Skill Sets # 5: The Need to be Right
“Our Ego Barrier prevents us from acknowledging our weakness. Our need to be right can come before our need to know what’s true.” — Principles for Success, Ray Dalio I have been casually aware of Principles for Success: Life and Work by Ray Dalio (2017) for a while now, and when I return to it I […]
Skill Sets # 4: Managing the Lawyer-Client Relationship
“Get closer than ever to your customers. So close that you tell them what they need well before they realize it themselves”. Steve Jobs One of the most common questions from newer calls regarding practice management is about managing the lawyer-client relationship, an important and let’s acknowledge, crucial skill set. And while the Law Society […]
Skill Sets 3: The Gift of Time
In Africa a thing is true at first light, and a lie by noon*. (Earnest Hemingway, True at First Light) An essential skill for any lawyer is the ability to evaluate a set of facts and, in combination with an understanding of law and process, come to a reasonable conclusion which can support advice to […]
Skill Sets 2: Reading Often, Reading Well
‘The structure of language…becomes a mirror of the structure of the world as presented to the intelligence.” (George Santayana) In the same sense that younger lawyers must learn to listen and listen to learn, they must also be persuaded to find the time to read outside of their files and away from their desks. Legal writing expert […]
Skill Sets 1: Listening For the Spaces
Lawyers carry a mental toolbox which makes up the skill sets they acquire as their development progresses. Some skills are early acquisition skills necessary for survival; others are acquired and honed along the way. Listening is an early acquisition skill younger lawyers must develop absent which they will be irreversibly lost. There are in fact […]
Collaboration
We have been discussing here the many advantages of collaboration. On the weekend I attended the international sheep dog trials outside Kingston. To my delight, watching dogs and shepherds work together was a surprisingly pleasant and intriguing way to spend an afternoon. In following up the day with a little reading, I learned that the […]
Thrown from a Boat
I have been reflecting on what it is like for our developing lawyers to undertake something, exhilarated and alone, for the first time, such as a motion or trial, negotiating a deal, or closing a commercial transaction. As in all firms, our young lawyers covet firsts. Our principals encourage firsts. We all get that. However, […]
Summer School: Civility
This season as part of our mentorship program we initiated something we call “Summer School”. Associates are invited to identify subjects useful to their development for one on one discussion. The response to this offering has been gratifying and a testament again to the nascent demand for varying forms of interactive mentorship. One of the […]
Built to Last
There are times when I can help you out, And times when you must fall. There are times when you must live in doubt And I can’t help at all. With thanks to Jerry Garcia and Co. (not to mention the management and partners of this firm) here is my prescription for constructing a mentorship […]
