| Message from the Chair |
| The Art and Craft of "Doing the Minutes" |
| Author! Author! The Law Society’s Sole and Small Firm Practitioners’ History Project |
| Mandatory Mediation – Must for Today’s World |
| Balance at Any Age |
| Getting More Business from Existing Clients: Five Easy Strategies that Really Work |
| Coping with Holiday Stress |
| Upcoming Program |
| Section Executive 2004-2005 |
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Author! Author! The Law Society’s Sole and Small Firm Practitioners’ History Project
Gary Lloyd Gottlieb*
There used to be three other sole practitioners in the building where I am, but they are here no more. Not only were they my colleagues, they were also my mentors and friends. They left practice and this world a number of years ago. Apart from what they told me and what I still remember, their stories departed with them and we are all the poorer for it.
When I recently told another colleague about the Law Society’s Sole and Small Firm Practitioners’ History Project, he said that sole practitioners and small firm lawyers are the building blocks of our profession and it’s about time our contributions were recognized.
We are the lawyers in the trenches who serve the moms and pops, their children when they grow up, and the granddads and grandmas too. Most of us don’t make oodles of money, for we serve ordinary individuals and small businesses, not monster corporations, governments and institutions.
What possessed us to enter sole or small firm practice? What enabled us to survive? What do we remember about our practices and the clients we served? What are the stories we have to tell that not even a Guy de Maupassant, a Somerset Maugham, or an O’Henry could dream up?
What lessons can we pass on to those who will succeed us? What advice would we give to the law students and young lawyers of today? Would we advise them to follow in our footsteps?
If you are a sole or small firm practitioner who is contemplating retirement or who is about to retire, the Law Society’s Heritage Committee, under the capable and inspired chairmanship of Professor Constance Backhouse, is giving you the opportunity to share the story of your career.
In this newsletter you will find an invitation to document your career and add your memoirs to the Law Society’s Archives. I urge you to seize the opportunity. Your colleagues, now and in years hence, will be grateful.
* Gary Lloyd Gottlieb, a Past Chair of the Sole, Small Firm and General Practice Section, is a Toronto sole practitioner and Law Society bencher.