Welcome back Team TLOMA!

Sending a big thank you to all who organized and attended TLOMA events in April. What an exciting month! Despite the battle between spring and old man winter – our members came out on top!

April Event Debrief

The 2026 Compensation Survey launched on April 8, 2026. If you wish to participate and/or purchase the survey but have not yet registered, make sure to do so by June19, 2026.

Our first Networking Event of the year was held at The Joneses on April 15. Special shoutout to our event sponsors PaayaTech, Dexco & iCompli. Another big thank you to our undercover mole played expertly by James MacInnis and our super sleuth winner - Michelle Bilboe!

Sandra Bekhor led an excellent SIG on April 21 re Feedback that Works: Coaching Managers for Real Impact. If you missed it, or would like to watch it again, be sure to login to Member365 to watch the recording.

May is for Mental Health

As members of management, our roles can be isolating and all-consuming. Without having proper support systems in place (and even with support systems), the toll on one’s mental health can be extreme. Benefits service providers in recent years have amped up their EAP offerings to keep up with the demand but burnout and the stigma around it are still prevalent.

This year, consider participating in and promoting mental health awareness during Mental Health Week. Every year the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) dedicates a week towards educating and providing resources to those in need. Mental Health Week will take place from May 4-10, 2026 with the timely theme, "Come Together" which aims to foster belonging and reduce loneliness.

I also encourage those who are feeling burnt out or need to vent to reach out to your fellow TLOMA members. I say it every month but I mean it! For those participating in the Mentor Match program, consider discussing with your mentor/mentee. For those feeling a little shy, reach out to a colleague in your Human Resources department (if you have one),  your EAP provider or visit our Wellness Resource landing page on the TLOMA website.

Nominating Committee

Beginning the first week of May, TLOMA will be sending out information requesting TLOMA members to volunteer to be part of the Nominating Committee. By participating on the Board or volunteering for one of our other roles, you'll gain valuable insight into how a Not-For-Profit Association operates. Want to Make an Impact and Help Fill Key Roles! Please watch your inbox for details.

Upcoming Events

We have a Technology SIG on May 13 and an Operations SIG on May 27 – both topics TBA. Be sure to register so you don’t miss out on great speakers and all of the current law firm changes.

Last but not least, on behalf of the Board of Directors, we are pleased to announce on June 24, 2026 we will be holding a virtual “Meet the Board” session where we will provide updates on what the Board is working on, answer your Q&A’s, canvas member suggestions and some networking. Stay tuned for further information on how to sign up!

‘til we meet again!

Ava

Every Autumn TLOMA hosts our Annual Conference and Tradeshow, after what has felt like a nearly unending winter, I am the last person to rush summer’s end, nonetheless the days fly by and September will be here before we know it, so I am excited to share a little bit about what you can look forward to this year!

The end of this month marks the end of Early Bird Pricing – so be sure to Register soon and cash in on this discount! 

This year’s Conference will be held at the Hamilton Convention Center. Hot off the heels of the Junos last month, the HCC has seen a number of upgrades, and we’re excited to host our event at this venue for the first time ever! Do you work or live in the GTA and have struggled to attend events that are farther outside Toronto? This is your year!! Hamilton is accessible by train, bus, even plane – and we are so excited to host this year’s Conference in a location that is more accessible to those in the GTA.

The Conference Committee is hard at work making sure this will be another jam-packed event you won’t want to miss. Event registration kicks off the afternoon of Tuesday September 22^nd followed by our Welcome dinner at the beautiful Art Gallery of Hamilton (conveniently located right across the street from the Conference venue and hotel)! Will this be your first year at Conference? Be sure to join us for the exclusive First-Time Attendee Cocktail Reception where you can connect with other first-timers as well as get to know some long-time members, excited to help you maximize your first Conference experience!

Technology has been the trending topic in law office management for the last several years so this year we’re asking the question: what levels up law firms Beyond the Billable? Wednesday, Sept 23^rd kicks off our programming with a high-energy Opening Keynote by Daniel Lewis, who will inspire us to build environments where people and performance flourish, because the future of law isn’t just more efficient – it’s more intentional. In addition to workshops by three of our Elite Sponsors, Jelly Marketing LawStream by Streamline IT and Thorpe Benefits, Wednesday will also see our second annual Expertise Exchange! After receiving overwhelmingly positive feedback on this session last year, we are bringing back the Expertise Exchange and making it even better, with longer sessions on the hot topics we all want to know more about – this event is sure to bring you a ton of knowledge and peer connections!

The Tradeshow kicks off immediately following lunch on Wednesday and is one of the most exciting parts of our event – be sure to wear your comfortable shoes and walk the aisles to meet your favourite (and new!) Business Partners, who are here to talk with you about the latest and greatest in their fields. Pick up swag and connections alike – and be sure to get your badge scanned to be entered into a draw for great prizes later that night! Not only are our Business Partner’s vetted providers of every service you can imagine, but they are also industry leaders who love to share the inside scoop on what they are seeing in our industry.

Wednesday will close with a networking reception and dinner where we can mix and mingle with our new connections and Business Partners alike! Enjoy an extra opportunity for more conversation or kick back and have some fun with your new friends! While the annual Conference and Tradeshow are about soaking up as much information as possible – equally important are the connections we build at this event. Connect with like-minded people, who are trying to solve the same problems you are and build a network of reliable peers for life.

Keep an eye out for emails coming your way, announcing more sessions, or peek at the Agenda to see what has already been announced! We are sure this year’s event will bring you new solutions and new ways of thinking about how you can build value in your firm Beyond the Billable.

I look forward to sharing more details about this exciting event and cannot wait to see you in September!

Sincerely,

Amanda Hinsperger
Conference Chair

Giving feedback is stressful for everyone – avoiders to straight shooters. Does any of this look familiar?

• Sara was just promoted and is now managing her old law school friend. But Lisa is missing the big picture on her files. Sara needs to say something, but she’s afraid of damaging the friendship.
• Luke knows he’s very direct. He’s fast and efficient. He says exactly what he thinks in the moment. So why don’t they get better, even when he tells them exactly what to do?
• Tom assigns what he needs to, and when it comes back with errors (the same ones, again and again), he just fixes them. That’s his job as the senior lawyer, isn’t it? Besides, he gets along with everyone and he likes it that way.

So, what’s this aversion really about? Managers worry they’ll appear unfair or trigger a negative reaction, so they delay, delegate, or dilute their feedback. Meanwhile, issues quietly fester, underperformance gets entrenched, and high performers get ignored because “they’re fine”—until they leave for somewhere they can really grow.

At some firms there’s an expectation that HR can “handle” performance‑management conversations on behalf of lawyers and that this checks the box. But associates want to hear from the people who assign them work, see their day‑to‑day performance, and understand as lawyers what “good” looks like. When HR is asked to step in, it weakens the sense of being known and supported by the person whose opinion matters most about their future.

Underneath much of this discomfort is social uncertainty: it’s not clear what “appropriate” looks like in this kind of conversation, especially when you’d really like to avoid creating tension with someone you work with every day.

Here’s where HR can help. Instead of asking managers to “be braver” or “just do it,” you can give them a simple, shared structure to lean on. It’s not unlike having court rules. Even very polite lawyers can shift into fierce, focused advocacy in the courtroom because there’s a structure that makes that behaviour permissible, expected even.

Giving feedback in 3 stages

Before: getting ready

• Get clear on goals: what success looks like in this role, for this person’s career, and for the firm.
• Choose 1–3 priorities for this conversation rather than “everything at once.”
• Gather concrete examples (good or bad) so you’re talking about real data, not impressions.
• Check assumptions and biases, including any recent events that might colour your view.

During: the conversation itself

• Manage yourself immediately before and throughout the meeting. Notice any signs of discomfort – sweaty palms, fidgeting, shallow breathing. Take a few mindful breaths to come back to your calm, grounded self.
• Make it a two‑way conversation. Ask questions, stay curious, and resist the pull to assume you already know the whole story.
• When appropriate, share a story from your own experience to show you recognise the hurdles they’re facing. This helps build trust and makes it more likely they’ll respond and your conversation will have real impact.

After: turning it into a rhythm

• Agree on 1–2 concrete next steps to establish accountability.
• Set a schedule for ongoing feedback conversations, so you’re not waiting for a crisis or an annual review.
• Ask for feedback on your feedback, and make it easy for them to be honest by sharing how their input will help you support them better.

Hybrid work amplifies all of this discomfort. Thank‑yous get shortened or forgotten. Small issues are harder to see until they’re big. And because people aren’t chatting casually, giving feedback feels even more socially awkward.

To get comfortable with this process, we need to take a closer look at what it means to be “kind.” Avoiding hard truths or just “being nice” can feel kinder in the moment. But it’s not kinder to let someone believe they’re performing at a higher level than they are, only to be deeply disappointed when a promotion doesn’t come through.

We also need to look at what it means to lead. Hierarchy isn’t always helpful. The team needs to know that you’ve been there yourself and can still relate to what’s going on for them—as an ally, rather than a distant superior. Being willing to be a bit vulnerable and share something relatable from your own journey helps people see that they’re not being judged for talking about current limitations or struggles.

I can’t count the number of times I’ve coached smart, young professionals who share a real struggle and, when I ask if they’ve told their supervisor, the answer is no. Every time. Why? Because they worry it will make them look bad and be held against them later. It doesn’t occur to them that by asking for help they could get the support they need and possibly accelerate their growth as a result.

At the end of the day, this process is about building trust. Being honest isn’t always easy. Adjusting your communication style so you can be heard—and so you can really understand—isn’t easy either. But if you trust someone enough to be genuinely honest with them about how they’re doing and what they need to do to get better, they may trust you enough to be honest about what they really need.

You can be that manager who makes your team feel safe enough to open up—and model the way for your leadership group to follow.

That’s what will make your keepers want to stay.

Marketing a law firm has never been straightforward; but for many firms today, it feels more uncertain than ever.

There is no shortage of options. Firms are told to invest in SEO, run ads, post on LinkedIn, build a brand, create content, and often all at once. Yet despite this activity, many lawyers and firms are left asking the same questions: What should we actually be doing? Where should we be investing? And how do we know if any of it is working?

The issue is not a lack of effort. It is a lack of clarity.

Marketing still works. But the way clients find, and ultimately choose a lawyer, has changed in meaningful ways.

The Shift: From Being Found to Being Chosen

For years, legal marketing focused heavily on visibility. Ranking well in search results, generating website traffic, and increasing exposure were seen as primary indicators of success.

Today, those metrics tell only part of the story.

Clients are moving through the decision-making process more quickly. They are gathering information from multiple sources (search engines, referrals, professional networks, and increasingly, AI-driven summaries) and forming impressions earlier. In many cases, by the time they reach a firm’s website, they are already narrowing their options.

This shift does not eliminate the importance of visibility. Rather, it raises the stakes. Being visible is no longer the objective on its own, it is the entry point. What follows must reinforce credibility, relevance, and trust.

Why Marketing Feels Uncertain Right Now

Across a wide range of law firms, a similar pattern tends to emerge. Firms are participating in marketing in some capacity, but the results feel inconsistent or unclear.

This often stems from a combination of factors:

• Efforts spread across multiple channels without a clear strategy
• Limited insight into which activities are driving new files
• Decisions made reactively, rather than as part of a defined plan

Without a structured approach, marketing can begin to feel fragmented — a series of disconnected activities rather than a coordinated effort tied to business outcomes.

In most cases, the challenge is not that firms are doing too little. It is that their efforts are not aligned with how clients actually engage with legal services.

Understanding How Clients Find You

A more effective approach to marketing begins with a simple question: How do clients in our practice area actually find and select a lawyer?

The answer varies significantly depending on the type of work.

In search-driven practice areas such as personal injury, family law, and criminal defence, prospective clients often turn to Google at moments of urgency. Visibility in search, whether through paid advertising or organic rankings, is critical. Firms that are not present in those moments are unlikely to be considered.

In contrast, relationship-driven practices such as securities litigation, corporate/commercial law, and tax tend to rely less on search. Work is often generated through referrals, existing relationships, and professional networks. In these cases, visibility is built through reputation, thought leadership, industry involvement, and consistent presence within the right circles.

There is also a middle ground. Practices such as employment law, real estate litigation, and immigration often involve both search and referral-based discovery. These areas require a more balanced approach, combining visibility with credibility-building efforts.

Recognizing where your practice sits along this spectrum is essential. A strategy that is effective in one context may be less impactful in another, not because it is flawed, but because it is misapplied.

Where to Focus Time and Investment

For many firms, the most practical question is not whether to invest in marketing, but how to allocate resources effectively.

A useful way to frame this is through three core functions:

Capturing Demand
This involves showing up when a prospective client is actively looking for legal help. It includes tools such as Google Ads and targeted SEO. For firms seeking more immediate or predictable lead flow, this is often the most direct path.

Building Authority and Visibility
This is what influences whether a prospective client chooses one firm over another. It includes publishing insights, maintaining a professional presence on platforms such as LinkedIn, participating in industry discussions, and building a strong base of reviews and referrals. While it requires consistency, it strengthens positioning over time.

Converting Opportunities
This is frequently overlooked. Even when interest is generated, firms may lose potential clients due to unclear messaging, delayed responses, or inconsistent intake processes. Ensuring that inquiries are handled efficiently and professionally can have a significant impact on outcomes.

When these three areas are aligned, marketing becomes more than a series of tactics — it becomes a system that supports business development.

Reconsidering the Role of Advertising

Advertising remains an area of hesitation for many firms and lawyers, often due to regulatory considerations and concerns about professional positioning. That caution is well-founded. Legal marketing requires a thoughtful and compliant approach.

However, the decision is not simply whether to advertise. It is whether the firm has a reliable and diversified way of generating work.

When implemented appropriately, advertising is not about aggressive promotion. It is about controlled visibility, appearing in specific contexts, within defined parameters, and with clear messaging. For search-driven practices, it can play a meaningful role in capturing demand. For others, it may serve as a more targeted or supplementary tool.

The key is to approach it strategically, rather than reactively.

A More Practical Perspective

A shift in perspective can make marketing decisions more manageable.

Instead of asking, “How much should we spend?”, firms may find it more useful to ask:

“What are we trying to achieve, and what is the most direct way to support that goal?”

This approach encourages alignment between marketing efforts and business priorities. It also helps firms avoid spreading resources too thinly across multiple initiatives that may not be equally relevant.

For example, a firm seeking to stabilize workflow may prioritize demand capture. A firm focused on higher-value work may invest more heavily in authority and positioning. A firm experiencing missed opportunities may focus on improving conversion.

Clarity around objectives allows for more deliberate and effective decisions.

Final Thought

The firms seeing the strongest results today are not necessarily those doing the most marketing. They are the ones making clearer decisions about where their work comes from, who they are trying to reach, and how they position themselves when that moment arises. In many cases, this means doing fewer things, but doing them more intentionally. It means aligning marketing efforts with business goals, understanding which channels actually influence client decisions, and ensuring that when someone does engage, the experience is clear, responsive, and professional.

In an environment that continues to evolve, clarity becomes a competitive advantage. Firms that are able to articulate what they do, demonstrate credibility, and make it easy for a prospective client to take the next step will consistently outperform those relying on volume alone. Marketing is no longer about being everywhere or generating as much visibility as possible. It is about being present in the right moments, with the right message, in a way that builds confidence and drives action.

Information governance as an enabler: Why strong governance supports innovation, not constraint

If article 1 established that information governance is broader than records management, the next hurdle is perception.

Even when leadership understands that governance extends across systems and lifecycle stages, there is often a lingering concern — particularly at partner level — that governance introduces restriction. More rules. More oversight. More administrative friction.

In Canadian firms that value professional autonomy and efficiency, that perception can quietly stall progress.

But the firms that have advanced their governance maturity tend to reach a different conclusion.

Weak governance creates friction.

Strong governance removes it.

Where the friction really comes from

When governance is underdeveloped, operational inefficiencies multiply quietly.

Lawyers search across expanding repositories where inactive matters sit alongside current ones. Collaboration workspaces remain accessible long after work concludes. Email archives grow without clear lifecycle boundaries. IT teams manage infrastructure expansion without corresponding data reduction. Risk teams respond to increasingly complex client audits without centralized visibility into lifecycle enforcement.

None of these issues are dramatic on their own. But together, they create drag.

Time is lost searching through outdated content. Storage costs rise steadily. Audit responses become more complex. Innovation initiatives — particularly those involving AI — raise concerns about data quality and exposure.

In these situations, governance is not the obstacle.

Its absence is.

Governance as infrastructure for efficiency

Strong governance reduces noise.

When matters are classified correctly at intake, retention expectations are clear from the outset. When closure, for example, triggers structured review, dormant content does not accumulate indefinitely. When retention rules are enforced consistently across systems, repositories remain proportionate and manageable. This discipline does not restrict lawyers. It supports them.

A cleaner information environment improves search results. Defined access controls reduce unnecessary exposure. Structured lifecycle management reduces the burden of periodic clean-up campaigns.

Governance becomes invisible infrastructure — operating in the background while improving operational clarity.

For Canadian firms operating with lean teams, that efficiency is not theoretical. It reduces manual workload and prevents reactive projects.

Supporting client confidence

Client expectations are evolving and Canadian firms increasingly receive security and governance questionnaires that go beyond perimeter controls. Clients want to understand lifecycle management, retention enforcement, and access review practices. They want evidence of structured oversight.

When governance is informal, responding to these requests requires explanation. When governance is structured, firms respond with data.

That difference strengthens client confidence, and it also shifts the internal narrative. Governance is no longer something imposed externally. It becomes part of how the firm demonstrates professionalism and control.

Enabling responsible innovation

Perhaps the clearest example of governance as an enabler lies in innovation.

Many firms are exploring AI-assisted research, document automation, analytics, and knowledge management platforms. These initiatives depend on high-quality, well-classified, appropriately retained information.

If data is duplicated, inconsistently classified, or retained indefinitely without lifecycle discipline, AI tools introduce risk. Sensitive information may surface unintentionally. Outdated content may distort analysis. Access exposure may widen.

Strong governance mitigates these risks before innovation begins.

When retention is enforced and classification is consistent, data sets become more reliable. When access is reviewed systematically, exposure narrows. When lifecycle discipline is embedded, firms can adopt new technologies with greater confidence.

Governance does not slow innovation - it creates the conditions under which innovation is sustainable.

The cultural shift

In many firms, governance hesitancy stems from culture rather than policy. Partners value autonomy. Practice groups operate independently. Change initiatives must demonstrate practical benefit to gain traction.

Reframing governance as infrastructure rather than restriction helps overcome resistance.

Instead of focusing on deletion or compliance, firms can position governance around:

• Operational clarity
• Risk reduction
• Client assurance
• Technology readiness

When governance is tied to these objectives, it aligns with leadership priorities and it becomes easier to articulate why lifecycle control matters — not as a regulatory obligation, but as a foundation for firm performance.

Reducing strategic risk

Canadian firms operate in an environment of increasing complexity. Cross-border matters introduce data residency considerations. Provincial privacy frameworks evolve. Cyber threats remain persistent. Clients in regulated industries expect demonstrable controls.

Weak governance amplifies exposure in each of these areas. But strong governance reduces uncertainty. It ensures the firm can identify what information it holds, where it resides, and how long it is retained. It provides defensibility if questioned. It narrows the gap between policy and operational reality and strategically, that control supports stability.

Firms that can demonstrate lifecycle discipline are better positioned during mergers, lateral integration, and system upgrades. Governance provides structure during change.

Addressing the “constraint” argument directly

It is worth addressing the concern directly: does governance introduce additional steps?

Sometimes, yes. Structured closure reviews. Documented disposition approvals. Periodic access validation. But these steps are not administrative overhead. They replace larger, more disruptive interventions later.

Without embedded governance, firms conduct periodic clean-up initiatives that consume significant time. They respond reactively to audit findings. They undertake urgent remediation after incidents.

Structured governance distributes effort consistently over time rather than concentrating it during crises. So, in that sense, governance reduces disruption rather than creating it!

From perception to practicality

Once governance is recognized as enabling infrastructure, the conversation shifts. The question is no longer whether governance is necessary. It becomes how to implement it in a way that reflects the firm’s size, structure, and resources.

Firms often don’t have dedicated governance departments. They must align existing teams. They must prioritize incremental progress. But that reality does not prevent maturity. It shapes the approach.

In the next article, we will move from mindset to design — exploring how firms can build a practical, phased information governance strategy that fits their operational landscape and delivers measurable progress without requiring large-scale transformation.

Because once governance is understood as an enabler, the logical next step is structured implementation.

You are welcome to register for the second session in our ‘Mastering information governance’ webinar series. On June 25^th, (11am EST), Peter Lamb, will discuss that whilst firms understand the importance of information governance many can struggle to move from intention to action. Limited resources, competing priorities, and unclear ownership often cause governance initiatives to stall before they deliver value. 

This webinar will focus on how firms can build an information governance strategy that fits their size and structure, and how that strategy can be delivered in practice without a dedicated governance team. We will also explore why a phased approach is more effective than trying to do everything at once, and how shared ownership across teams enables progress.

Designed for firms at an early to mid-stage of maturity, this educational session will provide practical guidance on shaping a realistic strategy, defining responsibility, and turning governance principles into day-to-day action.  Click here to register. 

It goes without saying that a firm has a duty to protect clients, ensure competent representation, and take reasonable steps when a partner shows signs of cognitive decline. That includes internal action (adjusting duties, supervising, or transitioning the partner) and, if necessary, reporting to the law society when the risk to clients becomes material.

The often-delayed internal handling and reporting of cognitive decline to the bar society highlight the emotional complexity: loyalty, respect, and the partner’s identity tied to their work. These dynamics often delay action, despite compassionate intervention protecting everyone—clients, the firm, and the partner’s legacy.

Law societies expect firms to report when a lawyer’s conduct may constitute a serious breach of professional obligations. Reporting when the issue is cognitive decline is not automatic!

Technically, reporting is necessary when:

• The partner’s impairment creates a real risk of client harm;
• The partner refuses to step back, accept supervision, or adjust duties;
• The firm cannot mitigate the risk internally, and
• There is evidence of actual harm, such as missed deadlines, client complaints, or compromised judgment.

The third bullet is the most frequent obstacle to firms reporting cognitive decline to law societies.

While the goal of the law society is protection, not punishment, the following typical steps that law societies may undertake in cases of reported cognitive decline are often not seen that way by either the professional identified or the firm:

• Capacity assessments;
• Practice restrictions or supervision orders;
• Mandatory medical evaluations;
• Temporary suspension if the risk is high; and
• Support for structured retirement or practice wind‑down.

As a result, reporting is tardy if at all.

Cognitive decline is frequently very visible and, unless being ignored because management does not want to deal with it (frequently there but by grace of god go I mentality), can be found normally in the following four key aspects of a lawyer’s practice:

1.  Performance:

• Increasing errors in routine tasks;
• Difficulty managing multi-step matters;
• Overly risk-averse;
• Reduced ability to integrate facts.

2.  Behavioural:

• Memory lapses (names in particular).
• Losing the thread of a conversation mid-sentence;
• Taking longer to review documents;
• Becoming overwhelmed by new information or changes, and
• They get stuck in their own viewpoint when faced with new information.

3.  Interpersonal:

• Avoidance of complex matters;
• Heightened irritability or defensiveness;
• Second-guessing all decisions that previously were routine, and
• Change in professional persona (from meticulous to disorganized).

4.  Practice Management:

• Billing issues – drop-in billable hours; inconsistent time entries;
• Client complaints (responsiveness, clarity, accuracy).
• Missed compliance obligations; and
• Technology – difficulty operating systems that they previously navigated easily.

At the risk of a penetrating glimpse into the obvious, cognitive decline is a very sensitive issue that should receive more focus from firms because of its direct impact on:

• Ethical duties (competence, diligence, communication).
• Client risk;
• Professional liability exposure;
• Reputational risk; and
• The lawyer’s dignity and career identity.

This absence of timely action by firms results in many adopting a crisis-driven response.

The Lawyers Who Never Have to Sell

On leading clients, serving deeply, and building a practice without a sales pitch in sight

A Word Most Lawyers Would Rather Avoid

Most lawyers are deeply uncomfortable with applying the word “selling” to themselves. That discomfort is not something to be criticized. It is a rational response to what the word has come to mean in the popular imagination: persuading people to buy things they do not need, using charm where substance is absent, and prioritizing your own interests over the person sitting across from you. Lawyers are trained to do the exact opposite, so it is no surprise the concept sits badly with them.

That version of selling has almost nothing to do with how excellent lawyers actually build and sustain a practice. In law, the most effective business development does not look like sales at all. It looks like the kind of generous, courageous, deeply engaged work the best lawyers already bring to every conversation, whether that conversation is with a longstanding client, a new contact, or someone they have just met who may never instruct them directly but might one day send someone who does. Leading clients and serving them well are not in tension. Leading is the highest form of serving, and it is also, as it turns out, the most powerful form of practice development.

Two Things That Are Actually One Thing

When lawyers think about business development, they tend to imagine it as a separate activity from the work of being a good lawyer. Something you do after the real work is done, or instead of it. A necessary awkwardness layered on top of the professional identity they actually value. That framing is the source of most of the discomfort, and it is also, in my experience, almost entirely wrong.

The Challenger mindset, which I will describe in a moment, is simply a way of showing up in every professional interaction: genuinely curious, actively listening, applying experience and judgment to what you are hearing, and offering insight and foresight rather than waiting to be asked. You do not need a deep relationship to do this. You can do it from the very first conversation with someone, and doing it well is precisely how the relationship deepens over time. The mindset and the relationship-building are not sequential. They are the same activity, viewed from two different angles.

What that mindset builds, applied consistently across clients, contacts, and connections at every stage of every relationship, is a practice. Not through a deliberate sales process, but as a natural consequence of being genuinely useful to everyone you engage with. Clients come because they have heard you are exceptional. They stay because they feel genuinely looked after. They refer because working with you is an experience they want people they care about to have. Contacts who never become clients become referral sources for the same reason: you were the person who gave them something real, even when you had no particular obligation to.

This dissolves the frame that makes business development feel uncomfortable. There is no moment in this model where you are pitching or persuading. There are only interactions where you choose to bring your full expertise and genuine interest to whoever is in front of you, or interactions where you hold back. The question is never whether to sell. It is whether to serve or lead.

The Challenger: A Different Kind of Professional

Research on high performance in complex, relationship-based professional services identified five distinct professional profiles: the Relationship Builder, the Reactive Problem Solver, the Hard Worker, the Lone Wolf, and the Challenger. Each of the first four has genuine strengths. Relationship Builders create warmth and loyalty. Problem Solvers deliver under pressure. Hard Workers inspire confidence through diligence. Lone Wolves bring bold, independent thinking. But each also has a characteristic blind spot, whether that is prioritizing client comfort over honest counsel, reacting to fires rather than preventing them, generating effort without strategic direction, or working in ways that are difficult to translate into client action.

The Challenger is the profile that synthesizes the best of all of them and adds the one quality that makes those strengths truly land: the courage to lead. In complex, relationship-based contexts like law, Challengers account for more than 50% of top performers. They do not just ask clients and contacts what keeps them up at night. They tell them what should be.

Notice what this is not. A manipulative advisor tells you what you want to hear because that serves them. A Challenger tells you what you need to hear because they are genuinely invested in your long-term success, even when that creates short-term discomfort. This is not something you deploy after trust has been established. It is, in many cases, how trust gets established in the first place. A contact who walks away from a first conversation thinking “that person gave me something I did not expect and that they did not have to give me” is a contact who will remember you.

What This Looks Like in Practice

Becoming a Challenger is a mindset shift before it is anything else. But there are concrete habits that make it real. These apply whether you are sitting across from a longstanding client, meeting a prospective client for the first time, or having coffee with a contact who may never instruct you directly but whose goodwill matters to you or who you just can and want to help.

1. Invest seriously in understanding their world. Read your clients’ and contacts’ industry publications. Understand their business pressures and sector dynamics. If you work in more personal areas of law, immerse yourself in the experience that brings people to need your help. The more fluently you speak someone’s world, the more credibly you can offer perspective that goes beyond the question they brought you, or that they did not yet know to ask.

2. Deploy genuine curiosity and real listening. Do not let familiarity breed assumption. Ask questions. Bring fresh eyes to every interaction, even with people you know well. Understand the perspective the person in front of you actually holds right now, in this situation. Then do your own thinking from that foundation rather than simply reflecting their view back at them. 

3. Share your insight and foresight. Whether you are advising on a matter or responding to a question from a contact, form a clear view on the best path and say it. Do not hide behind a menu of options and leave the person to choose. Many lawyers produce thorough analyses of the legal landscape and then stop short of the one thing the person actually needed: a recommendation, stated with conviction and backed by reasoning. That is the step that distinguishes a strategic partner from a technician, and it is also the step that people remember and talk about. 

4. Get comfortable holding your position. The ability to maintain a well-reasoned view in the face of pushback, calmly and without becoming defensive, is one of the most valuable things a lawyer can develop. It is also one of the most practisable. Role-play difficult conversations before they happen. Work through the likely objections in advance. AI tools can be genuinely useful for this kind of preparation.

5. Find ways to bring more value than they expected. A risk assessment framework, a short sector briefing, a decision matrix tailored to their situation: these things signal that you have been thinking about them beyond the scope of what was asked. They are memorable precisely because they are unexpected and demonstrate the kind of genuine investment in someone’s success that builds the loyalty and goodwill that a practice runs on over the long term. If you are not sure what that looks like in your specific area of practice, it is worth exploring. The answer is almost always closer than you think.

The Lawyers Clients Call First

Some lawyers worry that challenging clients and contacts will damage the relationship. In my experience, the opposite is consistently true, provided the challenge comes from the right place. Challengers do not oppose the objectives of the person they are talking to. They elevate them by deeply understanding the context and offering better ideas for reaching those objectives. Delivered with genuine care for the other person’s long-term success, that kind of engagement deepens trust rather than eroding it, whether the relationship is ten years old or ten minutes old. And if leading feels like too large a step right now, start with just focusing on being of real service in the conversations you are having. That is already most of the way there.

As AI takes on more of the routine work and clients face increasingly complex decisions under pressure, the value of a lawyer lies more and more in the ability to guide, challenge, synthesize, and lead. The lawyers who will thrive are the ones who show up to every interaction with genuine curiosity about the person in front of them, the willingness to say the difficult thing when it needs to be said, and a deep investment in outcomes that go beyond the scope of what they were asked.

Imagine being the lawyer your clients think of at two in the morning when something important is happening. The one they call before they call anyone else, not because you are the most available, but because you are the one they trust most completely to tell them what they actually need to hear. That is what this approach builds, over time and one interaction at a time.

The question is not whether you can afford to practise this way. It is whether you can afford to keep practising without it.

Spring is the perfect time to revisit your firm’s employment-related legal compliance and best practices. In this article we provide a:

• Annual legislative compliance checklist for a provincially regulated employer in Ontario; and
• Best practices checklist to minimize legal risk.

To learn more and for assistance drafting policies tailored to your firm, or regarding any aspect of employment-related compliance or best practices, contact Sherrard Kuzz LLP at info@sherrardkuzz.com.

Must Do’s - Legislative Compliance

Every provincially regulated employer in Ontario must prepare or review certain policies and documents annually. Here’s what your firm needs to do in 2026:

Occupational Health and Safety Act

• Review your health and safety policy and implementation program

An employer must have a written occupational health and safety policy and a program to implement it. The policy should include a clear statement that reflects the employer’s commitment to a health and a safety program tailored to the hazards in the particular workplace, including, for example, worker training, workplace inspections, a health and safety budget, and fire prevention and engineering controls. Both the policy and program must be reviewed annually.

• Review your workplace violence and harassment policies

An employer must have a written workplace violence policy and workplace harassment policy. The policies should include the procedure for a worker to report an incident of workplace violence and harassment and the process for an investigation. Both policies must be reviewed as often as necessary but at least annually.

• Review health and safety training for workers exposed to hazards

An employer must provide training to any worker exposed, or likely to be exposed, to a hazardous material or physical agent. In an office environment, this could include, for example, cleaning agents or printer toner. An employer must review this training and its workers’ familiarity with the training at least annually, and more often if there is a change in circumstance that may affect the health or safety of a worker. The employer must develop and implement the training in consultation with its health and safety committee or safety representative.

Employment Standards Act (“ESA”)

Disconnecting From Work Policy

An employer with 25 or more employees must have a written policy on disconnecting from work. The ESA defines “disconnecting from work” as “not engaging in work- related communications, including emails, telephone calls, video calls or the sending or reviewing of other messages, so as to be free from the performance of work.”    

NOTE: Contrary to popular belief the policy is not required to provide an employee the ‘right’ to disconnect from work, only to set out workplace expectations. However, an employer should ensure it complies with the hours of work, vacation, and public holiday provisions of the ESA.

Each employee must be given a copy within 30 days of the policy being created or amended, or when they start employment.

• Electronic Monitoring Policy

An employer with 25 or more employees must have a written electronic monitoring policy. The policy must describe how and in what circumstances the employer may electronically monitor employees and the purposes for which information obtained through electronic monitoring may be used.

Each employee must be given a copy within 30 days of the policy being created or amended, or when they start employment. 

Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (“AODA”)

• Accessibility Compliance Report by December 31, 2026

A business or non-profit organization with 20 or more employees in Ontario must file an accessibility compliance report every three years, confirming it has met the accessibility requirements under the AODA and its Regulation. The next reporting deadline is December 31, 2026.  It takes time to develop and implement the required policies and training, so we recommend you start this process well in advance of the deadline.

Smart Moves - Best Practices to Minimize Legal Risk

To minimize legal risk, we recommend firms take (at least) the following steps each year:

• Review employment and/or independent contractor agreements

It seems with every passing week there is another decision from the courts calling into question the enforceability of an employment and/or independent contractor agreement.[1] This may mean that a contract that was enforceable last year, may no longer be enforceable. The most cost-effective way to mitigate the risk of liability is to review and update your employment and independent contractor agreements annually. An ounce of prevention…

• Reconcile vacation pay

Vacation pay requirements in Ontario can have unexpected traps and pitfalls; if you have not reviewed your vacation policy recently, now is a good time. Among other things, check that any employee who earns commission and/or bonuses received the correct statutory vacation pay. If they have received too little, this liability can add up quickly over time.

• Maintain complete and accurate records

Good record-keeping isn’t just a legal requirement it’s an important piece of your defense if a claim arises. Keep detailed records of employment information and other matters that arise over the course of the year, including regarding:

• Employee information
• Hours worked and wages paid
• Agreements, such as to average overtime, work excess hours, substitute holidays, etc
• Vacation time and pay
• Leaves of absence
• Performance management and training.

The information contained in this article is provided for general information purposes only and does not constitute legal or other professional advice, nor does accessing this information create a lawyer-client relationship. This article is current as of April 2026, and applies only to Ontario, Canada, or such other laws of Canada as expressly indicated.  Information about the law is checked for legal accuracy as at the date the article is prepared but may become outdated as laws or policies change.  For clarification or for legal or other professional assistance please contact Sherrard Kuzz LLP.

[1] To learn more about the importance of a well drafted employment agreement, see Sherrard Kuzz LLP’s April 1, 2025, Briefing Note, Is an Employment Agreement Worth the Paper On Which It’s Written?

Tell us a bit about your company.

With over 65 years of serving our customers, Executive Furniture Rentals delivers temporary furniture instantly for homes, offices, and special events. Nearly half of our business provides temporary furniture solutions for commercial offices spaces, including many law firms. We specialize in delivering high-quality, stylish, and functional furnishings that help firms stay agile and professional. Whether you are opening a new office, renovating, or need short-term solutions, we deliver a seamless solution from start to finish.

What makes your product or services a good fit for the legal sector?

Law firms value professionalism, discretion, and adaptability—so do we. Our furniture is designed to reflect the prestige of your practice, and our rental model gives you the flexibility to scale as your needs change. We offer white-glove service, quick turnaround, and a deep understanding of the legal industry’s standards and timelines. We do not just rent furniture—we help create environments that inspire confidence and productivity.

What’s one success story or project you’re especially proud of?

We’ve partnered with many law firms over the years of various sizes and scale. As one example, we created a swing space for 15 months for a national Bay Street law firm. We delivered temporary offices and boardrooms while they renovated their existing offices. We furnished a total of 20,000 square feet of space. The result? A polished and consistent furniture solution with zero disruption to their operations and staff.

What are some common challenges you help law firms solve?

We help law firms solve space uncertainty, budget control, and especially tight timelines. We can deliver furniture within 48 hours. Whether it’s a surprise lease, a merger, or a renovation project, we provide turnkey solutions that eliminate the stress of purchasing, storing, and managing furniture.

Why did you choose to partner with TLOMA?

TLOMA connects us with a community of legal professionals who value excellence and integrity—values we share. We’re excited to support our members with solutions that make their workspaces work harder for them.

What advice would you offer legal professionals navigating today’s evolving workplace?

Stay flexible, design-forward and future-focused. The workplace is evolving, and your space should evolve with it. Consider solutions that give you the freedom to adapt without long-term risk. And don’t underestimate the impact of a well-designed space on your team and your clients.

What’s something most people wouldn’t guess about you or your company?

We’re a small-but-mighty team that’s a tad obsessed with the details—like perfectly aligned chairs and flawless finishes.

If your company had a theme song, what would it be?

“Don’t Stop Me Now” by Queen. It’s upbeat, bold, and all about seizing the moment—just like we do for our clients every day.

When you’re not working, where would we find you?

You’ll likely find us outdoors—hiking, biking, or exploring the many exciting neighborhoods in Toronto and beyond. exploring new coffee shops. We also are strong advocates of our community, most notably with our long-term commitment for our Victory Garden and partnership with the Vita organization that provides services to help adults with developmental disabilities and chronic mental illness.

How can TLOMA members connect with you?

We’d love to connect!
Website: www.FurnitureRental.ca
LinkedIn: executive-furniture-rentals
Email: info@executivefurniturerentals.com
Phone: 416-785-0932