At CEO Law, we pride ourselves on what we call our “best of breed” lawyers.
So what goes into a best of breed lawyer?
It starts with experience at a Bay Street calibre law firm. We believe it’s helpful to cut your teeth at a BigLaw firm so you know the good, the bad and the ugly of working in a large firm. The good is that you’ll get first class legal training. The bad is that you’ll discover what it’s like to work more than 24 hours straight. And the ugly is that you’ll see firsthand how clients don’t always get the attention and connectedness they deserve despite being hit with hefty bills at sky-high hourly rates. At the end of the day, we believe you’ll learn some valuable legal skills and get some very valuable life perspective – and then you’ll leave BigLaw. Just like our CEO Law lawyers, who cut their teeth at firms like Davies, McCarthys, Torys, BLG, Bereskin & Parr, Lang Michener, Rubin Thomlinson, Blaneys and Cassels before leaving to find something more satisfying.
Once a lawyer has BigLaw experience on their resume, that’s when we see value in lawyers working in-house at a company. The in-house experience gives lawyers a perspective on how companies operate and what drivers and constraints are at play. Lawyers operating in a customer focused, revenue and profit driven commercial enterprise gain an appreciation for the drivers of business. And an operating budget provides a lesson in why sky-high BigLaw rates aren’t aligned with the expense-constrained realities of a business. Finally, some inside experience with the frustration of getting disconnected service from an overworked BigLaw lawyer, often one different from the partner you originally assumed would do the work, provides great context into why a more connected, responsive, transparent legal solution for companies is badly needed. CEO Law lawyers gained their in-house perspective working at great companies including TD Bank, Research In Motion, PwC, KPMG, Deloitte, Primus, Call-Net/Sprint Canada, OnX, Fairmont, Ontario College of Nurses, SOCAN, Masterfile, Symcor, Volaris and Wolters Kluwer.
Then, armed with a BigLaw pedigree and inside counsel experience, CEO Law lawyers come to work for us. They come ready to offer companies all the benefits of Bay Street training, coupled with the insights gleaned from in-house experience, and then layered onto CEO Law’s customer-first delivery model complete with our unique Customer Portal for a more connected, responsive, transparent experience.
So what would I suggest to a young lawyer just starting out?
That’s easy – start your career by working at a top firm then, when that lifestyle becomes overly miserable, move on to working in-house at a leading company.
Then, once you’ve become a real-deal, full-package, best of breed lawyer, come work for us!
– Steve Monk, CEO and Founder
