Effective hiring and training instil confidence in lawyers who work remotely: corporate lawyer
A flexible work-life balance, improved technology, and a desire to better serve clients led Jamieson law firm to establish itself as a virtual practice long before the coronavirus, says Bree Jamieson Holloway, corporate lawyer and founder of Jamieson Law.
Before COVID-19 lockdown measures forced the legal profession to optimize digital technology to replace face-to-face communication, Holloway says Jamieson Law was already disrupting the status quo.
“We’ve got this beautifully diverse team of strong women who are doing all kinds of things in their lives. I personally have three kids and I’m currently pregnant with my fourth child,” says Holloway. “We’re all doing these amazing things and disrupting the status quo by providing our incredible team with flexibility and I think flexibility really means a lot, it means something different to everybody.”
Legally qualified in Ontario, England and Wales, Holloway began her corporate career in the United Kingdom working in a major international law firm. She founded Jamieson Law in 2017 after relocating back to Canada.
Jamieson Law is a virtual boutique business law firm that provides legal advice and support to small businesses and growing enterprises.
“I came back to Canada after my first daughter was born with my husband and decided that I wanted to do law differently and see where that would take me.”
Jamieson Law has no office space, and the firm’s unique practice gives lawyers and clients the flexibility to work together more effectively, says Holloway.
She says many of her early referred clients outside of Toronto greatly valued the firm’s virtual practice.
“They didn’t have to come into the office, and we had virtual capabilities,” Holloway says, “and because we’re digitally optimized and tech optimized, they could sign their documentation and we could verify them. We could go through the whole intake process completely virtually without them ever having to print a document or sign anything.”
As more employees joined the firm, Holloway says her firm already established its virtual practice. “It was part of our messaging, and we already knew we had something special.”
Jamison says clients appreciate the clarity of the firm’s virtual practice. “We’re not shocking our clients, and they really appreciate that sort of transparency upfront that we give them.”
Holloway says employees and clients appreciate the flexibility to work in a way that works for them.
“Whether you’re looking for a job as a lawyer or law firm employee, or whether you’re a client looking for a new law firm, people are looking for something different in this post pandemic world, and because we were already providing something different prior to the pandemic, it made it so much easier for us to adapt even further, as we’ve gone through this pandemic.”
Holloway says employee confidence and excellence are crucial even if employees work from home, and transparency, flexibility, open communication, and dialogue create a safe and healthy work environment for employees.
She says the firm finds unique ways of keeping employees accountable and upholding effective workplace hiring and training practices, so employees can feel confident in their role, even though they are not always together in an office every day.
The firm is focusing on expanding within Canada and internationally, and Holloway says the comfort and adaptability of the firm create an excellent avenue for growth.
Jamieson law intends to grow a global influence and develop into a more prominent firm while maintaining its boutique arrangement for clients because the firm works with many e-commerce and export companies and builds solid foundations to continue serving clients as they grow to expand beyond Canadian borders, says Holloway.
“We’re very focused on our strategic growth in Ontario and we’re starting to look outside of Ontario, but over the next sort of five years, I would really like to see us branching into U.K., U.S. and other countries where we’re going to inevitably be doing a lot of export work as well.”
She says transparency, compassion and trust are the core values of Jamieson law. “It’s not just our core values for the services we’re providing to our clients, but it’s our core values for our internal team as well.
