Parenthood, Fake Pressure, and The Future of Law

Future of Law Newsletter — Issue #12

May 2026 (5-min read)

Parenthood, Fake Pressure, and The Future of Law

By Brett Colvin, CEO of Goodlawyer

I have never done an out-of-office.

In hindsight, our baby boy probably deserved one.

Charles Grey Colvin arrived three weeks early, already showing a healthy disregard for my calendar. A baby does not care that you are a CEO. This is among his best qualities.

A few weeks in, Charlie has made certain things clear: sleep is optional, inbox zero is fiction, and a lot of what used to feel urgent could wait.

Yesterday, an overdue investor update, yacht party invites, and AI partnership discussions got bumped by a pediatrician visit, a jaundice check, and two trips to the lab.

Everyone was fine.

The work was still there. The panic was not.

Parenthood exposes fake pressure.

As a founder, CEO, and recovering corporate lawyer, I have spent my adult life trying to be high-functioning. Move fast. Respond quickly. Take the meeting. Push through. Keep going.

Useful mindset. Dangerous trap.

Law is very good at making that trap look noble.

I bought it for years. Speed became a virtue. I answered quickly because I wanted to be useful, but also because I wanted to feel important. Packed calendars and endless threads looked like commitment.

Then a five-pound, fourteen-ounce dictator changed the question.

Suddenly, it wasn’t “How do I get more done?”

It was: “What actually matters?”

For most of my career, I confused pressure with progress. I thought I was pushing work forward. Sometimes I was just pushing people.

The lawyer taking a call from the car because it is the only quiet place left. The teammate swallowing the panic when daycare calls. The GC walking into a board meeting with a sick kid, an aging parent, or a private emergency just below the surface.

Most of the profession misses that.

Two of my colleagues have built their careers around noticing it.

Chad Aboud has taught me that influence does not have to be loud. You can lead with steadiness. You can be ambitious without manufacturing urgency.

Pauline Chan has been naming the other half of it for years. Lawyers are not machines with bar cards. Burnout is not a personal failure. Motherhood is not a side plot.

I grew up with a single mom, so I thought I understood this.

Then Charlie arrived.

Now I feel it.

Strength looks different to me now.

Not louder. Not busier. Not always available.

More present. More patient. Less willing to let ambition become an excuse for absence.

That is the version of this profession I want Charlie to grow up around.

Not one where the best lawyers sacrifice the most. One where excellent work doesn’t require disappearing from your own life.

Charlie landed early.

Right on time.

P.S. Chad Aboud and Pauline Chan are nominated for Canadian Lawyer’s Top 25 Most Influential. Chad is in the Business category. Pauline is under Changemakers. It takes two minutes. Please vote for them.

Brett Colvin
CEO, Goodlawyer

She Left Her General Counsel Role.

People told her it was a mistake. Was it?

Marisa Muchnik is part of a growing wave of top lawyers rewriting what a legal career can be. Our latest vlog shows what that actually looks like.

Watch the video on LinkedIn.

Watch the video on YouTube.

Practicing What You Preach

By Zak Biggs

Thelma Zindoga took an unconventional path into Biglaw—and an intentional path out. Today, she’s an employment lawyer working fractionally with in-house teams. Zak Biggs sat down with her to talk creative persistence and career design.

ZB: You trained in South Africa and ended up at a Canadian Biglaw firm. How did you get in the door?

TZ: I didn’t, at first. I’d applied to firms the traditional way, and the answer was always: “We don’t take NCA students.” So I went in through a side door. I started as a legal assistant, became a paralegal, and ended up at Fasken working on a big case alongside a lawyer who eventually recommended me for an articling position there. That’s how I got in. It was creative persistence more than anything else.

ZB: You’d fought hard to get into Biglaw. What made you decide to leave?

TZ: Balance, mostly. I’d done the Biglaw journey, and I felt fulfilled having done it, but it stopped being in balance with the rest of my life. I’m an employment lawyer—I spend my days thinking about how people show up at work and what they need to thrive. I had to be honest about whether I was practicing what I was preaching.

ZB: What does your practice look like today?

TZ: It ebbs and flows—somewhere around 20 to 30 hours a week, which is good for balance. Right now, I’ve got a few fractional Goodlawyer clients plus a steady flow of other mandates.

ZB: What do HR leaders get from a fractional employment lawyer that they don’t get from a traditional firm?

TZ: Undivided attention. In Biglaw, I was juggling probably eight to ten times more clients than I am now—switching gears constantly, always reactive, always called in at the end when something had already blown up. As fractional counsel, I’m part of the team even on the quiet days. I see things forming before they become problems.

ZB: You’re part of a pretty intentional lawyer book club. How does that fit into the way you think about growth and connection in your career?

TZ: It’s a monthly, all-women lawyer book club—and yes, it’s registered for CPD credits with the law society. Three strikes and you’re out, and we’re at capacity with a waitlist.

We read business development and practice management books—the kind of stuff that pushes you to think like a business owner, not just a lawyer.

For me, it’s also about being intentional with how I grow and who I surround myself with. It creates space for real connection and honest conversations you don’t always get in day-to-day work. And it’s wine, food, and female lawyer talk—which is its own kind of professional development.

Connect with Thelma Zindoga on LinkedIn. Learn more about practicing on Goodlawyer here.

UPCOMING LEGAL EVENTS

Gloss and Gravitas with Goodlawyer (Toronto, May 8)

An afternoon at Lip Lab for women leading in-house legal teams to connect, celebrate, and step away from the day-to-day. Each guest will create a custom signature lipstick—blended, named, and theirs to keep.

Counselwell Food Tour (Toronto, May 20)

Join a small group of in-house lawyers for a curated evening through downtown Toronto — VIP access, hidden-gem eateries and a mystery final stop! Goodlawyer is proud to sponsor.

Legal Innovation Forum Toronto (Toronto, June 2)

A gathering of legal innovators across in-house and private practice to explore what’s next. Goodlawyer's Chad Aboud and Marisa Muchnik will be there and giving away tickets to the Yacht Party.

Goodlawyer World Cup Yacht Party (Toronto, June 4)

More GCs per square foot than anywhere in the country. 500 senior legal leaders on a yacht. We’re bringing together the people shaping the future of law for one night on the water.