Canadian Lawyer

w w w . C A N A D I A N L a w y e r m a g . c o m A u g u s t 2 0 1 4 13 w hen the Law Society of British Columbia's newest Bencher Sarah Westwood describes where she, and other lawyers, live and practise, it sounds like a resort. The small northern B.C. town of Smithers is renowned for world-class skiing and steelhead fishing, not to mention extreme sports and producing a raft of NHL hockey stars. "It is stunningly beautiful," Westwood says of vistas surrounding the town of 6,000 residents and a service area of 20,000. Westwood's home is set on 1.5 scenic acres of lakefront, weekends are not spent at the office, there's plenty of opportunity to travel, have pets, own a house, and enjoy life with partner Jonathan Yuen, who makes up the other half of the town's Yuen Westwood Law Corp. law practice. "I ski, bike, swim, and hike and there are some incred- ible opportunities to do outdoor things," she says, adding Smithers is no retirement community. "It has a vibrant music scene and is a great community to live in." It's also home to a Supreme Court justice and a provincial court judge. There's a great spirit of work-life balance. "One [area] lawyer has a powder clause in his associate agreement," chuckles Westwood. Powder clause? "If it snows more than 12 inches, he can take the next day off. I'm not kidding." There's no shortage of work either. "The work opportu- nities are significant," says Westwood. "We have had three lawyers open offices in the past year." Despite the increase, "we are not fighting over files" says Westwood, although she is in the unique position of being director's counsel under the Child, Family and Community Services Act. In the district there's a need for more lawyers. "If you went to Prince Rupert you would be inundated with work. Burns Lake has one lawyer. Vanderhoof has a Crown and one law firm. I don't think a young lawyer would have a problem in any of these areas." Westwood, the daugh- ter of a local doctor and raised in Nanaimo, doesn't feel isolated from larger centres like Vancouver. She has remained active in orga- nizations and recently taken on the role of bencher for Rupert County. In 2013, she was elected as a representative to the provincial council of the Canadian Bar Association-B.C. Branch and served on the rural lawyers task force in 2014. Lawyers do face particular challenges in northern com- munities, as do their clients. There's long-distance travel to courts, driving from town to town as needed. "I drove over 2,000 kilometres in a week to attend court," she notes. The northern rural areas are still underserviced and suffer access-to-justice problems such as needing more legal aid support, programs, and qualified personnel to deal with family issues. "There are very few certified family media- tors and only three collaborative law practitioners." Upgrading lawyers' qualifications in these areas would help but is difficult, especially when courses are held in larger cities. "You have to take a week off work," she says, and while Vancouver can be expensive, it also means a lawyer is absent in an area where lawyers are not plentiful. Despite the challenges, Westwood can't see herself prac- tising in "the rarified atmosphere" of a larger firm or city as neither provides that sense of community Smithers has. "It is exciting. You have your own practice. You can't help but be part of the general community. There is an incredible sense of inclusion," she says. — Js lsbc's newesT bencher chooses small Town pracTice New LSBC Bencher Sarah Westwood is committed to practising in northern B.C. of Asian law, and has attracted profes- sors known for their Asian legal research and publications such as Pitman Potter, who has focused on China, Taiwan, for- eign trade and investment policy, dispute resolution, policy law, contracts, business regulations, and human rights. Professor Shigenori Matsui is the director of Japa- nese legal studies focusing on Japanese and constitutional law. "We are doing cutting-edge, world-class research in the centre," says Goold, with CALS research often posted on the univer- sity's web site. CALS is currently involved in the Asia-Pacific Dispute Resolution pro- gram supported by the major collaborative initiatives program of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Can- ada. This project is in collaboration with UBC's Institute of Asian Research. CALS draws in 10 to 15 visiting schol- ars a year. They range from professors at Asian law schools, judges, lawyers, and prosecutors to legal scholars from China and Japan. Seminars are held and, depend- ing on the topic, the legal community, groups such as Federation of Asian Cana- dian Lawyers, and the general public are invited to attend. "We are one of the old- est centres in North America and very proud of the research we do. We have a great teaching program and we are always looking for new things that we can do to improve the program," says Goold. — JeAN soreNseN jean_sorensen@telus.net

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