Celebrating Over 75 Years of Serving Nevada’s Legal, Business, Government, and Civic Communities
Attorney Roundtable: Issues Facing Nevada’s Legal Profession
George Ogilvie, Managing Partner of McDonald Carano, participated in a roundtable event with members of Nevada’s legal profession to discuss a variety of issues facing the profession, including workforce challenges, impact of AI, client service, pro bono, and the next generation of attorneys. Highlights of the discussion are published in the December issue of Nevada Business Magazine.
George’s comments are excerpted below and the complete article titled “Industry Focus: Attorneys” is available on pages 25-31 here. We encourage you to read the complete article to provide the context for George’s comments which were made as part of a discussion.
Q: What workforce challenges is the legal industry facing?
George:
- “[Headhunters] are encouraging people who may not necessarily be dissatisfied with their work environment to search for “better positions.” That is a problem. “
- “If [an associate] is tempted to leave, then there is something intrinsically wrong with the relationship between us and the attorney. I do not have a problem with people leaving because it is evidence of the fact that it was not working out for whatever reason. And I say to people as I am interviewing them that it has to work both ways. [They] need to understand who we are, and we need to understand who [they] are. Because if either one of us has a false impression going into the relationship, it is not going to work. Sometimes things are masked for a couple of years and then people leave, and it was not meant to be.”
Q: What is the outside perception of attorneys?
George:
- “If we are doing our job properly, we have been laying the risks out throughout the course of the litigation and when you get down to resolving it by not going to trial or arbitration, that is a business decision. And [clients] understand it and are usually pleased with the outcome. And if they are not, they know what is involved in going to trial. They know that it is going to be expensive, and they know that there is a large risk involved. [In general] clients have an understanding of the law and what we do and have a very high respect for what we do.”
- “[Clients] have an understanding of what is involved in a transaction and the give and take of negotiations. They are not going to get everything they want out of a deal and, at the end of the day, if it pencils, they do the deal. If it does not, they walk away. But they are not focusing their ire at the attorney what was negotiating it or documenting it. As far as litigation, all of our clients have an understanding of what the risks of litigation are.”
About McDonald Carano
In 2024, McDonald Carano celebrated its 75ᵗʰ Anniversary of serving Nevada’s legal, business, government, and civic communities. More than 60 lawyers and government affairs professionals serve Nevada, national, and international clients from our offices in Reno, Las Vegas, and Carson City. McDonald Carano provides transactional, litigation, regulatory, and government affairs services to startups, corporations, private companies, trade associations, nonprofits, public entities, high-net-worth individuals, and family offices throughout Nevada. We are deeply committed to supporting local communities by volunteering our time, resources, and services, including pro bono legal services, to nonprofit organizations, charitable foundations, and public service entities. We are proud to be your Nevada law firm since 1949.
Media Contact
Mark Buckovich
[email protected]
702.257.4559
You have chosen to send an email to McDonald Carano. The sending or receipt of this email and the information in it does not in itself create an attorney-client relationship. If you are not already a client, you should not provide us with information that you wish to have treated as privileged or confidential without first speaking to one of our lawyers. If you provide information before we confirm that you are a client and that we are willing and able to represent you, we may not be required to treat that information as privileged, confidential, or protected information, and we may be able to represent a party adverse to you.
I have read this and want to send an email.