I grew up with aspirations to become a lawyer – I wanted to help people and right the world of all the wrongs – high aspirations!! When I graduated from university, I decided the best way to find out whether this was the career path for me was to work in a law firm. I was lucky enough to get a job in the law library of Howard, Mackie (now Borden Ladner). I learned about researching the law and figured this was the life for me! But life got in the way and the idea of law school was no longer an option. I moved from the law library to working as a legal assistant for a partner in employment law. And then on it went from there.
I worked for partners in the largest law firms throughout my career and was fortunate enough to have lawyers who recognized my ability to draft documents and my desire to learn. I was given the opportunity to prepare initial drafts of reporting letters to clients, and later, Court pleadings, which gave me a stronger knowledge of the law as well as procedure. I was allowed to “run with the file” in terms of anticipating next steps in a litigation and preparing the documents for the next step. This gave me the grounding to do what I do now.
Over the years, I found myself becoming bored and disillusioned. I thought, at first, it was the lawyer I worked for, but soon I realized it was me. Once I learned a lawyer’s practise inside and out, I became bored – there was no more challenge. I also found, throughout my career in law firms, that it was easy to lose sight of the faces behind the file – the client. I found that the “person” became lost in the process – it became a game of who can best who, sometimes at the expense of the client.
I decided to ditch my law firm heels and set up shop on my own. I wanted to help people – to get back to what I have always wanted to do – help people. I didn’t feel like I was helping people as a paralegal in a law firm. So that is what I did – I scrapped the law firm career and started my own business. I wanted to take the legal out of the law and apply common language and practical solutions. Let’s face it – law is intimidating and how lawyers speak and act can be incredibly intimidating, not to mention, expensive.
But it doesn’t need to be and that is why I do what I do. I try, to the best of my abilities, to explain the process and assist to in taking the most practical path. I, by no means profess to be a lawyer, nor do I expound legal advice. I take the legalese out of legal and bring a fresh, common sense and grounded approach to matters.
This world is ever evolving and so, likewise, are the opportunities to learn and to assist. I love my job, I love helping people and by doing what I do, I gain great satisfaction in helping my clients to navigate the legal paths without anxiety and stress.
