 We are excited to welcome our fall intern/apprentice Umang Dhingra to Flex Legal!
Umang was matched with Flex founder Erin Cowling through FLIK, a program that connects "driven womxn with female founders and leaders for a 3-month remote apprenticeship". Umang Dhingra is a high school junior from New Delhi, India who is passionate about applied social sciences and anthropology and aims to eventually pursue human rights and criminal litigation. She created Office of Dead Letters a community blog that aims to amplify the voices of GenZ in a safe, inclusive space. She presides over Girl Up Songbird and spoke at the Girl Up Global Leadership Summit 2020 with the likes of Michelle Obama, Megan Markle, and Priyanka Chopra. Umang also founded Project Destinytion that aims to uplift migrants, refugees, and international students by reducing the intense cultural shock and rather, celebrating cultural differences- a community that has reached 10+ countries in less than 3 months. She is also an Impact Incubator Fellow, a Nu School Fellow, and a Counter Speech Fellow with Instagram. She loves to read, write, and watch cute animal videos in her spare time. We are excited to have Umang join us to work on some research & writing projects over the next few months!
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  Meet this week's talented law firm founder, Laura Chaves Paz of Chaves Paz Legal and read about her advice on how to successfully start your own law firm:
1. Tell me a little about your law firm/practice. Chaves Paz Legal is a boutique law practice based in Ottawa, Canada. We help our clients navigate the challenges of crossing cultures and legal systems with ease. We provide legal advice to professionals, businesses, families and students on all matters relating to the immigration and citizenship process in Canada. We also have expertise in contract law, public and private international law, corporate governance, public procurement and legal research for lawyers. 2. Why did you start your own firm? How did you make this decision? As an immigrant who arrived in Montreal in 2006, I faced several hurdles to establishing my law career in Canada. Overcoming the challenges of going back to law school after having practiced for more than decade in Argentina and in Washington D.C. made me a more resilient, and empathetic, lawyer. Both qualities that are essential in starting your own firm. After finishing my articling and maternity leave, I found that establishing myself in the job market was easier said than done. Not everyone recognized what a Latina lawyer with many years of international experience and an accent could bring to the table. So partly due to these challenges, and my own desire to do something that would give me flexibility and allow me to help others like me, I felt it was best to start my own firm. I’m not afraid to say that at first, it was scary. I was anxious about all the same questions anybody who starts a business is consumed by: Will I have clients? If I have doubts about something, who do I consult? Do I have the experience to be on my own? After several years on my own, I now know that I made the right decision, even though these questions never truly go away. With the experience I’ve gained, I’ve learnt to enjoy being my own boss and to work on files that I like. 3. What are some of the benefits of running your own firm? The biggest benefit is the flexibility. The possibility of working from home—or from Argentina when I visit my parents—really gives me peace of mind. The flexibility in choosing the files that I want, and to be able to focus on the areas that I am most passionate about, is certainly the biggest benefit for me. While I have very busy periods where I work many hours to support my clients, I also have down times where I can focus on my family and my hobbies. 4. What are some of the challenges of running your own firm? How have you tried to overcome them? As a service provider, the biggest challenging is client relationships. As you build a reputation and learn from experience, you can’t be very selective. But over time, it’s important to ensure there is a good right fit with the clients you’re working with. As a sole practitioner, "who is your client and how do you get along with them" is much more important than when you work in-house or for a big firm with many lawyers who contribute to a file. I was fortunate to benefit from the advice of a mentor, who was a senior attorney at one of the largest firms in Canada. Although his reality was different, he helped me define who my clients should be given my personality, experience and way of working. This has helped me build trusted relationships with my clients which is critical to obtaining positive results. Another challenge for independent lawyers is the administration, invoicing, and the numerous obligations we have as members of the Law Society. Paperwork is certainly not my favourite part of my job! Best way to overcome this is building a strong network to share tips about practice management, and even just to share frustrations and fears and how we manage the self-doubt that inevitably pops up. As lawyers, we can tend to be perfectionists, and to set high expectations for ourselves that often don’t match the reality of our daily lives. It is important to be able to talk about these issues with other lawyers. One of the best things I did was to serve on the Board of the Canadian Hispanic Bar Association. It gave me confidence, brought me together with peers who had a similar background and helped me find my place in the Canadian legal world. 5. What advice would you give to a lawyer thinking about starting their own firm? My advice is to take some time to think about whether you understand the pros and cons to be an independent lawyer and practice on your own. Talk to other sole practitioners, build a support network and make conscious efforts to keep in touch. This is more important now as we’re living through a pandemic. And I can’t stress this enough—keep the cost of your practice as low as a you can so you can focus on client relationships. You’ll get so much more return on investment from the time you spend on nurturing your network and going the extra mile for your initial clients, than you will from an office with an expensive address and high overhead. -------------------------------------------------------------- Thank you Laura for taking the time to share some of your valuable advice. ICYMI our previous posts featured Diane Ulman, Sara Forte, Darielle Teitelbaum Darlene Tonelli, Amy Grubb, Emilia Coto, Karen Kwan Anderson, Shamim Ara, Mitchell Rose, Lisa Feldstein, and Ellen Low. Stay tuned for more profiles coming soon.... Do you have a busy law practice but you are not ready to make your first full-time hire? Let us help. Our freelance lawyers and law clerks assist on an as-needed project basis.   Ready for some more tips on how to successfully start your own law firm? Today's post features advice from Diane E. Ulman of Integris Law: 1. Tell me a little about your law firm/practice. Integris Law is a nimble, modern practice that uses technology to make dealing with legal matters simpler and less time consuming for our clients. I co-founded Integris Law with a high school friend, Brandon Lee, after we reconnected a few years ago. We are headquartered in Oakville with additional satellite locations in Mississauga and Waterloo. We provide legal services across the Greater Golden Horseshoe and regularly see clients in Mississauga, Toronto, Oakville, Burlington, Milton, Brampton, Dundas, Hamilton, and Stoney Creek. My primary focus is residential real estate with a secondly focus on wills/POAs. 2. Why did you start your own firm? How did you make this decision? I was at cross-roads in my career. I decided it was time to stop looking for an Associate position at a firm to instead go out on my own with a high school buddy who happened to be looking for his next venture. 3. What are some of the benefits of running your own firm? There is a lot of flexibility in how to structure your new firm. We could have easily gone with tradition of signing up for a 5-year lease or buying a retiring lawyer’s practice. This approach has worked for many, but I was very opposed to starting in debt from day one. Instead we grew organically by cold-calling agents, mortgage brokers, and reached out to friends/acquaintances to develop our client base. 4. What are some of the challenges of running your own firm? How have you tried to overcome them? Becoming an employer/manager is a challenge because I have never done it in the past. It is a welcomed challenge and absolutely necessary to have a team helping with managing real estate files. This allows me to focus on business development and business strategy. 5. What advice would you give to a lawyer thinking about starting their own firm? Do you need to be entrepreneurial? Ask me again in 5 years! I do not consider myself entrepreneurial but have still gone out on my own. I certainly believe there are traits that have helped me so far. Being comfortable being uncomfortable Although I may be stressed, I can manage my way through unknown territory and can figure out a solution. Flexibility is essential It is a fine idea to have a 1-, 3-, 5-year plan to help point the business in the right direction. What I fine much more difficult is sticking to a daily to-do list because urgent matters will pop-up and that daily schedule to tossed out the window. If you have a spouse... They must be on your side. I think Sheryl Sandberg of Facebook is right on point when she said that the most important career choice you will make is choosing your spouse. I lucked out that my spouse is my number one cheerleader. At times he had more confidence in me than I did in myself. If you don’t have a spouse... Instead have a trusted friend or mentor that will help dissect a business problem. Even if they can’t give you precise guidance it helps to hash out a dilemma out loud verse in your head. Any tech you can’t live without? Our requirement is that all programs we used be cloud based. I’m often on the road at meeting with agents, brokerages, and clients and need access to our files at all times. Although we do have bricks and mortar offices now, they are absolutely not necessary. I can’t live without Zoom for client meetings and an online booking platform to schedule them. I can’t live without podcasts about entrepreneurship. I find it invaluable to listen to other founders’ experience, successes, and most importantly struggles. It helps to know you’re not the only one who doesn’t have all the answers when you’re starting out. I habitually listen to How I Built This, The Pitch, and Without Fail. Any advice on how to get clients? Talk. To. Everyone. I find it amazing how chance encounters turned into an opportunity months down the line. It also helps that I am genuinely interested in people’s stories and backgrounds. Several people I have randomly met at events, weddings, coffee shops, etc. have contacted me to help them in the future. My advice for those first starting out, and especially new calls, is as much as you don’t want to turn away business, don’t be afraid to. Use those deductive skills you honed in law school and make sure the deal, situation, and information from the potential client adds up. We had a few cold calls in our early days that were questionable. They may have called us because we were a new firm, but fortunately I am not a new call so had enough experience to politely turn away the potential client. When should you make your first hire? At first, I was closing our real estate files from beginning to end. It was just my partner and I doing everything to get Integris Law off the ground. I was fortunate enough to have worked at a firm in Hamilton where the senior clerk and principle lawyer really took me under their wings and taught me the practical side of the file. Of course, as lawyers we’re trained on the academic side of property law, but if you don’t know how/when to request a postponement, how/when to request a mortgage payout statement, etc. you’re at a great disadvantage. After we grew to a point where I was spending too much time on the admin side of the files, I was introduced to a law clerk service who would bill us per file. Their team was amazing and we had a fantastic experience working with them. This was an ideal relationship when our deal flow was inconsistent. It was a relief to know that if we had a slow month, this was a variable cost and not a fixed cost if we had jumped ahead and hired too early. Eventually, we reached a point where we were consistently closing enough deals per month that it was more economical with hire our first employee. We did a similar calculation in relation to how much time my partner and I spent filtering though emails, following up on document requests, and answering routine questions on the phone, we realized it made sense to also hire a Legal Assistant.  Thank you Diane for taking the time to share some of your valuable wisdom. ICYMI our previous posts featured Sara Forte, Darielle Teitelbaum Darlene Tonelli, Amy Grubb, Emilia Coto, Karen Kwan Anderson, Shamim Ara, Mitchell Rose, Lisa Feldstein, and Ellen Low. Stay tuned for more profiles coming soon.... Do you have a busy law practice but not ready to make your first hire? Let us help. Our freelance lawyers and law clerks assist on an as-needed project basis.
 Running an efficient law firm doesn’t just mean being a good lawyer. It requires several different factors which can be hard to manage! Here are a few of the important habits to implement to make sure your firm is running to its maximum capability:
1. Set up standard processes and procedures. Establish a standardized system (for client intake, file management, file closings, etc.), in order to maintain consistency and order. There are lots of services out there to assist law firms with implementing these standardized systems including Clio, Cosmolex, Lawmatics, etc. Implementing such protocols increases customer results and streamlines your firm’s development. Making sure that these are set up as soon as possible is a key factor in minimizing your overall workload. If issues arise, you can deal with them efficiently and quickly. While keeping this in mind, make sure to remain flexible with these rules. It is important to remember that we are constantly evolving, therefore our systems evolve too! Make sure to stay up to date regarding policy changes. 2. Adapt to new technology. This is one of the hardest parts of running an efficient law firm. Some lawyers may not be very well versed in the technological side of the business and may skip learning how to use the new program or service. They may feel like it is easy to just keep doing things the way they have always been done. This is short-sighted thinking. Dedicating some time to learn and understand these technological systems can greatly benefit you in the long run. 3. Find your niche! This brings a couple different benefits. Most importantly, finding your niche reduces the risk of the firm being spread too thin. It can be stressful for lawyers to get up to speed in unfamiliar areas of law and there is the risk of potentially negligent conduct if you are not competent in that area of law. By specializing in a few specific areas, you can develop the firm’s presence in those practice areas. This can also help with the reputation and marketing of the firm. By limiting your marketing to certain areas, you are able to focus on a more defined group of people. 4.Understand Your Firm’s finances. You are running a business, therefore, you need to understand how to properly manage the working capital within the firm. Having a better understanding of finances can help to make the firm's billing activity much more streamlined and efficient. Additionally, if the process is made simple by the firm, it can make it a lot easier for clients to pay. This increases the overall profitability of the firm. 5. Lastly, a necessary quality of successful law firms is providing excellent customer service. The atmosphere of the firm and lawyers is very important when it comes to creating a relationship with the clients. The communication between lawyers and their clients is a huge component of showing the firm’s respect and values. ------------------------------------------------------ This guest post was researched and written by Flex Legal's summer intern, Alicia Jacob. Alicia is entering her third year of Honours Life Sciences at McMaster University. She is interested in global justice, advocating for education, and marketing. She hopes to pursue a career in law in the future. While the number of networking events for lawyers is dwindling due to COVID, there are still a few virtual gatherings being hosted online. Don't miss out on the chance to build your network and make new lawyer connections. Check out some of the upcoming (virtual) events below: SEPTEMBER 16, 18 & 30th, 2020: 2:00pm-3:00pm. The Canadian Bar Association. Coffee in the Times of COVID. A weekly virtual gathering of small groups of young lawyers and/or law students around a topic of common interest. SEPTEMBER 23, 2020: 12:00-1:00pm. Women's Law Association of Ontario. Virtual "Members Only" Event: Ladies Who Still Lunch. Registration required. SEPTEMBER 30, 2020: 7:00pm-8:30pm. Ontario Bar Association, Women Lawyers Forum "Virtual Social". Free Registration. OCTOBER 7, 2020: 5:30-7:00pm: The Advocates’ Society. The Big Mingle – Virtual Edition. FREE online event exclusively for Articling, Summer and LPP Students, NCA Candidates, and Judicial Law Clerks. OCTOBER 8, 2020: 7:00pm (with opening remarks at 7:30pm) Ontario Bar Association and the Toronto South CPA Association. Virtual CPA & Lawyer Networking Event. FREE. OCTOBER 22, 2020: 8:00pm-9:15pm EDT. The Advocates' Society. Quiz Mixer for Mid-Career Advocates. For lawyers 8 - 22 years of call. Members: $10 + HST. Non-Members: $20 + HST. OCTOBER 23, 2020: 9:15am-5:00pm EDT. Ontario Trial Lawyers Association, 2020 Fall LIVE Virtual Conference. Includes virtual After Party. Registration required. NOVEMBER 19, 2020: County of Carleton Law Association. Virtual Trivia Night. More details will be provided closer to the date of the event. Know of any other upcoming virtual social or networking events for lawyers? Let us know! And we hope to "see" you at some of these events soon. (Please double check dates/times/prices directly on the associations’ websites as this information may change).    Welcome back to our blog series with advice on how to successfully start your own law firm. This post features tips from lawyer, entrepreneur and founder of Forte Law, Sara Forte. 1. Tell me a little about your law firm/practice. Forte Law is an employment law boutique firm based in Surrey, BC with a satellite office in Calgary, AB. We help our clients solve legal problems at work. We advise workers, businesses and unions on issues from hiring to firing, and everything in between. Our practice includes human rights, workers’ compensation, employment standards, labour law, employment insurance, and civil matters including wrongful dismissal. We also act as neutrals conducting workplace investigation and offer StandUP Teams™ respectful workplace training. 2. Why did you start your own firm? How did you make this decision? I always had an entrepreneurial streak. I dreamed of opening a florist or a bookstore, and actually did a full business plan for a microbrewery. None of these businesses ever launched because no matter how much research I did, I realized I actually did not know that much about these industries. But law, I knew some things about. The timing had little to do with law, and a lot to do with my family. I had 3 children in my first decade of practice, which was the focus of much of my time and energy. Practicing law and being a mother was a full load. When my youngest son turned 3, I was ready to take on something new. I considered a broad array of options: partnerships, cost sharing arrangements, in-house counsel roles. I got the last push I needed to launch my practice by meeting with another successful sole practitioner for a lunch during which she debunked all my fears, and reading a blog by Tara Mohr. Tara signs off the blog with “clear a path by walking it, boldly.” I have been boldly walking my path every since. 3. What are some of the benefits of running your own firm? I love the creativity and freedom. If I see a gap or something that is not well-addressed in the market, or in society, I can do something about it. I don’t have to consult with any committees or justify a departure from the norm. I can speak and write publicly about whatever issues I think are important. A recent example was the development of our respectful workplace training program StandUP Teams™. The prevalence of workplace sexual harassment and racism has always been front and centre in my practice. These issues have persisted despite decades of workplace harassment training and policies. Academic studies in the US identified some fundamental changes needed to make harassment training effective and relevant, including bystander activation training. The idea of arming all bystanders in the workplace with the skills needed to be allies resonated with me and my team immediately as a critical missing piece. So, we built out and trademarked a proprietary respectful workplace training program. StandUP Teams™ was developed to enable our team to have the greatest positive impact on the world. I am very proud to have built a firm that is founded on respect of people, including clients and those working at the firm, but also opposing counsel and other community members. We offer individualized work arrangements that allow our team to create life-work balance (and not work-life). Diverse team members are valued as assets. 4. What are some of the challenges of running your own firm? How have you tried to overcome them? Growth is the biggest challenge. Our primary office is in the rapidly growing suburb of Surrey, which will soon overtake Vancouver in population. Attracting clients has not been a problem, but convincing lawyers to take a job outside of the big city has been difficult. I have tried several recruiting strategies and eventually realized I just always need to be in a recruiting mindset when I am meeting lawyers. Interestingly, the pandemic seems to have solved my recruiting woes. Remote work has removed geographic limitations and many lawyers are more driven than ever to find a firm that aligns with their principles. 5. What advice would you give to a lawyer thinking about starting their own firm? Talk to lawyers who have done it – talk to a few. We are happy to share our war stories and pass on lessons learned. Watch the video profile that Lawyers Financial did about my firm and others in their Going Solo series. If you want to grow (and maybe you don’t), you will need to work hard and put yourself out there. I have done a lot of self-promotion, in person and online, and grown from a solo practice to 6 lawyers in 4 years. To attract clients, the core skill is to know who you are and what you have to offer and be able to communicate this effectively. My year one marketing campaign was simple – meet as many lawyers as I could in my community and make sure they knew who I am and what I do. There were very few dedicated employment lawyers in my area and I built a large referral network and also made some great new friends. A written business plan has also been a critical piece of my strategy. I started working with a business coach, Jane Iannacone from Jigsaw Performance, very early on and this relationship and the plan we created has been key in reducing stress and ensuring I maintain focus. I have since met some great business coaches who specialize in law practices, but I have found great value in working with a coach who looks at my business like any other. I also retained an accountant from the outset, Jennifer Phipps from Manning Elliot, which relationship has also been very valuable as I have considered business strategies. I am often asked whether I would recommend starting a law firm. I always answer that you have to really want to do it. It takes a massive amount of time, energy and passion. If you didn’t love it, it would be exhausting and miserable. I do love it, so it is exhausting and fun.  Thank you Sara for taking the time to participate in this series and for sharing what you have learned! Congratulations on all of your accomplishments.
ICYMI our previous posts featured Darielle Teitelbaum Darlene Tonelli, Amy Grubb, Emilia Coto, Karen Kwan Anderson, Shamim Ara, Mitchell Rose, Lisa Feldstein, and Ellen Low. Stay tuned for more profiles coming soon....  Two recent Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) decisions offer a new look into the relationship between the courts and the other branches of government. While these decisions dealt with judges’ salaries, they offer several interesting takeaways for the legal community as a whole.
Background and Procedural History This summer, the SCC released two companion decisions about judges’ compensation: British Columbia (Attorney General) v Provincial Court Judges’ Association of British Columbia[1] and Nova Scotia (Attorney General) v Judges of the Provincial Court and Family Court of Nova Scotia.[2]To determine judges’ salaries, independent commissions make recommendations to governments. If a government chooses not to follow these recommendations, the government must explain why. To make sure that the government has fulfilled its constitutional duties, the courts can review the government’s decision through a process established in the SCC case Bodner v Alberta.[3] Bodner set out three criteria that governments need to meet:
Summary of Decision The issue in these cases was whether the governments were required to disclose confidential Cabinet documents for the Bodner reviews. The SCC unanimously decided that the government of British Columbia did not need to disclose the document, but the government of Nova Scotia needed to disclose part of the document. Justice Karakatsanis (writing for the Court in both cases) explained that it was not enough for a confidential Cabinet document to be relevant to the Bodner criteria. If this were the case, courts would routinely review Cabinet documents. As a result, in Justice Karakatsanis’s words, “Although any inspection of a confidential Cabinet document undermines Cabinet confidentiality to some extent, judicial inspection of a document that concerns Cabinet deliberations about the judiciary would undermine it more significantly.”[5] The party requesting the Cabinet document needs to show that there is a reason to believe that the document might contain evidence showing that the government did not fulfill its constitutional obligations. Even if the document indicates that the government failed to complete its duties, the court can still decide that the document should not be produced for other reasons. For instance, it may be in the public interest for the document to remain confidential.[6] In Provincial Court Judges’ Association of British Columbia, the SCC found that the document should not be disclosed because there was no basis to believe that the document may provide evidence that the government did not meet its constitutional obligations. Conversely, in Judges of the Provincial Court and Family Court of Nova Scotia, the SCC determined that part of the document should be disclosed. As Justice Karakatsanis wrote, “The exclusion of this evidence from the record would undermine the reviewing court’s ability to deal with central issues on Bodner review…The interests of the administration of justice thus strongly favour the disclosure of these parts of the Attorney General’s report [the Cabinet document].”[7] Lessons Learned While both cases focused on judicial compensation, these decisions do not only have implications for judges. The cases offer two main take-aways for the broader legal community. First, for lawyers who interact with government actors, these decisions are a reminder that while Cabinet confidentiality is not absolute, exceptions to this convention tend to have high thresholds. Justice Karakatsanis’s emphasis on limiting exceptions to Cabinet confidentiality recalls the earlier SCC decision Babcock v Canada (Attorney General).[8] Babcock established that section 39 of the Canada Evidence Act, which protects certain Cabinet documents from disclosure, was constitutional.[9] According to Chief Justice McLachlin (as she then was), writing for the court, “Those charged with the heavy responsibility of making government decisions must be free to discuss all aspects of the problems that come before them and to express all manner of views, without fear that what they read, say or act on will later be subject to public scrutiny… The process of democratic governance works best when Cabinet members charged with government policy and decision-making are free to express themselves around the Cabinet table unreservedly.”[10] Second, these cases affirm the importance of judicial independence. While judicial independence is rooted in the Constitution Act, 1867,[11] over time case law has helped to establish what judicial independence means in practice. Provincial Court Judges’ Association of British Columbia and Judges of the Provincial Court and Family Court of Nova Scotia strike a nuanced balance between the need for government transparency and the importance of Cabinet confidentiality, as expressed in Babcock. In the words of Justice Karakatsanis, “Bodner review generally opposes two branches of the state: the members of the judiciary challenging the government’s response and the attorney general defending it…the interests of the three branches may, whether directly or indirectly, be at stake.”[12] Overall, both of these recent decisions offer new insight into how the judiciary interacts with the other branches of government. The implications of these cases extend beyond judges’ salaries, into fundamental questions of democracy, independence, and transparency. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This was a guest post written by Ainslie Pierrynowksi, a Second Year JD Candidate at the University of Toronto, Faculty of Law. Flex Legal is happy to provide an opportunity to law school students seeking publishing opportunities. Have a topic in mind that might be of interest to our lawyer readers? Case comment? New legislation? Reach out and let us know: info@flexlegalnetwork.com [1] 2020 SCC 20 [Provincial Court Judges’ Association of British Columbia]. [2] 2020 SCC 21 [Judges of the Provincial Court and Family Court of Nova Scotia]. [3] 2005 SCC 44. [4] Ibid at para 31. [5] Provincial Court Judges’ Association of British Columbia, supra note 1 at para 72. [6] Provincial Court Judges’ Association of British Columbia, supra note 1 at para 87. [7] Judges of the Provincial Court and Family Court of Nova Scotia, supra note 2 at para 72. [8] 2002 SCC 57 [Babcock]. [9] See Canada Evidence Act, RSC 1985, c C-5, s 39. [10] Babcock, supra note 9 at para 18. [11] Constitution Act, 1867 (UK), 30 & 31 Vict, c 3, reprinted in RSC 1985, App II, No 5, ss ss 96 and 100. See also Reference re Remuneration of Judges of the Provincial Court (PEI), (1997) 3 SCR 3 at para 2. [12] Provincial Court Judges’ Association of British Columbia, supra note 2 at para 71.   Today's profile features lawyer, fitness instructor, and entrepreneur, Darielle Teitelbaum. Darielle has created a truly unique and creative law firm: 1. Tell me a little about your law firm/practice. AWE Legal is a business law firm focused on Athletes/Artists, Wellness Professionals and Entrepreneurs (AWE). We offer some intellectual property, but primarily we work to help support and set up solo entrepreneurs and small to medium sized businesses. My goal was to make law accessible and approach legal services in a way that people in these creative spaces would feel comfortable with. Everything is drafted in plain English, I work to brand my client’s agreements and we are paperless. I have worked in these spaces for several years now and know the pain-points and realities within the industries, and so I am able to truly tailor contracts to my clients’ needs. I really want people to feel comfortable speaking with their lawyer, while providing quality service. I also do a lot of education, workshops, podcasts and blogs in order to provide resources to my community. 2. Why did you start your own firm? How did you make this decision? I never thought I’d start my own firm, but I didn’t find a space for me in any traditional law firm. I knew I wanted to work with like-minded people and my clients truly are my community. I’m a fitness instructor, an entrepreneur and a creative, and so it brings me a lot of joy to be able to serve my community knowing the ins and outs of these industries. It was important for me to be authentic and I wanted to create a legal practice that I would want if I needed a lawyer. Since this didn’t exist from what I had seen, I was forced to create my own version. No suits, no confusing legalese, but genuine human connection and professional execution. I also have a background in strategy and marketing and so being able to brand a new law firm was exciting to me, plus the freedom of pursuing my side-passions and being in charge of my schedule. 3. What are some of the benefits of running your own firm? For me, having the freedom to work from anywhere is very appealing along with being able to set my own schedule. Of course, being the boss means you’re always on call, but at least I can set my hours, go for a run mid-day if I need that, and I just love the freedom it’s allowed me. Not having to ask permission about new ideas is also great, but I do have mentors, colleagues and an amazing assistant and do think it’s important to keep some sort of ‘team’ element so that you’re getting feedback from other people too. 4. What are some of the challenges of running your own firm? How have you tried to overcome them? It can be very overwhelming running your own firm because you’re responsible for everything, not just the client work. I’ve found the business-side is that aspect nobody teaches you in law school, and so having proper systems in place has been a game changer. Having client management and accounting in place is hugely important to manage billing, client files, document storage and time tracking to name a few. It can also be lonely to run your own firm if you work from home and don’t have any colleagues, which was my case for the first two years. I would recommend having mentors and colleagues to discuss things with and doing other social activities (if possible) to maintain the social interactions. That’s why for me, teaching fitness classes in the evening was such a great balance. The other challenges are the usual ones that come with running a business; dealing with difficult clients, chasing payments, staying on top of book-keeping, managing your time properly, etc. I’ve definitely learned to set expectations early and having an assistant has been hugely helpful to off-load some of those tasks and administrative work that became so time consuming. 5. What advice would you give to a lawyer thinking about starting their own firm? I would advise them to consider why they want to start their own firm and to get a good understanding of the back-end of running a law firm, so, the business set-up. And I would have systems in place from the get-go in order to keep things running smoothly. I really love Clio, which I just started using last year, for client management and billing. I also rely on a lot of technology to make my life and my clients’ lives easier, such as electronic signature software for my retainers. It’s also been fun to use social media, particularly my Instagram @awelegal, to connect with my community and share tips and blogs and any speaking engagements I’m part of. I would also say be patient and expect highs and lows in business. It definitely takes time to build a reputation and a firm, but just maintain your core values and quality service and it will grow. There’s also no shame in having a few streams of income and taking on other work while your own firm takes off. Don’t give up if you’re offering a unique service because your authenticity will resonate with the right clients! ------------------------------------------------------------ **September 2, 2020 UPDATE*** Darielle has also just started a new business called AWE Contracts. AWE Contracts is "an online shop that makes lawyer-drafted reliable contract templates accessible to entrepreneurs across Canada. It's a simple download and customization process, and there are contracts tailored for many industries (no lawyers involved)." Thank you Darielle for taking the time to participate in this series and for sharing what you have learned! ICYMI our previous posts featured Darlene Tonelli, Amy Grubb, Emilia Coto, Karen Kwan Anderson, Shamim Ara, Mitchell Rose, Lisa Feldstein, and Ellen Low. Stay tuned for more profiles coming soon....   As part of our commitment to anti-racism (see our full commitment in the footer below) Flex's founder Erin Cowling is expanding her listening and learning and has been reading a wider variety of books on this topic and reading more books by diverse authors. Below is Erin's review of one of the books she has recently read:
------------------------------------------- I believe this next book in my educational journey will also be an interesting and informative read for other lawyers. I admit I am late reading this book, which was released in 2017. It should not have taken the death of yet another Black man at the hands of police, and the protests that followed, for me to expand my reading library. Written by Black feminist writer, activist, and educator, Robyn Maynard, “Policing Black Lives: State Violence in Canada from Slavery to the Present” provides a clear and convincing evidence-based explanation of the origins and continuation of anti-Black racism in Canada. Like many Canadians, and as a white woman, it has been easy for me to slip into thinking that our country is “better than” our neighbours to the south. Throughout my childhood my school curriculum taught me to be proud of our “multiculturalism” and Canada’s “accepting” immigration policies. I was told about the enslaved people of the United States and their segregated school system, without mention of Canada’s 200 years of slavery and its segregated schools. “Policing Black Lives” takes this education and flips it on its head, revealing a less rosy truth. Each chapter focuses on a different topic in our country’s history and current systemic anti-Black policies. The topics include the history of slavery and segregation in Canada; racial capitalism and the making of contemporary Black poverty; criminal law and anti-Black racism; law enforcement violence against Black women; ‘misogynoir’ in Canada (punitive state practices and the devaluation of Black women and gender-oppressed people); border regulation; slavery’s afterlife in the child welfare system; anti-Blackness in the school system. The book is thoroughly well-researched and written with an educational and academic tone. This is not a light quick read, and that is okay. It is not meant to be. It is the type of book you will read for a little bit and then put down to digest the information, and sit with the uncomfortableness for a little while, before you move on to the next topic. I appreciated the intersectional approach Ms. Maynard took with this book and while it is focused on anti-Black racism, she also acknowledges Indigenous oppression in Canada. I recommend this book for anyone who wants to learn more about this topic, especially lawyers who work within Canada’s legal system. Readers will leave with a deeper understanding of systemic racism in Canada.   Today's profile features lawyer and lawpreneur Darlene Tonelli. Darlene shares some great advice not only on figuring out "how" to start your own firm, but also on the "why?": 1. Tell me a little about your law firm/practice. Inter Alia Law started as my own solo practice in music and technology in 2013. We’ve expanded over the years into an association of 9 lawyers practicing at the intersection of technology, media and entertainment. All of the lawyers under our banner were trained at large firms and then spent significant time in-house. As a result, I believe we have a different take on what it means to be “business-minded” as a lawyer. We offer a different type of legal advice that is more empathetic, having been inside the companies ourselves and understanding how challenging the intersection of business and law can be. During our years in-house, we also hired lawyers and reviewed bills from external counsel, so we have a different take on the way we provide, price, and value our services. 2. Why did you start your own firm? How did you make this decision? I started my own firm for two main reasons: i) I wanted to create a law firm environment that I wanted to work in. I was considering having children at the time (I have since had 2) and I was aware that traditional law firms and executive positions inside companies would both require a potentially unwinnable battle between my new family and my career during critical early years. ii) I wanted to build a team that offered exactly what I felt I needed to support me when I was in-house counsel at Universal Music for almost 8 years. What I wanted then was a team of seasoned in-house lawyers with subject matter expertise that I could call on to deliver efficient solutions, at reasonable rates, during high volume periods. 3. What are some of the benefits of running your own firm? Having influence over what the culture is among the lawyers at Inter Alia is the main benefit. Although we all work virtually, and have since 2013, we still manage to create an environment where really great lawyers can practice law at a high level while also feeling free to be themselves, having lives and families outside the office that don’t always get the raw end of the deal, and coming up with innovative solutions for clients that might not drive tonnes of billable hours, but which are right for the client. There isn’t a lot of pretense at Inter Alia and I really love that. We’re a pretty flat structure with an “all hands on deck” mentality that we carry over into our client work. I chose to use an association model to keep things fair and equitable and avoid situations where we have to have arguments about who is more important or valuable or higher on the totem pole. To me, that can create a toxic ego stew that is almost impossible for a business model to overcome. Our model facilitates freedom, autonomy, and personal choice about finances. We all have income targets that we set for ourselves, but that’s it. We have to deliver results and build loyal clients – those are the metrics for success at Inter Alia and they shape how we work with our clients. 4. What are some of the challenges of running your own firm? How have you tried to overcome them? In 2013, I was told that I couldn’t run a successful law firm without a physical office. That seems kind of quaint now, in these COVID times, but it is a good example of one of the main challenges – namely the need to find strength to make your way past naysayers to do what you know in your heart is right, when there are not many other examples of people doing it. I try to always orient myself using my own personal compass rather than looking around at what others are doing. When I get too concerned about what other people are doing, I know I’m off course. Some of the things law firms do, which are billed as the “best” or the “right” way, are not good from a long-term business perspective and are also a recipe for poor mental health. Many lawyers working within the existing system know this intuitively, but yet there is massive inertia around changing the fundamentals of our business model. 5. What advice would you give to a lawyer thinking about starting their own firm? My advice would be, if you’re going to do it, there should be a “why” that is driving you. It would be amazing if every lawyer who started his or her own firm took it as a mission to try to improve the delivery of legal services and make clients feel real value. But also, even if your why is just to be more present and accountable to your family than a traditional firm environment allows you to be, that’s an important “why” too. I would also say, when looking at the income risk between a position at a traditional firm or company vs. the uncertainty of the entrepreneurial route, try giving real thought to both potential income and “costs”, which include time spent working, time spent away from family, missed school events and soccer games, mental and physical health, and relationship breakdown. We aren’t socialized to think about things that way – it’s always about the top line income number and the material things it translates into, and never really about what it “costs” a person to earn that income. But to me, both the costs and the revenue have to be considered in business, and it’s helpful to think of them in terms of the life we’re trying to build also. ----------------------------------------------------------- Some more wise words from a successful law firm founder. Thanks Darlene, this was really helpful. ICYMI our previous posts featured Amy Grubb, Emilia Coto, Karen Kwan Anderson, Shamim Ara, Mitchell Rose, Lisa Feldstein, and Ellen Low. Stay tuned for more profiles coming soon....  |
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