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 M A R C H 2 0 1 7 25 Lawyers need to play the long game to score entrepreneurial clients W hen Ryan Clements joined the Calgary office of Blake Cassels & Graydon LLP as an articling student, it represented a step into the unknown for members of the Clements clan. "I was the first in my family to be employed," Clements says. As the latest in a line of entrepreneurs, he spent his spare time through high school, university and law school helping out in various family enterprises. "Startups are in my blood," Clements says. And after his brief foray into the world of gainful employment, it wasn't long before the genetic instincts kicked in: Immediately after completing his articling term in the spring of 2009, Clements left to start his own law firm. A sabbatical followed in 2012 so that he and his wife could run the distribution and market- ing business they co-founded several years earlier. So when Clements decided to return to the practice of law, there was only one focus he would consider. "I wanted to work with startups," he says. "Entrepreneurs have a lot of energy. They're smart and inno- vative and constantly tinkering with things to improve them. I love that philosophy." Clements now practises out of Kahane Law Office in Calgary, but he still manages to cram in a gig as an adjunct professor at the University of Calgary teaching a course in "Entrepreneurial Law," and he says there is more demand than ever for startup legal advice. "My phone rings a lot. I don't know exactly what's driving it or whether it's a generational thing, but a lot of people want to start their own businesses. Even when they're employed, everyone seems to want a side hustle, whether it's developing an app or some other form of passive income," Clements says. "I believe the Internet has facilitated it. The cost of entry has come way down for a small business that uses the Internet and social media, because you can tap into large pools of people relatively easily. Back in the '60s, you needed a brick-and-mortar presence, so there were a lot more costs involved. What we're seeing now is a flourishing of small businesses." Law firms across the country seem to have picked up on the same pattern, with outfits of varying sizes, both regional and national, putting together practice groups and special packages aimed specifically at serving startup clients. Technology lawyer Brock Smith was there for the last tech startup gold rush in the late 1990s, acting mainly for venture capitalists pumping money into new businesses. Now as a partner with entrepreneur- focused Whiteboard Law in Vancouver, he's on the other side of transactions, advising founders attempt- ing to secure their first rounds of financing. "You can't get into the startup business these days as a get-rich-quick scheme," he says. "Back at the height of the dot-com bubble maybe you could, when guys were getting funded for ideas on the back of ECONOMY STARTUP THE By Michael McKiernan CHRISTINNE MUSCHI

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