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they were walking me around the office, they actually asked me if I could start the next day. There was so much work; every desk was just piled with files." A year after starting at the four-lawyer firm, now called Behiel Will & Biemans, one of the partners asked her if she would like to buy 33 per cent of his 48-per-cent share in the firm. The query seemed preposterous aimed at a lawyer who was just months into practising and racked with student loans. But after crunching the numbers with her accountant, Biemans real- ized it was a remarkable opportunity. They estimated she would pay off the purchase price in three years, but she knocked it off within two. "When my colleagues tell me that practising in rural Saskatchewan is not lucrative, they couldn't be farther from the truth," she says. And the well is unlikely to go dry any time soon. "There's nothing we specifically do to create busi- ness. It's just honestly a matter of opening the doors. The clients just come." She admits she has benefited from the firm's long-standing presence in the community, and notes that loyalty runs deep in small towns. But the firm has kept those ties strong by making sure fees are low, and that clients can come to it for all of their legal needs. Hard work has also been in the mix, notes Biemans. She and her partners typically work evenings, but nothing like the all-night grind that many large-firm lawyers endure when a major file comes their way. Few corporate lawyers, for example, would have been able to take the three-week trip to Scotland that Biemans enjoyed last year. (Notice to any young lawyers out there: she says her firm could use another associate.) "It's a great job. Even being in law school, I anticipated it was going to be good, but I never anticipated it would be this great," she says. "Practising in rural Saskatchewan is something that, if you have the opportunity to do, you should definitely take advantage of it." Christine McLeod says the same thing about practising in Temiskaming Shores, Ont. After being called to the bar in 2007, she began practising in the northern town with a population of about 10,000. Her firm, Evans Bragagnolo & Sullivan LLP, is based in Timmins, Ont., and she practises from the satellite office. McLeod cites perks of small-town lawyering such as a short stroll to the courthouse and an opportunity to do interesting work sooner. While many of her law school peers still spend their days at bail hearings, she takes on complete files, and even serves as the president of the local law association. One of the only downsides is her quasi-celebrity status in the community, which often prompts her to wear a hoodie and sunglasses in an effort to shop for groceries in peace. That's a small price to pay in exchange for a comparable salary to that of her Toronto peers, without the sky-high cost of living. "You don't need to make the same amount of money to enjoy the good life," she says, pointing out that an executive home goes for around $300,000 in the area. Yet all of these attractions have failed to persuade enough lawyers to set up shop in the town. Senior lawyers have filled the gap so far, but McLeod notes that three lawyers in her dis- trict retired or significantly dialed down their practices over the past year. She suggests it's only a matter of time before clients are left in the lurch. "There isn't a shortage of lawyers in the sense that clients can't find a lawyer to represent them," she says. "The problem is that the lawyers who are there can't retire." At the same time, clients are already finding it difficult to retain a lawyer on certain types of matters, she says, with family law being the most pressing area where more lawyers are needed right now. As McLeod notes, it appears that senior practitioners will- ing to grind out their retirement years in the office have thus far helped postpone a severe access-to-justice crisis in most of Canada's small communities. But it's equally obvious that the time will come when they're no longer around to fill the gap. Back in Parry Sound, Kennedy continues to grapple with his daunting search for a successor. He wonders why it's been so hard to find someone with similar ambition to that which drove him away from the big city 36 years ago. "I just want somebody to take it over," he says. "You've got a good clientele base, all kinds of wills and corporate books and that kind of stuff. It's a shame to just hand everything back to the client when you've developed a good core business." He also deals with the fact that, if he fails to find someone to take over, the six office workers he employs will be out on the street and unlikely to find similar work nearby. "It would be sad to just have to turn out the lights, as they say, when the time comes," he laments. "Certainly if I got sick at this age it would be pretty traumatic." Subscribe today to Canadian Lawyer Canadian Lawyer is the ultimate source for today's legal professional. Keep up to date and informed by subscribing today for only $65 a year! Along with 11 issues packed with insights, trends and analysis, you'll also receive access to Canadian Lawyer's exclusive digital edition and digital edition archives, available only to registered subscribers. You'll stay up to date on breaking news between issues with Canadian Legal Newswire, our free weekly e-newsletter that is edited by our legal reporting team. canadianlawyermag.com Subscribe online at at SubscriSubscribe on online canadianlawyermag.com 1 year of Canadian Lawyer for only $65.00 (Total with HST: $73.45) 2 years of Canadian Lawyer for only $130.00 (Total with HST: $146.90) Sub_CL_Nov_10 - 1/4.indd 1 www. 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