Life skills and career tips for Canada's lawyers in training
Issue link: https://digital.canadianlawyermag.com/i/50905
COMPILED BY BRYAN SMITH T i P S 1 2 3 4 5 FROM THE TOP The best advice is often borne from years of experience and that probably holds doubly true for litigators. As such, Canadian Lawyer 4Students gets some excellent counsel from some of the country's best-known litigators, who have taken the time to mull over the following trying questions: What is the most important thing a law school student should know about being a litigator? Who inspired you? How do you balance your professional commitments with family and social life? What class did you enjoy most in law school? What are you currently reading? Richard C.C. Peck Peck & Co., Vancouver 1. A law school student wanting to be a litigator should know that the most important aspect of this endeavour is hard work. You will have to be prepared to work extremely long hours throughout your career and to work part of most weekends for much of the year. Extended vacations (anything beyond two weeks a year) will be something of a luxury and you will have to be fl exible in that it is not infrequent that trials carry over into already planned vacation time. 2. I was inspired by the lawyers at Rankin & Co., where I articled and spent my fi rst seven years. The fi rm was led by Harry Rankin, a formi- dable advocate, and it was a litigation fi rm where the lawyers (with the exception of our one solicitor) were in court on a daily basis. The fi rm was a crucible of activity and learning. 3. Balance has been a challenge. The fi rst thing to largely fall by the wayside was the aspect of socializing. I simply found there was less and less time to spend with friends. I tried to make it a habit to devote Sundays to my family as I always worked at the offi ce on Saturdays. On Sundays I would simply take work home and try to squeeze in a couple of extra hours of work if I could. While I rarely had a weekday dinner at home with my family, I did attempt to attend as many of my children's evening school sporting events as possible. 4. While law school is a dim memory, I am able to say that what I enjoyed most were the moots and the advocacy class I took for one term in third year. 5. The Angel's Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafón, The Anatomy of Melancholy by Robert Burton, and The Top 500 Poems by William Harmon. C ANADIAN Lawyer 4STUDENTS F ALL 2010 13