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...