Following up on his previous posts on lawyers’ personality traits (autonomy and skepticism), Ian Hu (practicePRO and Claims Prevention Counsel at LAWPRO) discusses “urgency”, which measures a lawyer’s need to get things done and degree of impatience.

Consultant Dr. Larry Richard states in his LAWPRO article that such lawyers are more likely to finish others’ sentences, jump to conclusions, and be impulsive. . . . [more]

Following up on his previous post on lawyers’ personality traits, Ian Hu (practicePRO and Claims Prevention Counsel at LAWPRO) discusses autonomy, a trait that helps lawyers do their job but makes them poor bedfellows in a law firm environment.

Dr. Larry Richard states in our LAWPRO magazine article “Herding Cats: The Lawyer Personality Revealed” that studies suggest high achieving lawyers score in the 89^th percentile of this trait, which measures the degree to which a person is sensitive to externally defined rules, policies and procedures. A high autonomy score means that the person is more likely to be unresponsive . . . [more]

A skeptical lawyer is a good lawyer. He scrutinizes every line in a contract. He questions the opposing party’s arguments. He looks for hidden motives. He looks at the law with a critical eye. His legal decisions are guided by a healthy pessimism, which helps him guard against mistakes.

At the same time, a skeptical lawyer is not fun to be around when he is not dealing with legal issues. Because of his cynical, argumentative and judgemental character he doesn’t play well with others. He is less accepting, less trusting, and less willing to give others the benefit of . . . [more]

When you shop for a contractor for a home renovation, you are often reminded about the need to ensure your contractor has third party liability insurance and workers’ compensation insurance – just in case.

Do you ask that same question when you shop for a lawyer outside of Canada? Do you remember to ask if the foreign lawyer carries professional liability insurance? And do you know what his/her coverage is? Imagine this. A 40-year-old client’s husband dies in a plane crash in the United States, the result of alleged negligence by air traffic controllers who fail to identify a storm . . . [more]

On the face of it, interviewing should not be all that difficult – particularly for lawyers. As members of a profession who primarily make their living either writing or speaking, the idea that having a conversation about your interests and abilities in your own profession sounds both logical and easy.

But throw the words “job interview” into the mix and a whole new paradigm emerges. With seemingly so much at stake, job interviews take on a new meaning for people who ordinarily would not shy away from talking about the field they have chosen and the background that they bring. . . . [more]

It can be uncomfortable to talk about money. When handling real estate purchases and domestic contracts, however, lawyers can’t afford to accept purchase funds on a “no questions asked” basis.

Why not? Because if purchase funds come from somebody other than the prospective owner, the doctrine of resulting trust presumes that, regardless of who is on title, the owner holds the property in trust for whoever advanced the funds.

In this article from the February 2015 issue of LAWPRO Magazine, Lisa Weinstein (VP, TitlePLUS) explains how to reduce the risk of a claim related to a trust vs. gift . . . [more]

By March, those of us who create personal practice development goals usually know what we need to accomplish by year-end (usually). We also know how easily the best intentions can derail as the year progresses.

There are as many excuses to stop working towards long-term goals as there are distractions. Busy-work makes us feel productive. As Leigh Buchanan points out in a recent article in Inc. magazine, it’s also a trap.

Proven techniques help the dispirited stay on track. Why not try a few and see if they would help?

Prioritize
What matters most to your practice? Your practice . . . [more]

Lawyers in all areas of practice continue to be the frequent targets of bad cheque scams. These scams involve debt collections, business loans, IP licensing disputes or spousal support payments. While it appears Ontario lawyers are increasingly aware of these frauds, occasionally some are being duped into disbursing funds on a bad cheque they have deposited in their trust accounts.

Don’t be complacent and think you will never be fooled. These frauds are getting ever more sophisticated. The matters will look legitimate, the fraudsters will be very convincing and the client ID and other documents you receive will look real. . . . [more]

It’s easy to think that, at least in your office, a major claim couldn’t possibly happen. But LAWPRO’s experience shows that errors, innocent oversights and gaffes in any type of practice can lead to big problems. And if you or your firm don’t have adequate insurance in place to address the claim, you could be facing personal exposure. The number of LAWPRO claims with values that exceed $100,000 has risen sharply in recent years and often the mistakes that lead to such claims result from very simple errors. Below are scenarios drawn from reported cases of alleged lawyer-negligence that show . . . [more]

At the end of each year we at practicePRO take a look at what articles, checklists, tips, and other resources had the most downloads. As always, the list contains many resources that remain popular year after year (e.g. our retainer precedents, ILA checklist and e-Discovery reading list).

There are also some new and interesting entries on the list that stand out:

• Self-represented litigants (A survival guide): This 2006 article by Carol Cochrane was #19 on the list last year, but jumped to #2 this year. Does this indicate that the issue of clients choosing to represent

Information overload! There are just too many posts, tweets and articles flying around in the Twitterverse and elsewhere on social media and the Web. None of us can even pretend keep up. And while there is a lot of spam, self-promotional crap and other junk out there, there are some real gems that get lost in the sheer volume of content thrown at us on a daily basis. The trick is finding the content that is really interesting or helpful to you in a practical way. Patience is required, hashtags and a bit of luck can help, and identifying good . . . [more]

No matter what the area of practice, the number one source of claims at LAWPRO is a breakdown in communication between the lawyer and client.

Between 2008 and 2013, nearly 4,600 communications claims – an average of 762 a year – have been reported to LAWPRO. The total cost of these claims to date is about $158 million – and likely to rise as more recent years’ claims are resolved.

In the Fall 2011 issue of LAWPRO Magazine we asked LAWPRO claims counsel with expertise in the various areas of law to provide insights into the communications mistakes they see . . . [more]