Canadian Lawyer

24 J A N U A R Y 2 0 1 9 w w w . c a n a d i a n l a w y e r m a g . c o m "I wanted to be a rock star. And I became a lawyer along the way." In 2005, when Kurt Dahl graduated from the University of Saskatch- ewan College of Law, he took a road unique among his fellow grads — or most law-school graduates period. Drummer for the hard-rock band One Bad Son, Dahl deferred on articling to tour and make music. "I was called to a different kind of bar," he says. It was the mid-2000s and 10 years before the band would break out, but Dahl could see a major digital-technology disruption was transforming the music business. Melding his two pursuits, he wrote his Master of Laws thesis on how musical artists will make a living in the internet age. He interviewed entertainment lawyers, publish- ers, managers, record label executives and anyone else who would talk to him. "I'd always been passionate about music; now, I was passionate about the music industry." Kurt Dahl is a lawyer by day, rock star by night and an advocate for artists throughout By Aidan Macnab ONE BAD LAWYER C R O S S E X A M I N E D He wrote the thesis, defended it, got his LLM and articled. In 2009, at age 28, he cut his hair and shaved his sideburns to look the part at Rob- ertson Stromberg Legal PC in Saskatoon. Ironically, Dahl says, as he was establishing himself in the legal profession, his band was tak- ing off. He heard the call of the wild and his hair and sideburns began to grow back. "By the end of the articling year, I was starting to get the funny looks from the senior partners." But where he was going, it wasn't as clean-cut conservative, and his new clients would appreci- ate his long-haired rock 'n' roll image. He wanted to be an entertainment lawyer and take the band to the next level. "I knew it was time for me, that I could live that life, be like a 'regular lawyer' or I could risk it all and move to Vancouver." He met Bob D'Eith through their involve- ment in their respective provincial music industry associations. Since before he articled, he had been harassing the Vancouver entertainment lawyer to take him on. Dahl persisted; D'Eith relented. "Bob took a chance on me," Dahl says. "Had he not, I might have just given up and gone into the 'regular-lawyer' world." D'Eith couldn't pay Dahl a salary, so he worked on an "eat-what-you-kill basis," he says, making half of what he billed. By day, Dahl worked down- town at the firm, hopping on the SkyTrain after work to rehearse with the band in Surrey. "I'd work all day, transit for an hour and a half, jam all night with the guys, writing songs, and then an hour and a half back home, get home at 11, crash and get up early the next morning and do it all again. Just really burning the candle at both ends," he says. These were lean years for Dahl, but after four of them, his practice grew and the band had a number-one hit song, "Raging Bull." Both Kurt Dahl the drummer and Kurt Dahl the lawyer were coming into their own. "Looking back, I wouldn't say I had the master plan through it all," he says. "At the time, it kind of seemed like it was all just random events sort of crashing into each other." "Next thing you know, it's like the whole thing seemed planned," he says. Dahl continued to build the practice and now he and his wife have a three-year-old boy and eight-month-old girl. He is a partner at Murphy & Company LLP, which has offices in Saskatoon and Vancouver. He represents musicians, record labels, managers, authors, models and publishing companies and is involved in the music and film industry. JAE KIM

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