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Practical writing on practice management, billing, client experience, hiring, and legal technology.

A notebook with a handwritten checklist open on a desk beside a pen.
Articling & Licensing

Ten Things to Track During Your Articling Year

The articling year moves quickly. Tracking these ten things from day one gives you a useful record of your development and makes every step after articles easier.

24 June 2025 · 5 min
A person working at a laptop in a bright open workspace, coffee cup nearby
Internationally Trained Lawyers

Building a Legal Network When You Are New to Canada

You do not have law school classmates here yet. That is a disadvantage, but it is not permanent. There are specific ways to build genuine professional connections from scratch.

20 June 2025 · 5 min
A tidy desk with a notebook, pen, and laptop in a law office
Practice Management

The matter intake checklist that saves you an afternoon

Consistent intake prevents the gaps that cost you time later. Here is the short list of things worth capturing on day one, and what can safely wait.

12 June 2025 · 2 min
A lawyer on a video call with a laptop showing a meeting transcription interface in a side panel
Legal Tech & AI

AI Meeting Notes at a Law Firm: Where They Help and Where They Do Not

A candid look at where AI transcription and meeting summaries are a genuine time-saver for law firms, and where confidentiality and professional responsibility obligations require more care.

3 June 2025 · 6 min
A lawyer reviewing dated documents and signing a page at a desk
Family & Civil Practice

Building a Chronology That Actually Works on a Family File

A dated chronology pulls a scattered family file into order you can argue from. Here is how to build one that serves both settlement and trial.

30 May 2025 · 6 min
A laptop on a home desk showing a video call with a lawyer, a coffee mug and notepad beside it
Client Experience

How to Set Up a Client Portal Your Clients Actually Use

A portal only helps if people log in. Here is a practical rollout built around adoption, so clients actually use the access you give them.

27 May 2025 · 5 min
An open notebook with a handwritten checklist beside a laptop and a cup of coffee
Practice Management

Keeping Your Contacts and Parties List Clean and Conflict Ready

A practical checklist for keeping your parties and contacts database accurate, so conflict checks and correspondence never rest on stale or duplicated data.

21 May 2025 · 5 min
Two people shaking hands across a desk with a closed folder and signed documents between them.
Client Experience

Closing a File So the Client Comes Back

The close of a file is the last impression your firm leaves and the moment most likely to generate a referral. A five-step closing checklist makes it deliberate rather than an afterthought.

20 May 2025 · 6 min
A lawyer and a law clerk reviewing a matter file together at a desk
People & Hiring

Delegating Real Work to Your Law Clerk

A law clerk can carry substantive matter work, not just admin. Here is how to hand it over with the right supervision so you gain real leverage.

17 May 2025 · 6 min
A lawyer working at a laptop in a small firm office, reviewing a document
Legal Tech & AI

Writing an AI Policy Your Small Firm Will Actually Use

A one-page, plain-language AI policy a solo or small firm can adopt this week, tied to your competence and confidentiality duties rather than abstract principles.

12 May 2025 · 6 min
Three colleagues gathered around a laptop at an office table, reviewing a spreadsheet together and talking
People & Hiring

How We Rebuilt Our Pay Bands After Losing a Paralegal

We lost our best paralegal to a firm across the street. Here is the honest story of what her exit taught us and how we rebuilt pay from scratch.

8 May 2025 · 5 min
A small group of lawyers around a conference table in a modern Canadian law office.
Internationally Trained Lawyers

The Unwritten Rules of a Canadian Legal Workplace

The written rules are easy to find. The unwritten ones, how communication works, what hierarchy actually looks like, and what availability really means, take longer to learn.

6 May 2025 · 8 min