Friday was my last day at Iler Campbell, the law firm I joined in 2005 as an articling student and for which I was co-ordinating partner for the last seven years.  It was a great 17 years. Why’d I leave? Well, as I’ve written here and here, sometimes you just gotta take a risk and pursue a dream, letting go of things that, while still good, may be approaching their best before dates. This is one of those times.

Back in October, I decided to make a spider for the occasion. “What is she talking about?" I hear you ask. As a kid, I didn’t have advent calendars. Instead, while others had a chocolate treat at bedtime in the lead up to Christmas, I enjoyed brutally ripping a leg from my paper spider.  When the spider was reduced to a body, it was the magical 25th. (Hey, I couldn’t make this up if I tried - just reporting my childhood.)   

The spider has become a way for me to mark time leading to all major life events. I decided this time to inscribe each spider’s leg with some aspect of the work that kept me at the firm for so many more years than I’d ever imagined, creating a love letter to Iler Campbell in arachnid form. Let me put some flesh on those paper legs.

1. Relationships

Life is richer when we are connected to others. I know this even more after surviving the deepest of COVID times alone. My solitude was eased by relationships I have developed through my time at IC. I’ll say more about clients and colleagues below, but here I’d like to acknowledge the group of incredible people who called and zoomed with me to bolster my sanity while I tried to do the same for my colleagues. I won’t name you but you are a formidable group - mostly women - who helped me hatch this plan for a third act. I wouldn’t have had the guts to make the break without your support and I will do my damnedest to maintain these ties despite leaving the firm. I thank you. 

2. Complex human behaviour 

I’ve carved a niche helping housing providers figure out how to include community members who exhibit a wide range of human behaviour, including when to decide that behaviour has strayed so far into antisocial territory that eviction is the only option. Much of this work is ‘legal’ insofar as that behaviour relates to a characteristic protected by the Human Rights Code and for which the housing provider has a duty to accommodate. Otherwise, it’s just complex humans in action - at various times disturbing, annoying, or even funny, but always fascinating. While I have hit my limit on dealing with this day-to-day, I am grateful for the opportunity to help so many better understand what I have affectionately termed “messy human drama - or the shit that happens when people live near each other.” 

If any of my advice has resulted in people maintaining their housing and improved community relationships, I’m proud. I have learned to live with the failure I have felt when people couldn’t be accommodated and eviction was the result. I hope to find ways to work at a more systemic level to help ensure we have adequate spaces and supports so people are housed appropriately and long-term. 

3. Presenting

Those who know me now may be surprised to know there was a long period in my adulthood when I was petrified to speak publicly. When I started lawyering, I set a personal goal to get over it. Early on, I went to court regularly which provided public speaking practice. Then I started to get asked to deliver workshops; I turned no opportunities down, rehearsing like crazy to be sure I was as solid as I could be. 

Now, it feels like home to be at a podium or on a Zoom screen. There is no greater compliment than when participants say “you don’t seem like a lawyer.” Nope, don’t feel like one either. I feel like an educator who tries to convey legal concepts in a way that is relevant to people. I’m thrilled when it works. 

4. Work = meaning

I know quite a few lawyers. Many of them, my friends for decades, said “don’t do it, don’t go into law.” That’s because they have been unhappy since the moment they donned their robes. They chose money over meaning because they needed to pay off school debt but then they were trapped. I was lucky because I went to law school with money from my golden handshake from the City of Toronto - I graduated more or less debt free. (I may be the only progressive person I know who thanks Mike Harris regularly for amalgamation only because of what it gave me personally). 

Iler Campbell has a long tradition of working for the underdog, the cause, or the social entrepreneur.  Closing a condo deal is the same for any client, but knowing you’re putting someone into home ownership who never dreamed it possible provides gratification greater than money.  I know - pathetic right? Law degree, but not motivated by money? How’d I slip through the cracks? Well, I did, and so did my IC colleagues. I’m proud of that. 

5. Inspirational clients

Law is a tool for people to achieve their goals. While I have some passing interest in law itself (and admittedly, it decreased over the years), I remain in awe about how Iler Campbell’s clients use law.  The firm’s tagline - A law firm for those who want to make the world a little bit better - remains as true today as when Brian Iler and Charlie Campbell, its founders, came together in the 70s.  Whether it’s a hub for marginalized people to cook together and build community; an organization that focuses on the visual arts; a worker co-op where people toil together to create profits they then share; a small publishing house giving voice to the previously unpublished; or a small charity that supports women in crisis, all the firm’s clients have something bigger than the individual in mind.  I have been and remain inspired. 

6. Colleagues = friends

Iler Campbell is a small firm - we’ve been between 16 and 22 people throughout the years I’ve been there.  A core of us - seven - have been together throughout the years.  Other like-minded people have joined, most of whom I’ve had a hand in hiring. We’ve found people with values aligned with our clients - and to us - to make sure we never lose sight of our goal, serving those inspirational clients.  These are my friends and I hope they will continue to be.  

7. Mentoring 

One of the most rewarding parts of my job has been helping staff grow in their jobs by giving them the tools and the confidence to do something they didn’t do before. This has been true for our administrative and clerk staff, many of whom have been with the firm for decades. 

But my biggest mentorship role was for eight articling students. With them, I was happiest when I instilled in them the passion I feel for housing resulting in several of them working either for a housing provider or in the area of housing development. I couldn’t be prouder of Lauren, Liz, Katie, Claudia, Elliot, Brynn, Karly, and Maggie. They’re all great. I can only dream that anything I said to them helped them get where they are. 

8. Co-op Housing 

When I joined the firm 17 years ago, the only co-op I knew about was the one where dad bought farm supplies. This changed quickly when I was drawn into the world of non-profit co-op housing. I developed deep admiration for the people who have made a conscious decision to live where they can govern their community and their assets while feeling part of a larger movement.  Community living is rich and complex and not for the faint of heart.  The challenges, which is where I’ve focussed my attention (no-one contacts a lawyer when things are going well), are present of course, but the successes are enormous. I’ve been motivated by the ways the co-op housing sector gathers at education events and otherwise celebrates co-operative living through a system of awards and scholarships. 

My hat is off to all you co-opers and I look forward to finding a way to continue to serve you in some way. 

My spider is down to a body now. Endings are always tough, for me anyway. My guts churn when I think about the unstructured nature of the next weeks as I sort out my third act. But I have no regrets.  IC and I will exist side by side now. And I couldn’t be happier for us both. 

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