There are some things I do, and there are some things I don’t do...
After practising law for many years, I have learned that I can offer value to my clients in certain areas of the law. I have also learned (or decided) that there are some areas of law, and some types of services, in which my clients would be better served by another professional.
Here are some of the services I don’t offer:
accounting advice: I leave the accounting advice to accountants; I can recognize when there might be a need for a client to seek advice from tax, investment, or other financial advisors, and I’ll let you know when you should be seeking that sort of advice
counselling and therapy: there have been several times when my clients have thanked me for “just listening”, and I do try to offer my legal advice from a perspective of representing real people, and not just “working on a file”; however, I am not a therapist, I am not a counsellor, I am not a psychologist, and I am not a psychiatrist; when it comes to offering legal representation, I must maintain a professional and objective approach to the advice I offer to you; anything more “intimate” than that, would diminish my ability to offer you the kind of true legal services that I am able to offer
attendances in court: although I have appeared (successfully!) in all levels of British Columbia courts (Provincial Court, Supreme Court, and Court of Appeal), I have chosen to limit my practice to matters that do NOT involve attending in court; there are a variety of reasons for that decision, including these: I don’t need the stress; there are other lawyers who can perform that work better than I can; it would give me less time to provide services on Gabriola Island to my clients; and, judges don’t think highly of lawyers wearing tie-dyed shirts to court
woodworking, mechanics, gardening and plumbing: those are more examples of the many areas in which I don’t excel; I leave advice in those areas (and many other endeavours) to woodworkers, mechanics, gardeners, plumbers, and others with expertise in those areas, just as I hope they don’t offer legal advice
Here are some of the services I do perform for clients (but keep in mind the limitations and qualifications shown in the “services I don’t offer” list):
property purchases
property sales
institutional mortgages
private mortgages
business purchases
business sales
wills
enduring powers of attorney
representation agreements
probate of estates
trusts
certification (“notarization”) of documents
incorporations
corporate maintenance
share transactions
general agreements
cohabitation agreements (a.k.a. marriage agreements)
