Frequently asked questions and infrequently heard answers
Ten Years Late For A Staff Meeting
I hit ten years of practice on my own on March 1, 2021 and wanted to write a blog about the top ten best things about being on your own in criminal defence. As I started writing, one stood out above the rest.
Not Liable: Law Schools Should Not Be Blamed For The Articling Crisis And The Sometimes Bleak Situation Of Young Lawyers
The Problem is not Law School. The Problem is that Law School is Buffered by Four Years Getting a Useless Undergraduate Degree.
What Law Students And Legal Entrepreneurs Can Learn From Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
“Life moves pretty fast” says a young Matthew Broderick to the camera breaking the fourth wall with the audience in the classic 80s movie Ferris Buerller’s Day Off. “If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”
Why Graduation Ceremonies Are Stupid
When I first started my criminal law practice, I joined something called a networking group. The idea of a networking group is to meet weekly with a group and refer business to each other.
The Road to Hell: The Intentions of Politicians in Eliminating Peremptory Challenges are Irrelevant to an Accused
There is someone I knew in high school who was really involved in politics and used to table for the "Young Conservatives" or "Young Liberals" or "Young NDP".
Competition is For Losers: What the Story of Richard Williams Can Teach Law Students
One of my main intellectual inspirations is Peter Thiel. Thiel´s book Zero to One is a must read for aspiring entrepreneurs, legal or otherwise. Thiel has a slogan that I have adopted as an article of faith, but that will seem counterintuitive and impossible to fathom for most law students right now – competition is for losers.
You Can Stand on the Other Side of Humanity and be Right: How the Christopher Husbands' Verdict Made Me Appreciate Our Criminal Justice System
For virtually my entire life, I have been in the minority when it comes to thinking. I can remember this happening all throughout my life from the time I was nine years old and liked the song Fight the Power by Public Enemy while most of my classmates liked New Kids on the Block (and thought I was the crazy one!)
A Minority of One: Why I Oppose the Statement of Principles
The controversy over the Statement of Principles, a requirement by the Law Society of Ontario that all Ontario lawyers create and abide by an individual Statement of Principles and acknowledge the obligation to promote "equality, diversity and inclusion" has not abated since the election of a slate of Benchers devoted to reversing the Statement of Principles Requirement.
Law Is Not A Zero-Sum Game: What the Success of Shopify Can Teach Lawyers
It took me a long time to realize that law school and articling are a very poor model to teach me how the real-world works. Law school has a very nasty way of teaching students that achievements are a zero-sum game.
Bay Street Refugee: Black and White on Bay Street
I was hopeless on Bay Street. It had nothing to do with my race.
