♫What is that
Could it be
The rescue that you need
It’s not a dream, that’s happening…♫
“Follow My Lead” Words and Music by Justin Timberlake.
In my last post Billable Hours Giving Ground I quoted the author and lawyer Scott Turow, who postulated to The New York Times that greed may encourage lawyers to change their payment plans. I found that particular quote to be disheartening and disturbing.
Fortunately today I learned that Ian Cartwright, a retired Ontario Superior Court Judge, gave a personal cheque for one million dollars to The Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted. This donation will provide capital funding and assist in service delivery to reduce time clients may languish in prison while a case for their exoneration is prepared.
I think there are many other examples where lawyers, judges (who once were lawyers) and many others have provided generous gifts and donations to social organizations to allow them to continue to provide services. For example, Justin Timberlake donated the proceeds of Follow My Lead to the Shriners Hospitals for Children, a charity dedicated to improving pediatric care for sick children.
In both these cases it was generosity, not greed, that was the motivating factor. Especially in these troubled times, we need more people to follow Justin and Ian’s lead.
♫ Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins
The rest is still unwritten.. ♫
Words and music by Natasha Bedingfield, Danielle Brisebois, Wayne Rodriguez, recorded by Natasha Bedingfield.
I was greatly saddened today to read in the New York Times of the passing of John Mortimer QC, the creator of Rumpole of the Bailey. Horace Rumpole, the consumate British barrister who was never destined to be awarded a well-deserved “QC – Queen’s Counsel” designation, lived large in the pages of the books written by Mortimer, forever quoting his lifelong mantra: “Never plead guilty!” Rumpole lived for the law, he never compromised his ethics and he sought justice when lesser lawyers would have taken an easier path.
Following his days fighting Judge Bullingham in the Old Bailey, smoking his small cigars, he would return to his mansion flat at 25B Froxbury Court to be greeted by: “She Who Must be Obeyed” namely his wife Hilda, herself the daughter of a prominent QC and the former Head of Chambers where Horace practices.
Rumpole set the standard for the trodden, but not beaten, barrister – who continues to hold his head high notwithstanding all the vicissitudes of life.
John Mortimer QC was quoted by the NYT as being in the “schizoid business of being a writer who had barristering as a day job.” Budding writers would do well to follow his example and ‘live your life with your arms wide open, for your book is still unwritten’.
To Sir John, tonight I will be raising a glass of “Chateau Thames Embankment” and toasting his memory…and saying a quiet word of thanks for many many hours of enjoyment spent with my friend Horace Rumpole.
♬Gonna keep on tryin
Till I reach the highest ground..♬
Words, music and recorded by Stevie Wonder.
I was delighted to learn on New Year’s Eve that Thoughtful Legal Management has received a 2008 CLawBie (tied with Jordan Furlong’s Law21 blog) in the Practice Management Award category. Jordan’s excellent blog has also taken top Canadian blog award, for which he should be justly proud!
I am humbled by the quality and skill of all the other winners and nominees – and I wish to extend my congratulations to all winners and nominees alike. Please check out all the blogs that Steve Matthews has listed on www.clawbies.ca. and add them to your RSS feeder!
I would also like to thank those who put forward thoughtfullaw.com for nomination. My thanks goes out to all the readers, for which, truly, this blog would not otherwise exist.
The Canadian blog community is being recognized not just nationally but internationally for its high standards, its collegiality and great work. For example, www.slaw.ca has been selected as one of the Top 100 Legal Blogs by the ABA Journal. I know that this ensures that everyone is working to world class standards!
I also wanted to say thanks to Steve Matthews – for creating these awards, for keeping them going and knowing that he is ineligible for any of them since he administers them! His blogs and his work on the web ranks shoulder to shoulder with the best of them – indeed I would say he stands in a class all his own – and these awards are another example of his contribution to this community. I can only hope that I can follow his lead and, in turn, ‘pay it forward’ in some small fashion.
Of course this all provides further motivation to keep trying to meet everyone’s expectations in 2009 – gonna keep on trying until I reach the highest ground! Thanks again all!
♫ Dashing through the snow
In a one horse open sleigh
O’er the fields we go
Laughing all the way…♫
Words and music by James Lord Pierpont.
At this time of the year I would like to wish each and everyone the Best of the Holiday Season and a Happy New Year. This upcoming year will be a challenging one and as such I hope for Peace, Hope and Happiness for all.
As has become my tradition, at this time as my gift to you I offer a few minutes of reflection. I hope this slide show and music (please turn your speakers on!) brings to you a time of calm and joy. The music is of course, Jingle Bells by James Lord Pierpont and is performed by the Argyle Alumni Choir, Argyle Senior Secondary School, North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, Frances Roberts, Director. Used with permission.
This is also a bit of an experiment in hosted slide shows. You can select two different versions – one is on SlideShare – the other is on YouTube.
I find the images much sharper on SlideShare – but the music/picture synchronization is a bit jerky and odd. YouTube doesn’t have the sync problem, but the images are much less sharp.
View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: bilinsky roberts)
Best wishes for a safe holiday filled with warmth, comfort and good cheer!
(Thanks to Steve Matthews for technical assistance in hosting the slide show).
♬ Three is a magic number
Ya it is, it’s a magic number
Somewhere in that ancient mystic trinity
You’ll get three
As a magic number…♬
Written and performed by Bob Dorough
Steve Matthews, the creator of the Canadian Legal Blog Awards, has just announced the 2008 Clawbie Nomination process. True to Steve’s creative and delightfully quirky mind, rather than just submitting a nomination, he has invited people to nominate three Canadian Legal blogs via a blog post.
Never being one to turn down a creative challenge, here are my three choices to kick things off:
1. Slaw.ca: Hardly day goes by where I don’t look at Slaw and see what is on people’s minds. The cooperative weblog idea is a powerful one – here we see web 2.0 concepts in action – and the resulting dialogue between posts and comments makes the blog totally fresh and intriguing. The points of view come from all across Canada. The topics are driven by what the Slaw community feels is important. It is like being part of a great big respectful conversation that never stops – and never stops being interesting. This is my nomination for Simon Fodden and the rest of the crew for crafting, nurturing and growing this ever so Canadian social legal blog.
2. Twitter. OK, now I know Steve will say this isn’t a blog per se. Nor is it a Canadian blog per se. But it is a micro-blog – and there is a community of Canadians twittering – and tweating and listening to each other and to others – on Twitter. I think these Canadians have crafted their own collective micro-blog on Twitter – and it is fascinating! Where Slaw is about a big, deep, thoughtful community, Twitter is about being part of a different, dynamic, ‘flow of consciousness’ community. The Canadians in the Twitter community know who they are – but that doesn’t get in the way of anything. This is really about having a dialogue with people. Kevin O’Keefe (an American, if that matters) just posted to Twitter on the Clawbies while I was writing this. Twitter is everything about breaking legal and technology news and being involved – or part – of the story at the same time. So my nomination is for all the Canadians who are on Twitter and crafting their own micro-blogging community within a community!
3. law21.ca: Jordan Furlong is doing great things on his blog that deals with what my old mathematics professors would call inflection points. These are points where a function changes curve and interesting things are happening. Jordan is extraordinarily skilled in picking up on those inflection points in the legal community’s function and providing insightful commentary thereon. Well thought, well done and well received. Keep up the good work Jordan – my third nomination.
And so I encourage you to visit www.clawbies.ca and read the nominations and nominate a blog or two yourself! Oh – and Vote too! That makes three – nominate, read and vote – an ancient magical trinity!
♫ If you got talent baby let it shine
Give it to the world
And let them see what’s inside
You’re like a treasure and you have the key
Every minute of the day is what it takes to be
The best of the best
So give it all you got
…
It’s the passion inside
And your dreams come alive…♫
Words, music and recorded by: MC Magic (Marco Cardenas)
My friend and colleague Steve Matthews just blogged about Jeff Richardson – The iPhone lawyer and turned it into a wonderful marketing blog post. His post resonated – deeply – with me (*thanks Steve!*).
I have met with hundreds of lawyers who wanted to leave their present firm and go out on their own and who have come to me for advice on setting up their new office. Inevitably I sit them down and one of the first questions I ask them is: “What are you passionate about?” They usually give me a strange look – they were expecting advice on technology and business systems (which I do get to!) but first I want to get them taking about what really drives them on the inside.
Following the sage advice of the late Dr. Hans Selye, a notable Hungarian-Canadian researcher on stress, I try to encourage them to build a law practice around what they have a passion for in their lives. I have met and known lawyers who were passionate about horses (they launched a law practice with a focus on the needs of horse breeders and trainers), about the arts (they launched into entertainment law and the governance of non-profit arts organizations) and sports (they launched a practice on the needs of operators of ski hills, wilderness high-adventure sports and the like). Now they just didn’t have an instant practice in these areas..but they had a goal and a vision and they did what they had to do – every day – to take themselves closer to their goal.
Dr. Selye’s advice was simple: Make your avocation your vocation. If you do what you love, then you will love what you do. Work will not be a chore or a rut (and how many lawyers are caught doing what they do only for the money and can’t seem to find a way out…).
Steve said it best when talking about Jeff Richardson and his iPhone blog:
”Think about that for a minute. His firm which has 10 offices and looks to have hundreds of lawyers, will be surpassed by the indirect efforts of just one single lawyer. All because Jeff took the time to blog about a topic he’s passionate about.
A hobby? Sure. But his clients and potential clients also get to see his personality, his level-headed nature, and a love for the topic. That kind of insight does come into play when hiring a lawyer, and yes, personality counts.”
It’s the passion inside that is coming forth – and Jeff is seeing his dreams come alive…
♬ Lead me, guide me along the way
For if you lead me I cannot stray
Or just open my eyes that I may see..♬
Words and Music by Doris Akers (Psalm 31:3), recorded by Elvis Presley.
Gregg Thompson wrote a great little article on the online edition of Bluepoint Leadership’s “The Point” entitled: “When the Leader Speaks“. The article is focused on the importance of a leader to engage in communication – more importantly, to engage in effective communication. Gregg states:
“[E]ach of us can significantly increase our communication effectiveness by adopting the three universal practices that have been employed by great leaders in organizations of all kinds. These men and women construct an enticing image of the Future, they connect with their constituents on a Personal level, and they create a compelling Story in which everyone has a starring role. “
What do effective leaders say? In Gregg’s opinion:
1. These leaders convince us that tomorrow can be better than today.
2. These leaders communicate to us, personally.
3. These leaders craft a big story for the organization.
Now convincing people that tomorrow can be better than today may be a pretty uphill road these days. Perhaps the time scale needs to be adjusted somewhat by saying that “perhaps not today, perhaps not tomorrow, but by keeping on the right path and remaining optimistic, we can eventually have a tomorrow that is better than today.”
How many “leaders” that we know hide behind closed doors and don’t engage in these three simple principles? The power of communicating – of speaking to people on an individual level, opening a person’s eyes so that they can see the big picture and their place within it – will always be the true hallmark of a great leader.
♫ Heartbreaks and promises, I’ve had more than my share
I’m tired of giving my love and getting nowhere, nowhere
What I really need is somebody who will always be there
This time around for me baby, actions speak louder than words..♫
Words, music and recorded by: Robin S.
Today (Nov. 19, 2008) on IT World is an article: “Eight ways to show employees the love when you can’t show them the money” by Ed Hess and Charles Goetz. It is a nice overview of ways to make staff feel appreciated without spending a great deal of money. While it was written from an IT staff perspective, the tips in the article would apply to most, if not all, businesses. All of the tips rang true for me, with the exception of giving an award or a ribbon for a staff member to hang in their office – to me this was a bit like an elementary teacher giving out gold stars. But hey, the world is filled with people of all types, and this tip may resonate well with others. I think a handwritten note given discretely to such a staff member is a warmer and more discrete and genuine expression of thanks.
In balance this is a great little article on how to show your employees that your actions speak louder then words…
♫ Lack of trust, all alone
Lookin’ down at the bottom of a hole
I’ve no trust, bare my soul
Are we alone or do we have friends
Or are we just searchin’ for a means to an end..♫
Words, music and recorded by Biohazard.
I have been a big fan of Beth Flynn’s “Leadership” email tips for some time. Below is the one that I received today. Subscription information is at the end of her email. Enjoy!
“You Can’t Take Trust for Granted
From: Kouzes, J.M., & Posner, B.Z., (2006). A leader’s legacy. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
What does trust look like? Trust is openness. Trust is valuing other people such that you respect their opinions and perspectives. You listen to them. Trust means moving outside your comfort zone and letting go of always having it your way or the way it has ‘always been done before.’ Trust requires honesty with oneself as well as with others. Trust means not making commitments you can’t keep; it requires not overpromising no matter how much you wish you could do something. Trust requires a willingness to let other take charge, and to let others, at times, make mistakes in doing things they have never done before.
For leaders, trust is the willingness to be vulnerable and open to others even when doing so may risk real harm (Like people falling on top of you!) Trust is relying on others, having confidence in others, and this can be difficult for the best of us, but especially for leaders. (Kouzes & Posner, 2006, p. 74-75)
A Leader’s Legacy is available on loan from the Ohio State University Leadership Center. To borrow this resource or any other resource, please go to the resource search page http://164.107.48.88/
Learn how the Ohio State University Leadership Center is strengthening tomorrow’s leaders today at http://leadershipcenter.osu.
To subscribe or unsubscribe from the Leadership Moments list – please send an e-mail to Beth Flynn flynn.61@osu.edu”
♫ I’ve been taking care of business, it’s all mine
Taking care of business and working overtime…♫
Words and music by: Randy Bachman.
LawPro Magazine (August 2008) has just hit the streets. In this latest issue celebrating the 10th anniversary of PracticePro, the risk management, claims prevention and law practice management initiative for LawPro, the wholly-owned insurance company providing professional liability insurance to the lawyers of the Law Society of Upper Canada, my friend, colleague and director of PracticePro Dan Pinnington took an innovative approach to this issue of LawPro. Along with articles looking at the increasing amount of attempted fraud against lawyers and such, Dan invited your humble scribe to contribute to a collaborative series of articles by such luminaries as Simon Chester, Connie Crosby, Dominic Jaar, Richard Potter QC and Steve Matthews. These articles all dealt with the central question: “What are the 10 Critical Issues facing the Legal Profession.”
This was a wonderful collaboration and I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to be a contributor. Of course to see what everyone wrote, you will have to visit the article on the web which can be found here.
I wish to say thanks! to my fellow contributors and I hope we can do this all again…(I rather suspect while we were taking care of business we were all also working overtime…)…