Leo Mulvihill, Jr.
Leo M. Mulvihill, Jr. is a partner at Mulvihill & Rushie LLC - The Fishtown Lawyers. If you are offended by anything in his articles, he offers the following free legal advice: “deal with it.” In his neighborhood practice, he focuses on providing personal, professional legal representation to his friends, neighbors, and local businesses. Though he looks a square, he enjoys black and death metal most of all (appearances are deceiving). He drinks local beer and bourbon whiskey, and occasionally enjoys a cigar from the local tobacconist. He lives in the Fishtown neighborhood of Philadelphia with his wife and his three Teutonically-named dogs—Heidi, Fritz, and Otto. Find him on Twitter, @FishtownLawyer.
You need to make yourself indispensable at your job.
In case you hadn’t heard, the legal job market’s still hurting. Barely half of all 2012 grads have long-term, full-time legal jobs. Yikes. You mean you didn’t go to law school so you could ask someone if they wanted whipped cream on that Frappuccino?
But no matter the cause to the glut of legal grads these days (which has been the subject of many other articles), if you’re already out there with a JD Sheepskin and one of the coveted law jobs, you’re probably past the point of caring why it’s happening. Instead, you’re probably wanting to make sure you keep that job — or if you’re a solo make sure you keep the lights on.
In order to keep your job, you need to make sure your firm has clients. Take an active role and start building your own book of business. I want to share some things that have worked for my neighborhood practice.
And I promise at the end, I’ll tell you what the picture at the top of this post is about. Keep Reading ⇒
It was a late night for me. I was putting the finishing touches on some pleadings when Jordan stormed into the office. It was nearly 9.30pm and he had just finished up a four-hour deposition. He was not pleased.
“Can you believe that they didn’t even have coffee in their office!”
“Who?” I asked.
“Opposing counsel! They spend all that money to get a big office on an upper floor of a downtown office building, and didn’t even offer us coffee!”
I laughed a bit — “Really, you get out of a four-hour deposition that ended close to bedtime, and your complaint is that opposing counsel didn’t have refreshments?”
“I had to go get my own! And in fact, I got some for opposing counsel and the deponent too. They needed it. It’s just rude.”
I thought about it for moment. “You know what, Jordan, you’re right. You shouldn’t have to read Emily Post to know that. Mark the day that I said you were right about anything.”
Keep Reading ⇒
This week, in light of the #ABATechShow, I’m taking a break from my standard ranting about clothing.
This week’s rant is about technology and the future of law. Technology is useless unless your foundations are solid.
I want to make something clear at the outset — I’m a young lawyer. And while my bona fides are about what you could expect for my professional experience, I’m not at a level of practice where I have the right to tell attorneys who’ve been practicing longer than I’ve been alive what to do when it comes to the nuts and bolts of law practice.
Instead, I’m directing this post to those colleagues of mine who are similarly situated with five of fewer years of practice. And even to you fellow baby lawyers, take this advice for what it’s worth, as YMMV. Keep Reading ⇒
Despite the still-freezing temperatures and the snowflakes that fell the other day, the vernal equinox has come and gone, which means Spring is here. You know, flowers blooming, birds tweeting, days getting longer, and all that other nonsense.
If you live in an area of the county that has to deal with seasons, this means that it’s time to prepare for weather a bit nicer than what we’ve been dealing with the past several months. Which likely means changing out your wardrobe, and maybe picking up a few new items to replace some pieces you have to retire.
Professional dress should be changed out seasonally as well. So let’s discuss how you can prepare yourself for spring.
Keep Reading ⇒
Chances are, if you’re like most guys I know, you have a handful of ties — probably anywhere between 5 and 10 hanging on some rack in your closet. But you’re not really sure where most of them came from. You probably didn’t buy most of them. More likely, they were a gift from mom, you kids, or a well-meaning lady friend trying to make you look good.
When you get dressed in the morning, you likely don’t think a lot about which tie you’re going to wear. It’s more than likely fair to say that you haven’t given them much thought other than: “this is blue, this is red, this is yellow, this has Mickey Mouse on it.”
Well, this series is all about thinking about what you wear to look more professional and to make your life easier. So it’s time to grow up.
Let’s discuss the basics. I’ve included pictures along the way for those of you who don’t like reading.
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The briefcase is as important a part of the lawyer’s image as the traditional suit and tie, using big latin words to express simple concepts, and yelling “OBJECTION!” Think about the name for a moment — “briefcase” — it’s because we lawyers needed something to carry our reams of important lawyerly documents around.
And the need to carry things around is never ending. From the first day you first step into the law office, to your last day appearing in court before your peaceful, non-lawyerly retirement, you will have to schlep files, yellow pads, pens, laptops, and legal tomes around with you to Court, to client meetings, and to take work home with you. I can’t see this requirement of our job going away soon, no matter how much technology invades the courtroom.
Keep Reading ⇒
This week, I’m going to take a brief detour from giving proscriptive advice on what to wear, and take a more philosophical angle to the column. Today I want to talk about durables.
You see, last weekend, Jordan and I had the honor and privilege of being invited to visit an esteemed law colleague. While there, our conversation topics ranged from how to avoid spreading stupidity, shutting up when it’s prudent, and the fundamentals of a successful practice. But I’m not going to belabor these topics, as they’ve all been said before, and better, by those wiser than I.
Let’s talk about why you should stop buying cheap crap, and instead buy durables.
Keep Reading ⇒
Over the Christmas holiday, Jordan and I had a bit of a discussion about our office’s dress code. I’d been fighting him for months, trying to get him to show up every day in a suit and tie.
Fat chance.
At my wit’s end, I decided that my New Year’s Resolution was to let this go, and we discussed a relaxation of the office dress code to “business casual.” Jordan gladly agreed,
Imagine my surprise when, on January 2, 2013, Jordan walks in wearing an untucked polo shirt, pleated khakis, and black sneakers.
“What the hell are you wearing?” I blurted.
“Dude, you said we were business casual! I’m biz cas!”
I shook my head. “I’ve made a huge mistake. Listen, Jordan, has anyone ever explained to you what ‘business casual’ means?”
The blank stare told me all I needed to know.
Keep Reading ⇒
“Hey Leo, look at what I bought!” Jordan exclaimed as he walked into my office. He had a box from Amazon in his hands.
I was intrigued — it’s not too often I see him this excited.
“So, what do you have there?” I asked.
“Well, I’ve been listening to what you’ve been saying about clothes and shoes and everything else, so I decided to step up my game.” He ripped open the box and pulled out a brand new shoe valet complete with an array of polish and brushes. “It’s my early Christmas present to myself!”
“Great, so you’re going to start polishing your shoes, like a grown up.”
He paused for a moment and looked down at his scuffed up shoes. “Yeah, about that. I usually just pay the guy down by the courthouse a few bucks to do it for me. So, you’ll have to show me how to do this.”
“Alright, Jordan, here’s how to shine your shoes, simply, in five steps.”
Keep Reading ⇒
This week, we drop in again at the law firm with Leo and Jordan. Jordan’s on his way out to door to have lunch with a client.
“Jordan, no tie? Are you kidding me?”
He stood in the doorway to my office looking otherwise great in a freshly-pressed suit and ironed white shirt. But he wasn’t wearing a tie.
“Shut up, it’s fine. Besides, I couldn’t find my lucky tie today.”
“What do you mean, you couldn’t find it?” I asked, rather incredulous that he couldn’t find one of the 5 or 6 ties he owned.
“I couldn’t find it. I swore I left it on the back of my recliner last week, but I couldn’t find it this morning. Maybe my cats got it…”
“Don’t you have, I don’t know, a tie rack? How do you keep your wardrobe organized?”
The blank stare told all.
“Alright, Jordan, when you get back, we’re going to get you organized.”
Keep Reading ⇒
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