Archive | Employment

I Don’t Write Paychecks

David and I have owned and operated Magnus for 30 years. We have employed countless people, including many whose names have faded into obscurity. During all the years we have been in business, David and I have had different job duties. David’s job includes the administrative, finance, human resources, vendor relationship, and client liaison roles, […]

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Terminating employees is one of the least pleasant tasks I have.  Even when an employee has done something blatantly wrong and is deserving of immediate termination, knowing the ramifications for the employee it is difficult, to do so.  I hope most people who have the power of termination feel that way.  Yet, we’ve had some […]

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Live a Little – Hawai’ian style

David and I have visited Hawai’i several times. It is one of our favorite places and somewhere I would enjoy making my home. I learned a lot on our trips to Hawai’i, including that the rainbows for which it is famous are possible only because, you guessed it, it rains a lot, daily it seems. […]

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Living a little is a concept some people don’t appreciate until it is too late.  The ability to live a little is probably one of the primary reasons Melissa and I enjoy owning our own company.  We frequently build a little “living” into our “working.”  Very often, this involves exploring a venue where we are […]

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Billing Expectations

As a follow up to my post on professionalism based on my recent experience of being a lawyer’s client, I want to discuss billing expectations. As I told my family’s lawyer during an extremely unpleasant phone call, what he did to us was like taking one’s car to the repair shop, getting an estimate, then […]

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Almost everyone wants to know the price of something before they purchase it.  This is true regardless if someone is buying a hot dog, a car, or paying for legal services.  Things can look fine, but if they are too expensive, in consideration for what they offer, there will be a disconnect between the product/service […]

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Be Professional

This is a topic I’ve had on my “to be written” list for a long time. I’m prompted to write it now based on having been on the client side of working with a lawyer. Having been the client of lawyers on several occasions, I can say I much prefer the relationship in which the […]

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What does it mean to conduct oneself with professionalism?  Professionalism, in my opinion, does not equate with wearing an expensive suit, working in a high rise office building with a scenic view, or many of the other outward, but superficial indicators of success.  Recently, David and I spent a few days in Merida, Mexico.  We […]

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Litigation Management Success Tips

I am a bit behind in my reading and I just finished a September 2020 CLM Magazine article by James McKeown entitled Rules of the Road: Five Tips for Successful Claims and Litigation Management. Mr. McKeown wrote this article aimed at claims professionals and the attorneys involved in the defense of claims. His 5 tips […]

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Magnus’ original slogan was “Reducing the uncertainty of litigation.”  There are numerous uncertainties in the world of litigation, however, an astute law professor, the late McKinley Smiley, advised us to change our slogan because many attorneys are not uncertain about anything.  They may be wrong, but they are certain.  This also applies to insurance adjusters, […]

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Show, Don’t Tell

Melissa and I wrote employee policy manuals and other training materials before we had employees. I am thinking about those today because I added a small update to the policy manual yesterday, thinking that it had been a long time since I had added anything. But, while the policy manual is pretty well set, the […]

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David never ceases to amaze me.  I cannot believe he missed a perfectly good opportunity to relate his post to a song by his favorite band, RUSH.  The title of the song is “Show Don’t Tell,” which is the title David used for this post. The premise of the song, written (of course) by Geddy […]

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Grace Under Pressure

What does it mean to have grace under pressure? Grace under pressure can mean several things to people, but to me, it means having a calm demeanor and an overall presence of mind in a stressful or highly demanding situation. My job as a trial/jury consultant is stressful. I often remark to people who are […]

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“Grace Under Pressure” is the title of the 10th album, a 1984 release, by RUSH.  The readers of these posts know that RUSH is my favorite band.  Though there is no song on the album entitled “grace under pressure,” the album had many references to being under pressure, especially in terms of the Cold War […]

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Completion Satisfaction

I played hooky this morning for a couple of hours in order to complete some tasks on my to do list. These were things that had been lingering at home for some time and I finally had the parts in hand to do the repairs, thanks to a big trip to Home Depot and several […]

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Hooray for David in, as I like to say, “gittin’ er dun”!  It’s always nice to accomplish tasks on the “to do” list.  As David said, our professional lives do not offer the same sense of satisfaction that comes from other people’s jobs. Our work takes a long time to complete, and often, our clients […]

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Have Something to Live for

Have something to live for. It doesn’t matter what it is; having a goal or an event to look forward to is enough to keep most people moving ahead, even in times of strife. For some people, the anticipation of their next golf game among friends brings happy thoughts until game day happens. For other […]

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Having an interest in something or some things that challenge one, or are intrinsically rewarding, is not as difficult to do as perhaps, saving the world from polio or malaria (goals of the Gates Foundation).  But, having interests, an outlet for mind and body, is a positive thing.  I recently had someone, for whom English […]

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Business as Usual

Business as usual is a phrase that typically means “everything is normal.” Except that, sometimes, it is not. And sometimes, it is normal in one place, not another. Because our work happens in the trial venue, we have to adapt to what is happening there. It might be normal there, and not here. An example, […]

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Although I have not lived full time in Fort Myers since soon after my high school graduation in 1976, it will always be “home” to me.  My family came to Fort Myers from Wakulla County, Florida in the 1920s, almost 100 years ago.  The images of many local landmarks and some of my favorite places […]

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