THE LAWYERS WEEKLY
May 7, 2010 | 25
BUSINESS
CAREERS
“Small-firm practitioners tend
to know their clients personally.
They become their trusted advisor
over many years of the business
relationship. They work together
in the Rotary Club, Scouts, minor
hockey—you won’t find a com-
munity anywhere in this country
where you won’t find a lawyer
involved in something in a volun-
teer capacity.”
Carroll says the new crop of
lawyers tends to gravitate toward
large firms where they can benefit
from the expertise of a “tremen-
dous collection of talented law-
yers” in various practice areas.
“But that’s not to say they
won’t find the same talent in
smaller firms.”
Or gain as much experience as
quickly, he adds.
For instance, at Carroll Heyd
Chown, recent graduates the firm
hires are in a courtroom within 60
days and get “debriefed” by a senior lawyer at the end of every day
of the trial, says Carroll.
“Juniors in our firm and those
of similar size will have twice to
three times the trial experience of
their counterparts in a large firm
in the space of three to five years.”
Wilde has been involved in 10
jury trials to date and observes
that not many of her law-school
classmates have had that type of
courtroom experience so early in
their careers.
“You get a lot more hands-on
experience when you work in a
small firm. It gets you into a court-
room faster and be involved in a
trial from beginning to end—and
you’re not just starting out doing
research in a big firm.”
While she’s not a partner in
Fleck & Daigneault, she is open to
the idea of one day buying into the
practice or even taking it over.
“I am very happy here. I’m
starting to make a name for
myself,” she says.
“I certainly intend to stay.” ;
CHRISTOPHER GULY
In the mid-1970s, Bob
McCulloch worked as a land
surveyor in south-central
Manitoba, where he was born
and raised.
He enjoyed the job — he was
paid well to spend time out-
doors and take in the fresh air
of the Prairies. But McCulloch
felt he wasn’t properly applying
his education (a Bachelor of
Arts degree in psychology and
sociology from the University
of Manitoba), so he went to law
school, at the U of M, and
changed careers.
Now, almost 27 years after
being called to the Manitoba
Bar, McCulloch runs a thriving
solo general practice in Tre-
herne, Man.—a tiny commun-
ity with a current population of
646 located about 80 minutes
west of Winnipeg.
“I, along with most other
senior rural practitioners,
make a relatively good income
as compared to colleagues in
Winnipeg, who are faced with a
substantially higher overhead.”
He handles all sorts of solici-
tor work—from wills and
estates and real estate trans-
actions to representing as many
as 500 corporations — mainly
farms—on such issues as tax
planning and consolidations.
“I don’t do litigation—I
refer that work to other law-
yers,” says McCulloch, who
hails from Manitou, Man., a
town of about 750 residents
near Treherne, Man., where he
also runs a satellite law office.
“Part of the reason is that if
you get involved in a divorce
proceeding, for instance, you
alienate half of the community
if you do a good for one of the
parties. So I’m better off not to
Bob McCulloch
do any.”
Attending family events,
such as weddings and pre-
marriage socials for his cli-
ents— as a friend, and not as a
lawyer, he quickly points
out—McCulloch is well con-
nected to his community. And
an easy familiarity surrounds
his practice. About one-quar-
ter of his appointments are
walk-in clients “who’ve come
to town and thought of some-
thing” to ask him.
While he spends about half
his time on administrative
work (he’s the tech support,
who troubleshoots computer-
related issues), McCulloch also
has some help.
Tom Mooney, a veteran law-
yer from the area, works on
files on a part-time basis.
McCulloch Law Office also has
four full-time staff: three
paralegals (one each for real
estate, corporate, and wills and
estate law) and a secretary-
receptionist.
We want to hear from you!
E-mail us at: tlw@lexisnexis.ca ;
Corporate coaching coming to law firm near you
For years now coaching in the
corporate world has been embraced
as an effective way to support
learning, growth and skill development. While it is still in the infancy
stage in the legal profession, there
is a growing trend towards supporting lawyers in business/client
development through one-to-one
coaching. In this article I will outline what I consider to be the most
important parts of an effective
client development coaching program—the participants, the content and the delivery.
The participants
GARY
MITCHELL
coaching program of any kind, let
alone a client development pro-
gram, you must ensure that your
first wave of participants will
experience great results. To
achieve this you must take care in
choosing who participates. Self
selection is always the best
approach. It will avoid any per-
ception of favoritism and/or pol-
itics. With this approach you are
more likely to have your partici-
pants committed to their own suc-
cess when they themselves have
asked for or have agreed to this
form of support.
The content
What you actually teach your
lawyers in the program is equally
as important as the people who
take the program. It is our experi-
ence that while the main focus of
a client development program is
to help your lawyers to bring in
new business, there are a number
of overlapping skills sets that sup-
port that goal. The skills you are
helping the lawyers hone are: time
management, file management,
client relationship management,
service excellence, communica-
tion skills, presentation skills, how
to work with other lawyers within
the firm, how to work with staff,
career planning and work/life bal-
ance. These factors all contribute
to the success of your lawyers and
if they are happy and productive
See Coaching Page 26
