Re: “Isolation: Surviving being solo in-house counsel,” by Milton Kiang, fall
2009 In-house Counsel.
I JUST WANTED to thank you for the interesting article on solo in-house practice.
My colleagues Mike Burke and Heather
Salter are wonderful examples of what
some of us face in the municipal gov[ernment] setting.
For [five] years, I represented a single tier municipality with 2,500+ employees
and a $310 million budget. I
couldn’t have done it without an incredibly skillful law
clerk and great assistant.
My current employer is a
lower tier municipality with
500+ employees and about a $100 million
budget. I have one law clerk... I’ve literally
had a day where I dealt with a dangerous
dog issue and a $35 million dollar water
treatment plant procurement. The breadth
of work is fantastic.
The job is a daunting but an incredibly rewarding experience; provided one
is not alarmed by not having the time
and resources to be an expert in each of
the questions you receive. On[e] also has
to be genuinely interested in your client’s
business. It is the practical and business oriented approach to legal issues that attracts
those of us on the inside. I often describe
solo in-house roles as “[t]he last vestige of
the generalist” in our profession.
Again, my thanks for the
article. We are a small but
proud group of folk living
with media that, understandably, often focuses on
our friends on Bay Street
who live entirely different
lives, are often in a different socio-economic class,
and manage a VERY different kind of practice.
Thanks.
We want to hear
from you! Send
your thoughts
and comments to
melissa.dunne@
lexisnexis.ca
The Lawyers Weekly FALL2009|FREE IN HOUSE COUNSEL
Going it
ALONE
How solo
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