To me lah-ha, A lawyer is someone that wants to earn a living only through the practice of law. They do this because they enjoy it, are fond of it, or at least don’t mind it so much. Whatever the case, they cannot imagine themselves doing anything else. They enjoy the practice of law and attending to the ministrations whatever they may be required of their legal practice. Others prefer contemplating legal issues that arise …
Earlier this year, I had a matter with a long-time client that provided me with an example to use to explain the quality of integrity I expect from the people I work with and want to work with. Several years back a client of ours had a short-lived affair with a non-Muslim woman frustrated with her marriage. She got back at her non-Muslim husband for his neglect and disrespect by taking on a series …
In my years of practice, I discovered that there is a natural resistance to giving the young, the fresh, and the inexperienced opportunities to do a matter. By matter, I mean conducting a hearing of an application or a trial, conducting a client interview, or even just attending case management. I knew some of my peers in larger or prestigious firms who went for several years before they were allowed to conduct matters on their …
I see a lot of this on social media these days. Daily, we are treated to a surfeit of self-generated pictures, Tik-Tok Videos, Facebook Posts, Twitter Tweets, Instagram LinkedIn Posts and whatever else by lawyers bragging up or lyrically wa-waxing about a lawyer’s exciting or dramatic working life, a lawyer’s hardship, a lawyer’s work life and all that go with it. Much of these are the efforts of young lawyers in an attempt to gain …
Note: This was a talk I delivered for a client that invited us to give a topic of our choice. The full talk was titled ‘How to create a paper trail and be a witness.’ I dealt with the latter topic and my colleague dealt with the former. The talk is for those that have never been a witness before. What is a witness? The Cambridge Dictionary defines a witness as, a person who sees …