En 2003, lorsque Meldon Ellis est revenu à Vancouver pratiquer le droit après avoir passé quelques années à exploiter une entreprise de paris en ligne à Antigua, il était dans une impasse. « J’avais besoin d’idées fraîches sur la façon de relancer ma carrière en droit », dit-il. Il a créé son propre cabinet au début de 2004 avec un seul dossier, mais sa plus grande difficulté était de maintenir sa motivation.

Despite the fact that most lawyers bill by the hour, we don’t really sell time; we sell a service at a fixed fee. Our goal should be providing value, defined as advice that gives solutions to our clients. In the end, the client’s perception of value really determines whether the price we charge is reasonable for the service provided. Price is the marketplace’s barometer for telling you how it values your service.

There seems to be an increasing need, expectation and emphasis on civility in our legal practice - - by our fellow lawyers, clients and the public. There is also an expectation, a demand by clients that from the beginning of their file we advocate fully, forcefully, fearlessly and sometimes fiercely on their behalf.

Offrez un service « légendaire » et récoltez les fruits de vos efforts.

L'innovation rapporte dans la prestation de services professionnels.

Au cours de votre carrière, vous rencontrerez des avocats adverses qui vous énerveront. Ils seront exagérément querelleurs, manqueront à leur engagement de fournir certains documents, présenteront requêtes par-dessus plaintes modifiées par-dessus demandes préalables par-dessus requêtes, ou seront tout simplement de mauvais praticiens.

The actual writing phase begins when you prepare a first draft. At that point you are merely trying to record your ideas.

Finding the right activities is critical to sustaining a business development plan. Playing to your strengths will catapult you to success like nothing else. 

When you’re starting out as a lawyer and developing your practice, you quickly discover that you need people – people to turn to for advice, people who can help develop your skills, people you can represent. But how do you find these people while still managing to bill 2,000 hours?

Lawyers and law firms alike should incorporate female-friendly strategies into marketing and business development activities. For example, historically effective client events such as golf tournaments and hockey games are usually not as effective for courting female clients. Both lawyers and their firms need to consider the age-old question: “What do women want?”