The Circle of Life
What do you think of when you hear the term “the circle of life?” If I am in a light-hearted mood, I think of the iconic image from the Lion King, where Rafiki holds up Baby Simba (which is invariably followed by memories of my kids imitating the meme holding either our cat or dog in the same pose and learning that cats scratch more than dogs!) But more seriously, my father passed away last year, and between his passing and a beautiful memorial service four months later, two of my sons got married. 2023 brought home the deeper meaning of the circle of life—my family shrank on May 2nd but grew on June 17th and again on August 12th.
I also think of our pandemic experience as a miniature circle of life, or perhaps a circle within the circle of life. We participated in the Great Move Home in March 2020, packing up our computers, extra monitors, printers and other essentials (being an old corporate lawyer, I grabbed Assist’s minute book!) and discovered that law could be practiced first from our home or remote locations. Two years later—at the beginning of April of 2022, we began the Great Move Back, closing the circle, returning to our traditional offices in different configurations.
And two years later again almost to the day, Assist moved from our long-term home within JSS Barristers office suite into our first ever standalone office space! We hope that we will not be moving again in April of 2026—please cross your fingers.
When we learned that JSS would no longer be able to provide offices to us, we had to investigate the office space market, focusing in on potential workspaces for our small but mighty team of three. The most important criteria for us were affordability and confidentiality. It felt like these two criteria were in opposition most of the time—if we could afford it, it wasn’t sufficiently confidential, and if it was a complete office suite for just the three of us, it was beyond our ability to pay. But then we found the Magic Goldilocks Location—it was neither too expensive nor too cheap (e.g. flimsy walls), and it was neither too isolated nor too crowded.
Quite frankly, when you see eleven sets of offices, they start to blur together. I knew that the window in the Magic Goldilocks Location faced south, but I didn’t really focus on the view--you just can’t be that choosy in the not-for-profit world. But while I waited for the first transport of our move to arrive on Tuesday morning, I had time to pay attention to what I could see out my new window: the historic but vacant Calgary Court of Appeal. Irealized that I had completed yet another circle of life in my career, which started at the Calgary courts. Now, almost thirty-eight years later, I am looking at where my career started.
I articled at the Court of Queen’s Bench and the Court of Appeal in 1986-1987. I spent my first three months at the QB Courthouse, spending much time in the ninth-floor library. And then I spent seven months with the Court of Appeal which had reopened after an extensive renovation just a few short months before my cohort of seven students arrive to article. I fell in love with the building. Its style is called Neoclassical. Here is how a historic building site describes it:
Calgary Courthouse No. 2 is an outstanding example of courthouse design in Alberta and represents one of the last monumental buildings built by the province in its early years of development. Designed in the Neoclassical Revival style during a period of budgetary restraint, Courthouse No. 2 has an elegant yet restrained appearance. Features of the style include the symmetrical facades, cornice with dentils and corbels, and embellished central portico. It has a steel frame superstructure supporting exterior walls of smooth-faced sandstone on a plinth of rough-hewn granite blocks. The sandstone used was mainly from local quarries supplemented with stone imported from Ohio. The courthouse was the last major building in Calgary to use local sandstone. The building's symmetrical front facade features two austere wings flanking an ornamented front portico. Above the front doorway is the provincial crest carved in sandstone. The interior of the courthouse is designed in a cross-axial pattern. Despite renovations, it retains some original elements, such as the front foyer, the central marble staircase, most interior doors and portions of the terrazzo floor.
Modern courthouse design (which includes the Edmonton court centre which was constructed within my lifetime) are not really my thing—the glass elevators in the Calgary court centre terrify me. I prefer the old style courthouses which dot our province.
Within the Court of Appeal building, students shared a large workspace with five carrels. We were across the hall from the glass-walled library, and carpet was plush and think. The judges’ offices were beautiful, and we drank our coffee from china cups. There were five Court of Appeal Justices based in Calgary—the Honourable Herbert Laycraft was the Chief Justice of Alberta, and Justices Prowse, Hetherington, Kerans and Harradence had offices.
From my new office window, I can see the northeast corner windows of the office occupied by Justice Harradence. Justice Harradence was a larger-than-life Alberta character, a former fighter pilot and boxer who became one of the leading criminal defence lawyers in our province. Because he had faced threats from former clients who were unhappy to have been convicted, he kept a pistol in his office and would happily show it to students like me who had never seen a gun before. He also brought in his prodigy to meet us, a young boxer named Wille De Wit who subsequently went to law school, became a criminal defence lawyer and now sits on the Court of Appeal! Another circle of life!
There was occasional high jinx in the student office. I remember one of the judges walking in while we were playing Drop of Doom in office chairs, releasing the seat lowering device. Perhaps we should have closed the door!
The Court of Appeal building was vacated by the appellate judges in the early 2000s. It seems that the beautifully restored Neoclassical Revival building was infested with toxic mold
But there is good news: the historic Court of Appeal building is slated to be renovated so that it is fit to be occupied again. I look forward to watching signs of renovation and revitalization from my new window.
It strikes me that my career itself, and not just where my office was, has undergone a circle of life as well. After completing my articles, I moved to a firm with some great lawyers who I really enjoyed, but I realized that I would have to move firms as my practice interests evolved. The firm I joined next was my home for seven years, and then I spent ten years as senior counsel to a large corporation. But somewhere along this journey, my career (and I) encountered the equivalent of toxic mold in the form of toxic work culture which harmed my mental health. If I am honest, the toxic work situation was not the only cause of my stress and distress—life is rarely than simple—but let’s stay with the metaphor. I spent nearly a year on a mental health leave. Like the beautiful Court of Appeal building, my career (and my life) was pretty much dormant.
I emerged from dormancy determined to build a new path for my career, working with two friends in a wonderful business association. We chose our clients for their values, and I spent another ten years working from my home-based practice. But as the arc in my circle of life shifted, I wanted something different, and I returned to the regular workforce, and then became the Executive Director of Assist in 2018. I am not planning to retire in the foreseeable future, but I like the fact that I have come full circle from where my career began. Perhaps I have completed my last office move.
If you are like me, your career will go through different stages of life, or seasons. Spring is where we start. We are green and a bit raw, and we are on a steep learning curve, while we strive to blossom. Summer is the phase where we are comfortable with where we are. The National Study on the Psychological Health Determinants for Canadian Legal Professionals found that experience can become a protective factor after we have been practicing for ten to fifteen years, so perhaps that is our summer. Fall is when we reap the harvest of our hard work, being comfortable, but let’s not forget that the harvest doesn’t happen by itself. And perhaps winter is retirement—I don’t know yet.
But in any season of our careers and lives, we encounter challenges. Sometimes we bloom too early in the spring, and we burn out in a sudden storm. Perhaps we encounter a spate of toxicity in what should be our productive summer. Or we may physically exhaust ourselves before the harvest comes in. There are many reasons why we may have to step back and focus on restoring our well-being, but renewal can be a circle of life as well as we heal and return to our practice—or branch off into a new direction which will ultimately form its own circle.
Please remember that wherever you are in your circle of career or circle of life, Assist is here to help out through the rough patches. We know that isolation and loneliness can be precursors of depression and poor mental health, so Assist offers community programs where we connect lawyers around common interests or life stages. No one gets to opt out of lLife challenges, but we don’t have to go through them alone.
Sometimes, seeing someone who has weathered a similar storm and closed its circle inspires us and helps us find a path forward. This is why Assist also offers peer support!
Life changes are scary. I remember being admitted to the hospital for the delivery of my first child—my doctor had decided to induce me five days before my due date and she told me that in about three hours, I would be holding my baby. I panicked inside—my life was going to change irrevocably in a few hours (turned out to be fourteen and not three, by the way) and I didn’t feel ready. I did some deep breathing and worked through my thoughts—it had been almost exactly a year since I had miscarried and this pregnancy had been carefully planned and anticipated, but my feelings of panic were very real. Thankfully, my panic subsided, and my son who was born the next day is now married—another circle of life. But if you need someone to talk to when changes cause panic, remember that Assist’s professional counsellors can help you process what you are feeling.
I have learned that while there might be one large circle of life, that circle is composed of many smaller circles, each with a beginning and an end. Within your circles of life, there will be highs and lows. Your friends at Assist can celebrate your highs with you and support you during lows. And we would love to spend a special noon hour with you on Monday—eclipse day!—to talk about what we do when the sun is shining on us and how we cope when we feel surrounded by darkness. Or join us just for fun to talk about the eclipse which promises to be one of the coolest events in our lifetimes.
Loraine