So... I got called to the Bar of Ontario yesterday. No big whoop.

let me be the first to Congratulate you

I wish you the best of success Paul. Congrats.

Very well done.
Congratulations!

Congratulations Paul!

Congratulations! Well done!

Congratulations on a most worthy accomplishment.

(umm...I got a life changing email from a firm in Nigeria who needed my help in accessing an inheritance here in Canada. In return, they said I'd receive $1,634,000.00 for my effort. I've already sent them my credit cards, a cheque for $500, and my bank account number. It's been well over a year now, and I haven't seen a single dime from them yet. What legal recourse do I have, if in five years, I still haven't heard from them? Thanks.)

Make mine an iced Frappucino! Or is that a different barista?

Congrats Paul!

Thank God! We're critically short of lawyers in our society.

Congratulations, and may Odin have mercy on your soul

Yeah, down here they had to plaster the highways with billboards with their contact info because people were having such a hard time finding them.

Congrats Paul!

Well done sir !

Vox Populi.

They are attempting to "cull" Barristers in the UK as there are so many newly qualified, and there is an over supply lol. Well done though Paul Morrison, do all Barristers refer to themselves in the third person in thread titles, or is it just when they are feeling grandiosely pleased with themselves?

Might follow suit with a thread of me own. "Mark Matthewson, Purveyor of Fine Elderberry Jams, and Freelance Bongo Drums Instructor to the Stars......"



Kidding of course, great achievement and you should be proud. I just hope for your sake though that potential clients aren't in the habit of reading PWEC.

And don't forget to add pretentious alternative spellings for common words like "shoppe" and "olde" while speaking and sounding like Prince Charles.

I'd rather you speak like prince Philip. MUCH better sound bites.

Yea, verily Panzer M'lud.*


*Myth...Judges are actually never referred to as 'M'lud'. I knows these things!

Congrats, Paul.

The world needs more good lawyers. Lord knows there aren't enough of 'em.

Awesome, Congrats...


Bullet

Kudos, Paul.

Methinks it's time for some lawyer/barrister jokes!

I reserve the childish pleasure of being able to say I played Joint Ops with him and some other SimHQ folks and it was loads of fun!!! Special credit to Jedi Master for recalling the musical theme to Magnum P.I. as we flew in a chopper over water.

Congrats Paul

Had good laughs playing Joint Operations with you and the boys some years ago.

Warm congrats to a new member of The Law Society of Upper Canada... Yes, that really is what it's called.

Well done

Actually, getting through that process is a big deal; I assume this is finely-honed sarcasm, one of the best tools in any trial lawyer's toolbox.

Welcome to the profession. Let me raise my glass (actually, a large mug of coffee), and do what lawyers do an pontificate a little.

I've been counselor and attorney-at-law for eleven years, and involved in the legal profession peripherally as a law enforcement officer (probation & parole officer, to be precise) for ten years before that. And I've watched the profession get worse every year. The young lawyer of today, like you, is the person that can change all that. We are a profession in crisis, worldwide. We've lost our civility to each other, our respect for the traditions of the Bar, our deference to the law and for what the law stands, and in large part, our professional demeanor. The culprits as I see them are many, but the root of them all is that at its heart, ours has become more business than calling. It's all about the Benjamins. And because it's all about the Benjamins, a win-at-all-costs attitude has taken over the profession. Unprofessional, unethical behavior is endorsed even by the Bench (depending on who is doing it) in the name of "zealous advocacy," and lawyer advertising, in the scramble for money, has become more and more outrageous every year. "Aggressive representation" in advertising is a lawyer euphemism for "acting like a jackass on behalf of the client." Lawyers, in America at least, have largely forgotten that we are "attorney AND COUNSELOR at law," and focus solely on the "attorney" part of our jobs. We are loath to tell the client that we cannot or will not do something in the name of professional ethics, and as a result, those ethics have fallen by the wayside.

I advocate a return to professionalism. Ironically, I believe that this begins with reversing the modern movement to dumb down the law in all its forms. We've abandoned the historical forms of pleading in many instances, and in law school we're trained to write not in legal forms, but to write in colloquial language. In so doing, we've lost our reverence for the Law as an institution, "informed by tradition, methodized by analogy, disciplined by system, and subordinated to 'the primordial necessity of order in the social life.'" Benjamin N. Cardozo, The Nature of the Judicial Process, Lecture III (1921) (quoting Gény, "Méthode d'Interprétation et Sources en droit privé positif," vol. II, p. 303, sec. 200, ed. 1919; transl. 9 Modern Legal Philosophy Series, p. 45)). If we do not respect the law as an institution, we cannot expect the public to do so, and our own loss of respect for it is reflected in the execrable way that so many of us practice now. As you enter this still-noble profession, Paul, I challenge you always to put your duty to the tribunal and to the integrity of the law ahead of all else; to work to return your brothers and sisters to that place, and to follow these simple, yet also difficult, precepts:

(1) Whenever you are about to file a legal action, ask yourself two questions: (a) Can I legally file this? and (b) Should I file this?

(2) Never lie to a judge.

(3) Never lie to a jury.

(4) Never lie to opposing counsel.

(5) Never put profit over ethics.

(6) Never promise a client, a judge, or a jury anything you're not 100% sure you can deliver. I cringe every time some idiot promises a certain outcome of a case. You never know how it'll end until it is over, and I've seen juries ignore solid facts, and I've seen judges ignore the law.

(7) Give yourself some time. The law is a harsh master. I've let myself get sucked under more than once and I'm dealing with a tough career issue right now because I let myself get emotionally battered from the internet child exploitation cases I work-I'm dealing with a lot of vicarious trauma issues right now and it's causing me to reevaluate my commitment to criminal justice.

And if you get stuck and need to vent, there are experienced attorneys on this site. Airdrop01 and I both are, and if you need to vent, I know you can PM me anytime. I'm sure Don feels the same way.

Thanks Cat. I am well aware of the deterioration of the profession (though I do not believe it is as bad up here as there [lawyer's have restrictions on how they can advertise, and acting like a jackass will inevitably result in a law society complaint and possible disbarment], I have always resolved to not lie or mislead anyone (it hurts you in the long run anyways), nor to act like a jackass.

Paul, congratulations on making the grade.
I am confident that you will have a positive impact on your profession.

Congratulations, Paul!

Congratulations, Paul!

Jaz

Well, I have a sign in front of my house that says "no solicitors" so don't you come knockin on my door!

Congratulations Paul!

I wish you all the best.

Congrats Paul.

Yeah, congrats and what Tori said. Reputation is lost forever once it is lost. Plus, not making a case personal between the lawyers makes it much easier. I wish I was perfect being friendly to the other side but the one thing you can control always is tell the truth. If your case is bad, you know it and the other guy knows it. If good, they know it. Letters are the worst. If I ever have to write a nasty letter, for the client's benefit, I call the other guy first and tell hIm "look, you're gonna get a letter calling your guy's demand stupid and his case worthless," etc. they do the same for me and I think I'm trusted by everyone on the other side. That in turn makes it far easier to resolve your cases, I think.

Also, don't think you have to roll over to make friends or that fighting the case means you cannot be friends. I'm not big on what I call the "crusaders" or "true believers" in one side or the other as being always in the right.

If you say "$120k is all I have," then mean it. If you say it and it isn't, you'll never be able to say it again. If you say you'll recommend something, then make sure you do it.

One of my favorite lawyers is a guy who we've fought tooth and nail for years sometimes. But, as an example, he'll call me on other cases and say, "look, Don, you know she's not hurt and I know she's not hurt. Get me $5,000 and we are done." Things like that are invaluable.

Edit... Paul, you aren't new are ya? I just looked and either you or another F. Paul Morrison in Toronto is AV rated so if that is you, i guess I just told you a bunch of junk you already knew. Sorry!

Congrats Paul, but I do agree with Dart's toungue in cheek comment.

Congratulations, Paul. Very proud of you.

Congratulations!

Congrats Paul. A few wig-wearers in my family too. What do you plan on specializing in?