Gilligan's Island and the Law

Today, I was daydreaming while drafting a Statement of Claim for Divorce, and remembered sitting in a law class (can't remember which one) in my first year of law school, surfing the web. I had come across this article called "Legal Tales from Gilligan's Island". It is a fascinating essay by Robert M. Jarvis (Professor of Law, Nova Southeastern University. B.A., Northwestern University; J.D., University of Pennsylvania; LL.M., New York University) which seeks to shed some light on the jurisprudence of Gilligan's Island.

I used to absolutely love to watch this show, and still enjoy seeing a re-run if one ever comes on (although I haven't seen one in two years, as we unplugged our TV two years ago).

In any case, if you are in the midst of a boring law class, or looking for some relief from your law job, shoot over to the essay and have a read. You won't be dissapointed.

Please post your comments about the essay here, as I would be delighted to hear your response to the essay.

Race for the Top

There is a promising new article at The Gazzette about law student / law firm recruiting.

"A thousand or so ambitious law graduates. Two dozen big law firms. A couple of hundred high-paying jobs.

These are the vital statistics for an annual event now under way - the race for a place at one of Montreal's top law offices."

Apparently it is a multi-part article, with subsequent columns coming out looking at the recruiting madness that occurs in Quebec each year, with students trying to find jobs, and then law firms trying to attract the cream of the crop.

"In stories this week and next, we look at the dance from both sides. This week it's from the students' perspective: what it takes to make the right impression on a law firm, and the risks and rewards - to the ego, report card and wallet - that participating in the recruitment process presents.

Next week, the tables turn as the firms compete for the best and brightest students to make their recruitment spending pay off. At whose office will they choose to spend their 70-hour weeks?"

I'll provide updates when the new articles appear. I am really interested to see what they say.

Help Josh go to Law School

Here's a neat idea - sponsor a kid to go to law school for a 10 day trial run. That's the deal for a 14 year old British student who says "It's the chance of a lifetime and I've wanted to be a lawyer for as long a I can remember, maybe because I like arguing!"

I think it would be a really great thing if law schools themselves would sponsor law school demos. I have heard of programs where law students will go to high schools or junior highs and put on mock trials. But, I think it would be pretty cool if I had gotten the chance to sit in on some real law school classes. It would have really helped to guide my path towards the law. I probably would have become a lawyer a lot sooner than I did. Then again, I might have been really put off by the intensity of the experience. Worse, I may have experienced that awful property professor that I had in my first year of law school. That would have turned me off of post-secondary school altogether!

Show me the Money!

Check this out! One family puts up $25,000,000.00 for Harvard Law School. I know a few Canadian Law School deans who would love to have similar headlines:

University of Alberta Faculty of Law receives $15 million from famous author alumni.

or

University of Victoria Faculty of Law receives juicy $6 million from former kayak champion, LLB alumni 1986!

That would be pretty cool.

Actually, I read in my alumni magazine recently that some big hotshot cut a cheque for mega bucks for the U of A Faculty of Law. I hope they buy something more exciting and useful than the plasma screen T.V. in the entryway, which they bought with the differential tuition cash grab from a few years ago.

Delay in Publication

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.

Hooray for Mooters across Canada!

I came across this article recently. It made me happy to see some media recognition for the winners of the Gale Cup moot. I had a good friend who competed in a bilingual moot (Gale Cup is also bilingual) and they said that it was really hard. I competed in the National Aboriginal Moot, which was a lot different than most of the moot formats, in that it was non-confrontational, but rather more collective or collaborative. It was definitely a highlight of my law school experience.

Residential School Case Aftermath

There's a fairly good (although somewhat biased) article on the controversy surrounding contingency based lawyer fees for the Canadian Residential School case here. If you are interested, there are quite a few articles on the subject, and especially on Mr. Tony Merchant and the Merchant Law Group. Tony and his firm stand to make the most out of the deal, and that has left a lot of Native people, as well as other lawyers and citizens in general pretty upset.

New Lawyer for Letourneau Eden LLP

We just hired a new lawyer for our firm. I am very excited about this. It is my goal to one day have the largest firm in the area I live in. I am now one step closer to this reality! It's great to set goals like this. You just never know what might happen. I have a habit of asking unreasonable requests of others (it often results in magical happenings), so why not ask unreasonable things of yourself from time to time.

Leading Partner

My wife gave me a great idea the other day. She said you really shouldn't try to be a Managing Partner for your law firm. You should try to be a Leading Partner. It was a small side comment on her behalf, but it has sent my mind on fire in many ways, both for my own practice/firm, but also for other law firms. Some of the major firms have CEO's, from my understanding, but I would venture to say that most firms have simply a managing partner, which is changed on a rotating basis.

I really like the idea of a business leader at a law firm, not unlike the President of a Corporation. Lawyers need real leaders to lead them towards success. A Leading Partner would not get himself dirty in the day-to-day operations. They would employ an office manager, who could be a lawyer or non-lawyer to do this. The Leading Partner would focus on business development, strategic partnerships, firm strategy, both growth and maintenance. Things like that.

For us smaller firms, I like the idea of taking on more of a leadership role - leading by example, and strategizing for future growth. This is really more my cup of tea when compared to administrative management. I hope one day to be able to lean more towards the leadership than the management, but it may take a while to make the complete transformation. In the meantime, I think it would be very healthy to at least take on more of a leadership mindset, and put more of my brainpower towards building the business, encouraging strong lawyers in the firm, and making sure that everyone is as happy as they can be in their jobs.

Part-time Law Studies

I received an email inquiry from a mother who wants to attend law school in Canada, but would like to do so on a part-time basis. She was afraid that this might not be possible.

This is a very possible and feasible option for some who attend law school in Canada. I had a friend who had two children while attending law school, and chose to reduce her last two years to a part-time schedule. It worked out great for her. She did very well in her classes, became the Editor-in-Chief of the law review, and managed her family time very well, considering. Although it took her a while longer than some of us, she ended up at the same destination.

The options for a part-time schedule were reduced once she got to the articling year, where part-time work just doesn't exist. Very few, if any, law firms would be open to this type of schedule, at least at the beginning. And, I believe that this would go against the requirements of the law society articling requirements.

But, by my friend's articling year, she had already spent a few years giving lots of time to her new children, and they were perhaps at an age where out-of-home childcare was a viable option.

So, part-time law school, no problemo.

Finally...A Female Managing Partner!

I was sitting in Dairy Queen yesterday with my kids after a fun time at the swimming pool. I was pleased to find The Globe and Mail newspaper to read while the kids attacked the french fries.

I flipped to the "Law Pages" and found an interesting story about a female lawyer who works for a Toronto law firm called WeirFoulds LLP. I quote from the story:

"Last month, Ms. [Lisa] Borsook's career veered onto a path seldom travelled by other women in her profession. The real estate leasing specialist was elected managing partner of WeirFould's 80 lawyers and 120 staff, making her one of only a few female chiefs ever appointed at a major or mid-sized Canadian law firm."

Wow!

That's pretty big in my mind. I don't know too much about WeirFoulds LLP, although I am sure that many of you from out East know all about it. But, I think that they are very, very smart. I liked what the article said about the response from one of Lisa's partners: "She's just so damned good at what she does that I don't care what her sex is."

It's really too bad that such a comment is necessary, but as Ms. Borsook says, "The law is still a testosterone-fuelled profession." I hope that this move by WeirFoulds will help to change that. Its bound to happen. I noticed in my alumni package that came last week that the % of women at U of A law school is around 56%. It won't take long for a change in the equalibrium at law firms. Maybe not a year, but I can see a definite change within 20 years.

My partner and I often comment that we would like a female lawyer to join our firm, so as to balance things out a bit - provide a fresh and unique perspective.

There are probably some out there who will think that Weirfoulds and I are out to lunch. So be it. They shouldn't voice their opinions too loudly though. They may have a female managing partner to answer to one day...

The Importance of Rest

Guess what the percetage of Type A personalities permeate law school and the legal career?

I don't know the answer to that question, but I would venture to say that it is a very high number. Most of my colleagues from law school were very high achievers. There were doctors (i.e. PhD), marketing specialists, entrepreneurs, writers, philosophers, etc. Beyond their professional credentials, many of them also went all out with volunteer activities, sports, fitness, hobbies, political interests, activism, partying and attempting to attract the opposite sex.

Most of them did everything 110% (I hate that cliche). Where many of them fell down, and will fall down is their inability to give the body some rest.

This topic is especially relevant for me, since we just had a baby. I had to remind myself that many men, and women, choose to take anywhere up to a year off from regular life to connect with their new child, and to adjust to a major, major life change.

It reminded me that it's OK to take the time necessary, to get the rest that I need, and to support my family. There's no better time than now to take care of these things. The practice will always be there. My children will not.

I wish I had taken more time for myself and my family during law school. I did take time, but I wish I had taken even more. I wish I had gone on more holidays. The few thousand dollars would have been a minimal part of my debt. I wish I had attended fewer classes and just gone for runs instead, or read good trashy novels. The end result for my career would have been the same, I think, but I would have been even happier.

Make good on my wishes, and do these things for yourself this week.

Law School and Having Children

On February 15, my wife and I welcomed a new baby boy into our family. Samuel Adam is our fourth child, and is a fantastic blessing to us! We are so pleased that he is healthy, seemingly happy and at home with us.

Our two older daughters (6 and 7) are enamoured with him, and are proving to be real helpers with Samuel. Our other son (2) is also very infatuated, and has adjusted well, although it has only been three days.

I know that a lot of you have children, or are planning on having children, and are wondering what it will be like once you hit law school, or once you hit your legal career.

I had two children for my first two years of law school, and our third was born in my third year. I remember being very worried about my schedule in my first year, and feeling guilty a lot when I was studying so hard, working part time, and trying to keep our household in order. But, things smoothed out after about 6 months. I started giving myself permission to take time off from law studies, and to make special time for my girls.

By the time my son was born, I had a very set routine and felt like I could afford to give as much time as necessary towards helping my wife with the new baby, and with my other children.

I heard about a man who was a few years ahead of my who had eight children when he started law school. I think that would be very heavy! A few of my friends had babies, or had wives who had babies while in law school. It worked out. Nobody blamed their babies for bad exams. I had one friend who had two babies while in law school. She shifted to a part-time schedule, and ended up doing really, really well.

Now that I am a lawyer, I have started to feel more guilty about time not spent with my children. But, because I am my own boss, I try to give myself permission to have time off whenever I think my children need more attention. I am going to take most of the next week off - I'll only go in to put out genuine fires - and will ease back to work over the following two weeks. One thing I have learned is that babies are only babies for a very short time.

One last thought - never put off having children for your career. It is never worth it to choose the latter before the former. In other words, work to live. Don't live to work.

Should Lawyers be called "Doctor"

I was on www.lawstudents.ca recently, and followed a thread on the question, "Should Lawyers be called 'Doctor'." I thought it was an amusing thread, with lots of witty posts. It got me thinking about the place of lawyers in Canadian society. I'll share a few of my thoughts.

First, lawyers are not doctors, in the classical sense of the word. Although they often help others, they are a different professional subset than doctors. By doctors, I mean both medical doctors and academic doctors.

To be a lawyer is to be a professional. It is to be an officer of the court, an attorney (A person to acts on behalf of another). In fact, in the US, most lawyers are called Attorney, which is a lot better than Lawyer, in my opinion. It is more descriptive of what a lawyer does. Lawyer says that you know something about the law. Attorney says that you know what to do with that law - you know how to serve.

Countering that thought is the fact that so many lawyers are very self-serving. Corporate lawyers come to mind immediately, along with Personal Injury lawyers. However, many doctors are quite self-serving as well. I read recently about the increasing number of doctors who are turning to plastic surgery rather than a general practice, because of the easy money. I see many doctors driving very fancy cars to very fancy houses. But, not all doctors, or lawyers, are like this.

I am amazed that someone who has graduated medical school is called "doctor" immediately, even though they have not practiced medicine for one moment. Law graduates in Canada have to take on the name "Student-at-law" for one year after graduation. Only when they pass bar admission requirements can they call themselves "Lawyer."

Some of the posts at www.lawstudents.ca argued that the academic requirements are similar for lawyers, compared to medical doctors or academic PhD's. On this point, I would have to concur. Law school, which usually follows a four-year undergraduate degree, is a long haul. The timeline is similar to the medical student. In some rare cases, you can achieve a PhD in 7 to 8 years of academia, but I think it is usually closer to 10 to 12 years before you can call yourself "doctor".

Lawyers hold a special status in Canadian society. They are often well respected, although often criticized and berated. There are many jokes about the shark-like quality of lawyers. But, at the same time, our citizens choose to elect lawyers as their leaders time and time again.

Myself, I don't really need a special title to do my work. It is enough to say that I am a lawyer. I didn't go to school to become a doctor. Perhaps one day, but that would be another career altogether.

I do want to exchange my LL.B. for a J.D., because others in Canada have that designation now for the same amount of education that I have received. Fair is fair. However, it should be clear to everyone, lawyer and non-lawyer alike, that a Juris Doctorate does not mean that you can call yourself "doctor" or that you can equate your degree to that of a medical doctor or a PhD. They are different paths, mean different things. It is OK to be different. It's not OK to say you are better than another who has dedicated their life to a career, or to a cause.

That's all I have to say on that for now.

You've Made it into Law School - Congratulations!

I have received numerous emails from readers of my book and my blogs (Law Eh? and Canadian Law School) recently. Many of you have sent me a note to update me on your success in being accepted into one of Canada's law schools.

CONGRATULATIONS to all of you. It's fantastic news! Law school is tough to get into. Canadian law schools are tough to get into. You have all worked so hard towards this dream, and now it is a reality!

I really appreciate the kind comments about how the book and the blogs have helped you to prepare - for the LSAT, the Application Process, 1L and beyond.

Many of you have been asking lots of anticipatory questions about law school, and even more questions about life after law school. Keep the questions coming, and if it's appropriate, I will post the answers on the blogs (with your permission, of course).

For those of you who have not had success so far this year, don't give up. Many law schools put out second and third calls once they start receiving rejections from students who have decided to go to law school elsewhere. Don't give up hope yet, Amigos.

And, if you don't get in this year, don't despair. Try again next year. Write the LSAT again. If you read my book, you'll read about my abysmal first attempt at the LSAT, and how I turned it all around. I didn't give up, and now I am partner in my own law firm. A short 5 years from deciding that I wanted to be a lawyer! And I'm loving it! Never give up.

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

Some interesting Canadian law school news of late:

Senior women lawyers 'vastly underrepresented'
Law Times, Canada - 18 Dec 2006
Currently, 56 per cent of law school graduates are women and those high numbers have been around for quite a few years, but as McCarthy Tétrault LLP's ...

Michael Geist's year-end roundup
p2pnet.net, Canada - 18 Dec 2006
L is for the LSAT, the standardized test required for admission to virtually every law school in Canada. The LSAT attracted heated criticism after it was ...

The power and relevance of Ojibway sacred stories
News@UofT, Canada - 22 Nov 2006
Johnston was the first female aboriginal law student and first aboriginal law professor at the Faculty of Law. She is featured in a special Women ...

Watch YouTube video and help find killer
Electric New Paper - 6 hours ago
VIDEO-SHARING website YouTube has now become an unconventional crime-fighter in Canada, triggering alarms over police intrusion. This still image from a one-minute video upload on the YouTube website by Canadian police shows people entering a bar in ...

Fly in Water Bottle case overturned

there is justice after all

Tony Merchant is an inspiration

Residential Schools settlement approved.

Video about Stupid Law Students...
Part 1:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=N0UN_ZIaYjQ

Part 2:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=3K9uGmvw8cg

Blink! and The Tipping Point

I have recently finished reading The Tipping Point, a book by Malcolm Gladwell. I really, really enjoyed this book. I haven't enjoyed a book this much in quite a while. I started reading his first book, Blink! today, and love it already. I'll write more about it later.

The Tipping Point really got me thinking about ways in which I can build up both my law practice, as well as my publishing business. I think that other lawyers could really benefit from reading this book, and that law students should try to read it before going into practice. The book is essentially about how to disseminate an idea or a product or a service in a way that will make everybody want to be a part of that idea or product or service. Mr. Gladwell has a wonderful way of taking very complex ideas and making them approachable. I appreciated his real-life examples of Tipping Point phenomena. This kind of book is excellent for expanding one's mind, and should be on the required reading list of any professional.

The Tinkerbell Syndrome

You've got to check out Tinkerbell Syndrome - a relatively new blawg by Carissa Browning from Calgary. It is the freshest Canadian legal-related blog I have seen in a long time. Her recent posts are hilarious, in my opinion. Her latest is a parody on the Star Wars intro, poking fun at Property Law. Ahhh...I remember those days when I would day dream in Property Law. I don't remember anything about the law we were learning, but I do remember the day dreams...

Also, for those who are just embarking on their law school career/application, check out Law Target, a blog by Essien from Toronto. He is currently in the process of choosing which law school to go to (he was accepted by three, last count), and it will be interesting to see how his life progresses.

Tony Merchant

You have got to read this article from Macleans Magazine September 4, 2006. I read it this morning over breakfast and almost lost the oatmeal in my mouth!

I had read some stuff on the internet about the Residential Schools class action lawsuit settlement, but I had no idea about the guy behind it all. I don't know whether to love or hate this man and the firm that he has built. I'm pretty sure that I lean towards the former. The man seems to be quite disgusting! I plan to rant about him in a few days, once the article has simmered in my mind a bit. In the meantime, please post your comments on this site, as I would love to hear some logical explanations for his lifestyle, his approach to the law, and his approach to Aboriginal Peoples of Canada.

I look forward to your comments.