The conventional wisdom is that law school teaches you to think like a lawyer but doesn’t teach you how to be a lawyer. In The Curmudgeon’s Guide to Practicing Law, Mark Herrmann has stepped into the shoes of The Curmudgeon—an experienced lawyer who is not afraid to be direct with his audience—to provide a handbook to fill that void.

Most articling students obsess over “getting hired back,” and devote all their energies to that end. But those who succeed rarely give much thought to the more formidable, long-term task ahead of them: practising law as an associate.

The financial health of most law firms relies on the efforts of a few rainmakers – lawyers who are able to keep the new-business pipeline flowing while their colleagues focus on the practice of law. Who will make the rain fall at these firms when it comes time for the traditional rainmakers to retire or move on?

There may be 50 ways to leave your lover, but there's only one good way to leave your employment: with grace.

Kim Nayyer started out as a legal researcher – it’s what she likes to do, figuring out legal puzzles. The practise of law, on the other hand, didn’t really appeal. She parlayed her passion and her experience into legal librarianship, and hasn’t looked back. Yes, it can mean less money than a lawyer earns, and yes, you might have to invest in some further education, but it can be a rewarding profession, she says.

The legal marketplace may be approaching saturation in some fields and some places, but that doesn’t mean that it’s impossible for a young lawyer to catch a break. Legal locums are becoming more common, as a two-way solution: for law firms, particularly small and solo, to augment their practice to handle an overflow of work or a temporary absence, and young lawyers looking to gain paid experience, writes Becky Rynor.

Do you imagine that life stops at the limits of Canada’s large southern cities? Or that a place without streetlights is a place without civilization? Well, maybe working in northern cities or rural communities isn’t for you. But for people with ambition and imagination – and maybe a sense of adventure – practising law in what some describe as a “blighted hinterland” has rich rewards.

There’s one thing the most successful lawyers and marketers know for sure: keeping clients and expanding your business with them largely depends on your understanding of their needs.

Client opinions are great — if you ask the right questions

Law firms of every size and lawyers in every practice area face increasing client pressure to build greater value and increased efficiency into the legal services cost structure. One result is the growing popularity of administrative service outsourcing.