We say what we think. Some of it we say to opposing counsel. The rest is in drafts. We’re always looking for people like us.
Family Lawyer, Edmonton
We have more work than we can get through. We’re looking for a family lawyer three to five years in to take on a share of an established caseload, and if you’ve got clients who’d come with you, we’ll make room for them.
The work
Your own family files, start to finish. Most of them settle. Our clients have usually had enough fighting by the time they get to us. The ones that don’t settle, we take to court.
Most of our clients are leaving someone who hurt them. A lot of them have already been told by a lawyer to ignore it. We don’t say that. Coercive control and psychological abuse are in our files constantly, and the bar and the bench are slower than they should be to catch up. You need to understand coercive control as law and as evidence, and you need patience with people who are not at their best.
The people
We’re a group of friends and family trying to work it out and build the best firm we can, for us and for the clients. The work is hard, but we still like each other. Pink walls, and somebody laughing down the hall. Most of us have families, and we build our workdays around them. We have our priorities straight.
Nobody here has emailed staff a policy on appropriate toilet paper use, or accused a junior of exaggerating their contribution to a file. We’ve worked places that did both.
Our paralegals are caring professionals. They take on the work a lawyer doesn’t need to be doing, which keeps the client’s bill down.
What we’re looking for: you know your most important work is to think deeply about your file before you plan it. You can say “I don’t know” and then go find out. You’re quick on your feet. You keep learning when nobody’s making you. You have humility and a sense of humour.
What we won’t put up with: talking down to the paralegals. Needing to be the smartest person in the room. Sitting on a problem until it’s a crisis. Telling a client to ignore it.
The terms
We’ll go through compensation when we meet. No Saturdays unless you choose them. We all do, sometimes. In office, Edmonton.
How to apply
No cover letter. Send your CV and a short answer to two questions:
- A file you’d handle differently now, and what you’d change.
- A client who wanted something you thought was a mistake. What did you do?
Email akoch@kirkerlaw.ca, subject “Associate, Edmonton.” If there’s no opening when you write, we’ll tell you and keep your name.
Kirker Law also practises wills and estates, corporate, employment and real estate. Our family clients’ whole legal life can be handled in one place.