Kellerman on the Practice of Law


I have had a blessed career. I really have. As I write this, it is 40 years from graduating law school and as a middle class kid growing up in Windsor, Ontario (and staying there for university) I had no idea where this career would take me.

I have met people and gone to places along the way that I really never imagined, a few people in addition to my mother thought that I became a pretty good lawyer. While the jury may still be out on that one, I figure I have learned a few things about the practice of law over that time.

This blog is not about the law per se. There are plenty of other resources for that prepared by people far more qualified than myself. This though is about the practice of law. To my eye, as a profession, we may be falling a bit short on teaching young aspiring lawyers how to actually practice law. I don’t think there is a course in law school on that. This is my own attempt to try to be part of the fix to that. (I don’t like the word “solution” I once hear someone in a meeting years ago use the apparent word “solutionize”).

I would not be sitting here at a keyboard doing this if it were not for the great mentorship and sponsorship I had received along the way from truly great lawyers and business people alike. As I was one late night last week cleaning out my office and uncovering long forgotten hidden treasures (at least to me), it was not the files or transactions that brought a smile to my face (and a tear or two to my eye) but of the people who I have engaged (I like that word) over the years who have influenced and shaped me into the lawyer and person I became. This is in part an homage to them. Thank you.

And now, I hope to give back in some small way by coaching young lawyers (and aspiring industrialists) who may not have yet received what I had received by way of this. This exercise is part of that.

While you may not agree with everything I say, I hope you enjoy the read that in some small way it will help you develop your own uniquely practice and approach. You will let me know.

– Jay C. Kellerman

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    K-0011 – Good Work Begets More Good Work

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    I am repeating myself, or really Rod Barret, but it is worth repeating. Good work begets more good work. And this is true at whatever level or stage you are at. And you will only realize it of course with the benefit of hindsight.

    This past month, we were able to complete a transaction for the Suriname based Naarendorp Family, in exchanging their direct interest in a significant mining project into cash and shares of Founders Metals, a TSX listed mining company. It was a pleasure to represent the Family and very meaningful to myself and the other members of the team. (And it was their “deal” – not our “deal”. We just helped.)

    Nothing happens overnight and clients do not fall out of the sky, and if they do, that is certainly not a business plan. Representing the Naarendorp Family was a 30 year project in the making.

    Here is the story. In 1995 when at Smith Lyons, and as part of ongoing relationship building, Don Charter and I hosted a small lunch for members of the CIBC mining group. By recollection, Don Lindsay and Gord Bogden attended. In January 1986, Gord reached out for our assistance on a financing for Golden Star Resources, a then Denver based TSX listed mining company. I flew to Denver with Gord and his colleague, Jim Meloche, weeks after the Boy had been born. That for sure I remember. It was there that I met for the first time the then Golden Star CEO, David Fennell. And while we were not Golden Star’s counsel, David and I hit it off quite well.

    During the intervening years, I have had the pleasure of working on any number of other matters with Gord, Jim and David. We have worked together, travelled together and have enjoyed meals together on at least four continents that I can count on the top of my head.

    Which brings me in this story to the Naarendorp family. A few years ago, the Family reached out to us at the suggestion of David Fennell for assistance on what I recall was a pretty small matter. We dealt with the matter, and they thanked us and that was that. We must have done something right as in March 2025, the Family again reached out, this time on Founders. Good work begets more good work and one thing leads to another. Am I repeating myself?

    I have a page I keep and update from time to time, a timeline effectively, as to where files come from. As with the Naarendorp Family, the road most often leads back thirty or more years to a handful of people and relationships. That is one of the many beautiful things about this profession. You aggregate relationships – great relationships – along the way. Value them and don’t take them for granted. It is the inverse of the old sports saying – when it comes to clients, it is the name on the back of the jersey that counts more than the name on the front of the jersey. (And to be be clear, when it comes to the Firm you work at, it is all about the name on the Front of the jersey).

    And here is an idea for you – think about what you are working on right now and where it came from. Sketch out your own personal timeline and keep it current. And then, more important, pick up the phone (not email) and connect or reconnect with the people in the past who have brought you to this point in your career. I assure you, you will be grateful that you did it.