likely to see an end to the salary and bonus frenzy that has obsessed the legal press for… Read more »
Posts Categorized: New Lawyers
Large firms and law schools
Law students seem to believe in a hierarchy of legal job options: large law firms #1, small law firms #1A, everything else #2 and lower. One of the main reasons for this is that the legal profession believes in it, too. You don’t have to buy your average private-firm lawyer too many drinks before they’ll… Read more »
Offshore reflections
It’s a few weeks late, but this article about offshore legal services published early last month in The Hindu is worth a read, although it’s not offered on the basis that all its contents should necessarily be taken at face value. It comes across rather as a corporate Q-and-A for SDD Global Solutions, an Indian… Read more »
Millennial fever
This post first appeared as an article at Slaw on October 1, 2007. During the past 50-odd years, the North American legal profession has been notable for a ready supply of labour. The post-war population boom and increased access to post-secondary education, combined with the enduring lure of a legal career, ensured that there would… Read more »
Mom and Dad, Esq.
Somebody asked me, after I returned to the office following three months’ parental leave, “Did you enjoy your time off?” “I enjoyed the last three months immensely,” I said. “But trust me, ‘time off’ does not in any way describe it.” If you’ve spent more than a few weeks raising a child hands-on, you’ll probably… Read more »
Family values
Big news: most law firms no longer consider a lawyer’s decision to start and raise a family to be an implicit violation of the employment contract. Many women lawyers can now take nine months or more of maternity leave and return to find their jobs still waiting for them and their career prospects not greatly… Read more »
21st-century legal education
This article was first posted at Slaw on September 28th, 2006. I wasn’t much of an articling student. I worked hard, but not smart: my learning curves were more like sheer cliff faces. I’m sure I wasted a lot of clients’ money and lawyers’ time during my year of service, and the firm was right… Read more »
A to Z: 26 trends for the legal profession
This article was co-authored with Mélanie Raymond, then-Senior Editor of National, and appeared as the cover story in the April/May 2006 edition of the magazine. The legal profession is turning upside down, and many of the familiar landmarks are disappearing or bring replaced by brand-new structures. There are so many changes afoot that National’s editorial… Read more »
Looking for leaders
These days, young lawyers are often said to be joining firms and immediately expecting exciting work, handsome paycheques, flexible hours and endless compliments. Their attitude, apparently, is that they can bypass all the hard work put in by their elders and head straight for the reward, while bolting to a higher bidder on a moment’s… Read more »