Canadian Lawyer

Cross Examined A win-win career Jennifer Jones has been able to reach a balance allowing her careers in curling and the law to flourish. By Marg. Bruineman J ennifer Jones is a bit of a planner but, at the moment, she's taking it one day at a time. First it was a career in law. Well, curling actually came first. Then the law degree. Then came more curling, a flexible job in corporate law, more curling, more law. And now a baby along with a life straddling two provinces. "I definitely live in the moment and I never say never," notes the Winnipeg native, cradling her baby Isabella at the Ontario home of the infant's father. "I wanted to have a career and I wanted a family and a curling career. In a perfect world, this is what I wanted." The suggestion, early on, was that it couldn't be done. There were naysayers in law school who maintained that being a world-class curler was not compatible 22 J u ly 2013 www.CANADIAN with a career in law. Jones refused to heed those warnings and soon proved them wrong. After graduating from the University of Manitoba, she went into private practice at Aikins Law in Winnipeg where partner Jim Ferguson proved an amazing mentor. But when Charlie Spiring, founder of Wellington West and a big Winnipeg booster, offered her a parttime job in her hometown as the wealth management firm's first in-house counsel with the flexibility to continue curling, she switched. It was 2005 and Jones was skip of the Canadian championship women's curling team preparing for her first Olympic trials. "I had to tell him, Dave Filman, [another partner at Aikins] we wanted his star employee," recalls Spiring, now chairman and direc- L a w ye r m a g . c o m tor of National Bank Financial, with a chuckle. "Going in we understood if we wanted her skillset as a lawyer, we had to work with her skills as a curler. It was a win-win." That Olympic opportunity didn't come but there were many other curling successes. And Wellington West remained on a steep growth curve. Jones was now working full time doing contracts, governance, and employment law and the pace increased. But she kept throwing those rocks. So that meant the files and the work came on the road with her. During one world competition Jones recalls stealing off to her room for a conference call. The company had grown up, but there were still places for it to go. And during those days, says Spiring, it was full-speed REUTERS/Mark Blinch Manitoba skip Jennifer Jones during the gold medal game at this year's Scotties Tournament of Hearts.

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