Every Day This Lawyer's Hustlin' -- And Rapping, Too

We've got another lawyerly music video, and this one's pretty good. It's got fast cars, pretty girls, and even a boat!

It’s beginning to feel like a large chunk of the lawyer world, in an alternate universe, would be professional musicians. In addition to our annual Law Revue contest, we’re hearing day after day about lawyers with secret musical talent (or, uh, passion).

Today, we heard about a young Canadian lawyer who’s been hustlin’ for some time now. He landed a sweet gig at a Bay Street firm. To celebrate, he released a swanky new hip hop video featuring Lamborghinis, luxury boats, beautiful women, and some dope lawyerly rhymes.

Not too bad. Not too bad at all….

Mike Lickver is our dual lawyer and emcee here, an associate at Bennett Jones. After graduating from law school and before starting his new job, the Star reports he made “Law School Husslin’ 3.” He unveiled the clip at a recent AIDS fundraiser (gavel bang: Legal Cheek).

It’s not his first foray into rapping or video production. He’s made two other “Law School Husslin'” videos since 2010, as well as an MBA-themed song. Those videos each have roughly 30,000 views. And according to the Star, he’s been rapping and recording since he was a kid. Sounds like we’ve got an OG-MC-JD on our hands!

Without further ado, here’s the video. Then we’ll have some analysis and hear the firm’s response.

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So, it’s a little tough to understand some of the lyrics, and the song is a bit heavy on the autotune. But the production is nearly professional grade (he’s on a boat for crying out loud!), and it was filmed in New York, Miami, and Toronto.

Lickver busts out a few good rhymes (later in the song there’s pretty good Cohiba cigar line too):

It went first year, with those applications to those OCI’s / To those damn firms, to graduation / Those articles to the Bar course / See we did work, ten months for that intern / A small fish in a big firm/ To the street I’ma return / Money taller than Big Bird. Yes sir, we made it!

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He talks pretty fast (even for a lawyer), but we aren’t complaining.

In any case, Lickver’s firm is embracing his unusual style:

“People tend to think because we work long hours that individuality isn’t something that is viewed as a good thing, but I think it’s quite the contrary,” said Hugo Alves, a partner at Bennett who mentored Lickver.

“You want people who have outside interests and who are well-rounded, who are going to be fun to work with because you’re spending a long time with them.”

On its face, such a progressive attitude might seem surprising, but Bennett Jones isn’t the first firm of late to vocally support the uniqueness of its associates. Aronberg Goldgehn, in Chicago, put the firm’s PR team to work helping Shaun Sperling, who recently became internet famous with the 20-year-old clip of him dancing to “Like A Virgin” at his bar mitzvah.

Well done Mike, nothing like the sweet taste of success. Just make sure you pay off some of your loans in between joyrides in your Lambo….

Rookie lawyer Mike Lickver raps his way to Bay St. law firm job [The Star]
Law Grad’s Hip Hop Video About Securing Job At Top Firm [Legal Cheek]
Law School Husslin’ 3. [YouTube]