14th Solo and Small Firm Conference – A wonderful Sense of Community

Yesterday, on behalf of the Wolf Law Chambers, I had the privilege of attending the 14th Solo and Small Firm Conference held by the Law Society of Ontario. I was fascinated by how well the event was set and coordinated. The moment I walked into the conference hall at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, I was welcomed by friendly and delightful people who made a big difference in how I approached the following hours. Indeed, the first impression was a good one. But was the remainder of the event as good or better? The answer is clear yes.

The event held multiple seminars which is well suited to help solo practitioners or small firms improve how they conduct their business. The opening plenary shed light into the fundamental principle for all practitioners in today’s society: be like the T-Shaped lawyer. These days, legal expertise alone is not enough for success. Lawyers must have, in addition to legal expertise, some important business skills. The concept of the T-Shaped lawyer and the ‘+’-Shaped lawyer was proposed as the ideal to strive towards.

The T-Shaped is a lawyer who not only has legal expertise but also has the ability to engage their practice with some design-thinking, data analytics, technologies, project management, and business processes and tools. The ‘+’-Shaped lawyer, on the other hand, is the lawyer who can do what a the T-Shaped lawyer can do but, in addition, has great interpersonal, intrapersonal, communication, and other soft skills which may positively impact how well practice and business are conducted. These concepts are used to support the claim that knowledge of the law alone is no longer enough to succeed as a solo practitioner or a small firm. There must be a balance of legal expertise, personability, and business skills.

It is refreshing to see that some Law Schools are understanding the importance of the T-Shaped lawyer, as Universities like Ryerson, Osgoode (York), and Calgary have implemented this concept by providing courses which build on skills beyond legal practice alone.

The first seminar I attended was great. It was on research tools for lawyers and how they may be adopted in practice. The seminar was hosted by two individuals: Mona Datt, founder of Loom Analytics; and Colin Lachance, interim General Manager of vLex.com in North America. As expected, they mainly promoted Loom Analytics and vLex, but they were more unbiased about their approach than I expected. Loom Analytics aggregates case law into descriptive information about the judicial actors of the aggregated cases. It is meant to provide a structured view of case law with respect to its actors. It provides users with services such as counsel analytics and judge analytics, which can be a controversial topic nowadays. Some view the service as unethical while others consider it fair play. These are certainly important views to consider. I just wonder which side is right.

vLex is promoted as a database that is better than CanLii. It is a research tool similar to the traditional tools of legal practice, but includes an intelligence called “Vincent”. When reading a case, Vincent is able to guide users to related cases, which can be of great importance when lawyers need to consider multiple cases on a particular issue or factual matrix. Another interesting feature is that users may drag and drop documents to query results in vLex. The document can lead the user to relevant cases based on the document presented. Once the query is complete, it is important to note that the document inputted is not tracked. This can be important for lawyers who require the maintenance of privacy.

The second seminar I attended was held by three individuals: Andrew Swales, of Next Generation Legal Accounting; Joyce Thomas, of Thomas Litigation; and Karissa Ward, of Wards Lawyers PC. They spoke on how to grow the law firm. What resonated with me most was the importance of creating a work environment which let current and future employees want to work for your firm. This can executed through fun events like Halloween decoration contests, escape rooms, hockey tournaments, etc. Personally, I would love to add Office Olympics to the list (please see “The Office” US). There are plenty of ways to have fun. Just make sure to also show the fun through a good website or through social media.

Another factor is clear communication. This can be implemented through a clear employment or partnership agreement. For retaining employees, clear understanding of career paths, recognizing strengths and weaknesses, and properly addressing mental health can play a large role in how well a business is conducted, which may be conducive to employment growth and employment retention.

There were lots of important information presented in this seminar, including proper accounting systems and the prediction of future liabilities. But my favourite presentation was on the fun part of work. It is important that a lawyer is not dead serious about life. Some fun is important too, and I am glad to have relearned this.

After the second seminar, I had a great lunch served by the Osgoode Hall Restaurant. What can I say? It was great. I took the opportunity to meet some wonderful people who are on unique journeys in life. It is good to know that even solo practitioner does not have to go through life and practice alone. There are Law Chambers that give people a sense of community which can be very important to the psyche of the lawyer. Counterintuitively, even when solo, we are not alone.

The third seminar was good too. I attended the marketing seminar hosted by Sandra Bekhor of Bekhor Management. She was quite engaging, and it was a pleasure to listen to her speak. It was clear that Bekhor enjoyed being there too. Some important topics were on websites, social media, and mailing. With regards to websites, it is important that they are clear, updated, and maintained. She also stressed importance of doing our best to ensure that we show up in page 1 of a general Google Search. With regards to social media, continuity is important. Like the previous speaker, Bekhor also emphasized that it is important to show how fun the workplace can be. Of course, it is also important to be productive. But fun is good. I began wondering how it would be to run a YouTube Channel, an Instagram page, a Linkedin page, etc. The third key marketing strategy pertained to mailing, where Bekhor emphasized the importance of waiting and making sure emails are perfect before being sent out.

Overall, I enjoyed the event. It was lively, informative, and fun. I met some wonderful people and I hope to see them again soon. As a member of the Wolf Law Chambers, I believe that the sense of community in the workplace is key, even for independent workers. This is why I enjoyed the conference too. It gave me a sense of community for sole practitioners and small firms.