The Life of a Lawyer

This is from more recent times (i.e. December 2006):

I am currently doing a lot of real estate. What does that mean? It means that I represent either sellers or buyers of residential homes. Sometimes I only do the transfer/conveyance. Sometimes I also do the mortgage. If I do the mortgatge, I am also representing the bank that is giving the loan. That means that I have to make sure that the bank obtains sufficient security on the property in question. Most of the time, things go smoothly with these transactions. Usually, if a problem arises, it is because of something that the other lawyer has neglected to do. Some lawyers get really lazy about timelines, requirements, etc. It's really frustrating. But, sometimes I miss little things too. It is so essential to have a really good paralegal on the job to make these transactions go smoothly, and to make them more profitable for our firm.

I am also preparing a lot of wills. I really like this. Some lawyers find it boring, but I really like meeting with the clients, advising them on how to set up their estates, plan for the future, and avoid any potential pitfalls. I really like drafting the wills, and enjoy meeting with the client again to go over the documents and execute them. The client invariably walks away happy. It's a happy reprieve from conflict.

I am doing a lot more litigation that I had anticipated. I am learning to really love litigation. It's exciting. I deal with some really interesting people - people I would never normally meet. Sometimes I have to use a lot of judgment in deciding whether I want to take the person on as a client. There are lots of variables - whether I think they can pay, whether I think they will put me into an ethical tight spot, whether I think they will be bossy or unreasonable, whether they have shopped around for a lawyer, whether they have hopped from one lawyer to another. It's hard, but it's fun to have the choice to make these discernments, now that I have my own law firm.

I have started doing Dependant Adult applications, which I find interesting. Some might find it boring, but I enjoy the administrative aspect of it. It's fairly straightforward, unless someone contests the application for Guardianship.

We are now on the Legal Aid list, and have started to get some interesting cases through that. Mostly family law. But, some of our clients are in jail, and that makes life interesting.

I also spend quite a lot of time preparing precedents for my assistants to work with. It's really important to set up good systems for your staff, so that the work is done more efficiently. I don't like spending time on things that can be done by my assistants. I would rather be working on more complex legal issues, speaking to clients, and most importantly, building up business.

Client Development takes up a lot of my time, as we are a relatively new firm. I really enjoy this. I love working on our marketing and advertising campaigns, networking, making calls to other lawyers and business people that I know. I love coming up with new ideas for generating relationships and work. I am also working on some really cool new cases that will hopefully be lucritive, but also that are really important for me and for some other people that are important to me.

All in all, I am really enjoying being a lawyer. Being a partner in my own firm is awesome. The autonomy is priceless.

Well, back to work...

The Life of a Lawyer

Lots of prospective and current law students have been asking me what the daily life of a lawyer is like. Well, I can't speak for every lawyer out there, but I can tell you what my life is like, and what my colleague's lives are like. I'll probably post a few entries on this topic, and will add it to the second edition of my book.

This was from one day last year (2005):

The biggest thing that I did was to help one of our clients settle a claim for a substantial amount of debt. We did it through a 4 way negotiation, whereby the lawyer for the debtor (other side) put forward some information and an offer to settle the debt. We asked a bunch of questions, then caucused for quite a while. In the end, we ended up agreeing to the offer, as we felt the risk of trying to pursue the remainder was too high. Our client would end up with about $0.70 on the dollar, and I guess they were willing to take that. It probably would have ended up costing them a lot more to try to pursue the remainder, and the interest. One of the biggest parts of the practice of law is advising clients on risk. That was my main job in this matter. There was a chance that all could have been lost. All parties ended up fairly happy, and the matter was finalized very quickly. Had it gone to trial, everyone would have been very unhappy.

Today, I completed a quantum assessment for a personal injury file. Basically, what I had to do was an exhaustive search of case law that typified the type of injury and the circumstances of the accident. I gathered this information and analyzed it, coming up with a range of potential general damages that might be awarded to our client. We will then bring that analysis to the other side and see if they would like to negotiate a settlement. The reason for doing this quantum is to show the other side that indeed the courts have awarded $ for similar incidents.

Today I also completed an application for a new non-profit society, and am in the process of completing two applications for trade-marks. Other stuff I have on my plate right now include a huge donation to a church, which includes just a ton of paperwork; an application for registry of a federal corporation; a sale agreement for some agricultural equipment; a residential tenancies issue; an ongoing debtor-creditor litigation matter which involves some tricky arguing about Limitation periods; drafting of a contract for an online publisher; and a breach of contract matter. Lots of variety. Lots of challenges.

Tomorrow I have to go and make an application in Masters Chambers at the courthouse for an order to release some property. It's not all fancy courthouse stuff in my practice, as I tend to do a lot more solicitor's work, and most of my litigation matters never reach trial.

More later...back to work.