Mike Lickver (pictured) has crowned his journey from law school to landing a job at a top Canadian corporate law firm by penning a rap.
I’ve done my best to transcribe the opening verse:
“In first year, with those applications to those damn firms, that graduation for the Bar course, see we did work, ten months for that intern, a small fish in a big firm, to the street I return, money taller than Big Bird. Yes sir, we made it! Oh yeah, we made it.”
Later in the rap, Lickver – who spent over £3,000 on the accompanying video, which was shot in New York, Miami and Toronto – goes on to explain that by becoming a lawyer he is “just trying to give his parents something they can brag about” while “making music with my homies”. He adds: “What you mad about?”
Watch Lickver in action below.
Perhaps the most amazing thing about all of this is that Bennett Jones, the firm which Lickver has joined, seems to really like their new recruit’s hip hop sideline.
Partner Hugo Alves said: “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. 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.”
Alves added that Lickver’s previous forays into hip hop, ‘Law School Husslin’ and ‘Law School Husslin 2’, helped him to get a foot in the door at the firm.
“The self-funded, professional-looking videos certainly stood out from the typical ‘loves to cook, runs marathons’ hobbies,” he explained. “I checked them out on the internet, they were quite good. That level of creativity and commitment to transforming the creativity into a finished product is time-consuming and takes a certain amount of dedication you don’t see in a lot of candidates.”
Such encouragement has led Lickver to consider a follow-up video about professional life. “Who knows?” he told Toronto Star. “I said I was retired after ‘Law School Husslin 2’ and then I came back like Jay-Z.”