Regional wrap-up
West
Come Hell or High River:
Flooded lawyers stay afloat
H
igh River, Alta., lawyer George
Dearing spotted trouble around
11 o'clock that June morning.
He already knew the river was high but
when he saw water running down the
street outside his ground-floor downtown office, he knew something was
seriously wrong. "I'd never seen anything
like that before. I told the staff to get
everything, including computers, off the
floor and onto our desks." Then he told
everyone to go home and do what they
could to save their own property.
All of Canada knows how badly the
flood devastated parts of Calgary. But by
far, the hardest hit community in Alberta
was High River, a town of around 13,000
people, about a half-hour south of Calgary.
The flood ruined homes, destroyed businesses, and crushed dreams in the community. Much of High River was shut
down for weeks. The rebuilding process is
still going on. Through it all, the three law
firms in town struggled to stay afloat and
keep helping their clients and neighbours.
Dearing, a veteran lawyer, does primarily real estate work. He is a sole practitioner with a staff of five. As usual on Friday
June 21, titles were being searched, monies
were being transferred, and deals were
12 DuntonRainville_CL_Sep_13.inddw .1C A N A D I A N L a w ye r m a g . c o m
September 2 0 1 3 ww
George Dearing working
out of his makeshift office
in nearby Okotoks.
being closed. But the flood not only shut
down Dearing's busy office, it knocked out
the firm's phones and computers, and then
13-08-20 2:55 PM
