The 2nd Edition of So, You Want to be a Lawyer, Eh? has been delayed somewhat by the publisher. We expect it to be available by May, 2007. It has taken some extra time to gather the new information and corroborate its accuracy. As well, there is lots of new information, so that has taken longer to sort through with editing, etc. It will be really good though, and is worth the wait. In the meantime, you will still find the First Edition very useful and well worth the $15.
For those of you who have purchased the book - thank you. I really appreciate your support. I also really appreciate the positive feedback that some of you have left at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca and Chapters.ca. Thank you.
Thursday, March 22, 2007
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
That First Post Law School Job
There's a nice short article about considerations in choosing a post law school job (i.e. articling position). Some good ideas, but it kind of reads like an advertisement for a recruiting firm, which it probably is.
Saturday, March 17, 2007
Osgoode renovations to cost $25 million
"York University's board of governors approved a $25 million renovation for Osgoode Hall Law School in order to accommodate growth in enrollment."
"The expansion plan for the 33-year-old building will begin in June 2008. The expansion, among other things, will allow for more classes in the building and will expand the law library."
For more detail, go to Excalibur - York University's Newspaper.
I think growth is good, but I question an increase in enrollment. This isn't the only law school who is increasing enrollment. Being on the other side of my law school years, I can tell you that there are plenty of current and graduating Canadian law students who are not too happy about this idea. What do you think?
"The expansion plan for the 33-year-old building will begin in June 2008. The expansion, among other things, will allow for more classes in the building and will expand the law library."
For more detail, go to Excalibur - York University's Newspaper.
I think growth is good, but I question an increase in enrollment. This isn't the only law school who is increasing enrollment. Being on the other side of my law school years, I can tell you that there are plenty of current and graduating Canadian law students who are not too happy about this idea. What do you think?
Monday, February 12, 2007
Is there such thing as too young for law school?
I have been asked on occassion what I thought about age and law school. Well, here are my thoughts:
1. Chronological age and maturity do not mean the same thing.
2. Life experience speaks volumes both for law school and for the profession of a lawyer. Whatever you can bring to the table from your previous life will prove invaluable.
3. Law schools are letting students in to law school at too young an age, on average. Law students should have to have a certain number of years of 'real life' experience. Too many jump from high school to undergrad to law school to lawyer. They don't know what real work is like, and many of them jump ship because they learn that this kind of 'real life' is not what they had counted on.
4. You are almost never too old to attend law school. I know some great lawyers who started their legal careers in their 40's and 50's and are loving it, and are really good at what they do. I have seen some keen minds at 60, but they will likely have difficulty in entering the job market.
5. Young lawyers tend to be taken advantage of by law firms. The partners are very aware that they can encourage these young prodigies to work unbelievable numbers of hours - they know that they do not have families, that they are incredibly keen to make partner, and that they will do anything to prove themselves. They do not have as many friends or colleagues that they are tied to, and they are vulnerable.
What do you think? Prove me wrong.
1. Chronological age and maturity do not mean the same thing.
2. Life experience speaks volumes both for law school and for the profession of a lawyer. Whatever you can bring to the table from your previous life will prove invaluable.
3. Law schools are letting students in to law school at too young an age, on average. Law students should have to have a certain number of years of 'real life' experience. Too many jump from high school to undergrad to law school to lawyer. They don't know what real work is like, and many of them jump ship because they learn that this kind of 'real life' is not what they had counted on.
4. You are almost never too old to attend law school. I know some great lawyers who started their legal careers in their 40's and 50's and are loving it, and are really good at what they do. I have seen some keen minds at 60, but they will likely have difficulty in entering the job market.
5. Young lawyers tend to be taken advantage of by law firms. The partners are very aware that they can encourage these young prodigies to work unbelievable numbers of hours - they know that they do not have families, that they are incredibly keen to make partner, and that they will do anything to prove themselves. They do not have as many friends or colleagues that they are tied to, and they are vulnerable.
What do you think? Prove me wrong.
Friday, February 2, 2007
Here's a cool new Canadian Law School initiative
http://canlawstats.mylawsite.net/
"Have you already been accepted? If so, we need your help.
We are making a new section that will feature profiles of students who have been accepted to law school. You don't need to submit your name or any other information which you don't want to share. Simply tells us where you have been accepted, undergraduate school, LSAT, GPA, work experience or volunteer, extracurricular activities, or any other factors which played a role in your acceptance. The profiles will be published in a new section on the website. If you want to send in a picture (any pic by which you would want to be identified), a nickname or an avatar to go along with your profile you are welcome to do so.
Hope to hear from you soon.
Thank you"
http://canlawstats.mylawsite.net/
"Have you already been accepted? If so, we need your help.
We are making a new section that will feature profiles of students who have been accepted to law school. You don't need to submit your name or any other information which you don't want to share. Simply tells us where you have been accepted, undergraduate school, LSAT, GPA, work experience or volunteer, extracurricular activities, or any other factors which played a role in your acceptance. The profiles will be published in a new section on the website. If you want to send in a picture (any pic by which you would want to be identified), a nickname or an avatar to go along with your profile you are welcome to do so.
Hope to hear from you soon.
Thank you"
http://canlawstats.mylawsite.net/
Thursday, January 4, 2007
Law School Rejection - Take This!
For those of you in the process of waiting for your law school admission results, I have come across the following very useful letter. Please feel free to use it.
Dean Robert A. Jackson
Chair - Faculty of Law Admissions Committee
75B Madisson Hall, Clark University
Timmons, ON B49 6B1
Dear Dean Jackson,
Thank you for your letter of February 2. After careful consideration, I regret to inform you that I am unable to accept your refusal to offer me a spot at your law school.
This year I have been particularly fortunate in receiving an unusually large number of rejection letters from law schools. With such a varied and promising field of candidates, it is impossible for me to accept all refusals.
Despite Clark's outstanding qualifications and previous experience in rejecting applicants, I find that your rejection does not meet my needs at this time. Therefore, I will assume a spot at your law school this September. I look forward to seeing you then.
Best of luck in rejecting future law school applicants.
Sincerely,
Marty B. Kendall
Dean Robert A. Jackson
Chair - Faculty of Law Admissions Committee
75B Madisson Hall, Clark University
Timmons, ON B49 6B1
Dear Dean Jackson,
Thank you for your letter of February 2. After careful consideration, I regret to inform you that I am unable to accept your refusal to offer me a spot at your law school.
This year I have been particularly fortunate in receiving an unusually large number of rejection letters from law schools. With such a varied and promising field of candidates, it is impossible for me to accept all refusals.
Despite Clark's outstanding qualifications and previous experience in rejecting applicants, I find that your rejection does not meet my needs at this time. Therefore, I will assume a spot at your law school this September. I look forward to seeing you then.
Best of luck in rejecting future law school applicants.
Sincerely,
Marty B. Kendall
Saturday, December 30, 2006
Alternative Legal Careers
Many readers have been asking me for my list of Alternative Legal Careers. I misplaced my original list when my old computer crashed. But, here's what I remember from it:
- Polititian (As a matter of fact, fourteen of
- Legal researcher
- Business Executive (here is a compelling case for lawyer-CEO's)
- Consultant
- Member of various Board of Directors (I have heard of some people who actually make a living doing this!)
- Lawyer for Contract (have a say in your hours and types of work!)
- Legal Publishing (what we say "where lawyers go to die" or "where law students get overpaid whilst studying")
- Policy work - in government
- Real Estate Agent
- Law Professor (you only need an LL.M. in
- Author (Any future John Grisham’s out there?)
- Sports Agent – almost every one I have ever known was a lawyer or had a law degree
- Full time Mediator
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
Which undergrad works best for pre-law?
Sorry for the lack of posts lately. Very busy with a couple of heavy litigation files.
Lots of people have asked me what the best undergraduate program is for prepping yourself for law school. This question usually evokes two prongs: 1) what is the best content to prep you for law school; 2) how can I ensure that my GPA will be sufficient to make me a competitive applicant.
This is a very subjective subject. There is a great discussion at lawstudents.ca on this very subject. You may want to add to that discussion.
I'll give you my $0.02. My law school class was full of a huge diversity of people. We had a class of about 175 people. There were people from Poli-Sci, Psychology, Business, MBA, English, Philosophy, Chemistry, Biology, Military College, etc. There were some people with two degrees, some with Masters, some with Doctorates. Who did the best? Again, unpredictable. A scientist, a policital scientist, an English major...
I liked one comment on lawstudents.ca that implied that your grades are more dependant on the time that you put in. I would also add innate intelligence. Do your homework - find out what programs have reputations of having very low curves, and what ones have high curves. Choose a program that you are passionate about. Chances are that a part of your undergraduate program will follow you throughout your career. My uncle wanted to be an opera singer when he started his undergrad. He realized he needed a better paying career for his family, and went into law. Later in life, he remembered his passion and was a participant in many musicals. He decided he was more "artsy" and went into environmental law, and is loving it.
For myself, my English degree follows me everywhere I go. I love to write, to read, and to analyze written material. I can't seem to get away from publishing, editing and writing. I love that part of life, and it serves me well in my new career as a lawyer too.
Study hard, get the best grades you can. Take fun classes too - stuff you can get good grades in, while creating memories along the way. Prepare for the LSAT early on if you are able, and read my book - it really will help to pave the way for your new career as a lawyer.
Lots of people have asked me what the best undergraduate program is for prepping yourself for law school. This question usually evokes two prongs: 1) what is the best content to prep you for law school; 2) how can I ensure that my GPA will be sufficient to make me a competitive applicant.
This is a very subjective subject. There is a great discussion at lawstudents.ca on this very subject. You may want to add to that discussion.
I'll give you my $0.02. My law school class was full of a huge diversity of people. We had a class of about 175 people. There were people from Poli-Sci, Psychology, Business, MBA, English, Philosophy, Chemistry, Biology, Military College, etc. There were some people with two degrees, some with Masters, some with Doctorates. Who did the best? Again, unpredictable. A scientist, a policital scientist, an English major...
I liked one comment on lawstudents.ca that implied that your grades are more dependant on the time that you put in. I would also add innate intelligence. Do your homework - find out what programs have reputations of having very low curves, and what ones have high curves. Choose a program that you are passionate about. Chances are that a part of your undergraduate program will follow you throughout your career. My uncle wanted to be an opera singer when he started his undergrad. He realized he needed a better paying career for his family, and went into law. Later in life, he remembered his passion and was a participant in many musicals. He decided he was more "artsy" and went into environmental law, and is loving it.
For myself, my English degree follows me everywhere I go. I love to write, to read, and to analyze written material. I can't seem to get away from publishing, editing and writing. I love that part of life, and it serves me well in my new career as a lawyer too.
Study hard, get the best grades you can. Take fun classes too - stuff you can get good grades in, while creating memories along the way. Prepare for the LSAT early on if you are able, and read my book - it really will help to pave the way for your new career as a lawyer.
Tuesday, December 5, 2006
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...
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.
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
