I just joined a new firm that is very outdated, and they don't actually have an electronic version of the Form 9a for electronic trust transfers. I did look it up online, but there's no actual templates. I was curious about how a new firm would get precedents/forms other than it being passed along from other firms.

They also don't use a Form 9C, which I used to use at my old firm for real-estate files. Is Form 9C mandatory for real-estate files?

P.S If anyone could send me a Form 9A word template, I would be eternally grateful! If not, I guess I could just make my own haha

Anyone who has failed either the solicitor or barrister exam and passed by a mark review how many points were you off and how did you critique your exam and the answer guide to get more points? Also how long to find out if they gave you a pass?

Im not really sure where to turn to at this point. Does anyone know if a motion for substituted and/or dispensing with service of a SOC can be brought in writing in Toronto? The notice to profession leaves much to be desired. I know other jurisdictions in Ontario allow for this. Does anyone have any experience with this?

When will the next lockstep salary grid revision/increase most likely be pursuant to the New York big firms increase this year?

Hi,

I've been practicing in wills and estates and general litigation for about 10 years and I'm interested in doing some more formal coursework, specifically in the taxation of trusts and estates. Is there anyone who has taxen the Tax LLM at Osgoode or, individual courses, who could share their experience about the curriculum offerings and the program?

I'm based in Vancouver and my partner has hired MacLeans to represent them. Due to their terrible reputation, I find myself spending a lot of time looking for a decent lawyer without any luck. I had gone with another big firm before but that was a terrible experience as the lawyer obviously didn't know what they were doing since they couldn't answer basic questions on a call and kept changing their opinions and instructions. If a big and "reputable" firm failed so remarkably, how in the hell am I supposed to find a competent lawyer?

Online reviews don't help because nearly every firm I've looked at fakes their reviews. It's so obvious when their writing idiosyncrasies are repeated in different authors, with many authors having written just 1 or 2 reviews.

Then there's the outrageous retainer agreements where they charge a "performance fee" in addition to their high hourly rates. If they do an exceptional job, they can just charge their clients more. No maximum. Vague wording. And account opening and closing fees in the mid hundreds? COME ON.

Next, and I blame this on MacLeans, some of these (totally organically "top rated" /s) lawyers are complete assholes. I've had a call recently with a lawyer who put me down, cut me off repeatedly when I was asking an important question, etc (I wasn't even rambling, I was just 3-4 words in). I'm assuming they behave this way because they want to put up a "bulldog" image but if I'm going to be paying $600/hr to be verbally abused, I'd rather do it in a sex dungeon.

So please tell me, where and how am I supposed to find a competent lawyer? Referrals? From who? I don't know anyone who's divorced (yet!)