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Lawyers Create, and Assist Innovates!
Most lawyers are incredibly creative people. Sometimes, we employ our creativity in our day jobs, finding innovative approaches to clients’ problems. Lawyers use precedents, and precedents are a key tool of our trade, but how we use them is a creative process. And some pursue artistic and creative hobbies in their non-work lives as a way of finding balance
When I was a young lawyer, I sacrificed the creative activities I used to enjoy to become a totally devoted lawyer. Through osmosis at my firm, I learned that being a lawyer was our be-all and end-all. And I was usually pretty tired at the end of long days, so pulling out a hobby project didn’t even appeal.
I also received implicit feedback from the first (and one of only two) female lawyers that I met during articling interviews who looked daggers at me for mentioning that my hobbies including creative writing, sewing and knitting. I learned that lawyers engaged in hobbies that were more competitive in nature. I can’t think of any lawyers that I worked with in my early days who talked about artistic hobbies—but maybe they kept them to themselves.
And then there was the issue of what other lawyers might think of my creative hobbies! Just because I enjoy activities doesn’t mean that I was good at them. And to the extent that my creative writing hobby would have allowed people to read into me, it felt dangerous to my reputation as a law-first lawyer.
No one who reads this blog will be surprised to learn that subjugating aspects of one’s personality is not sustainable. My epiphany came about on my first maternity leave where, although I was sleep-deprived, I began to engage with lost parts of myself, which led to my decision to return to work on a reduced hours basis and then develop an alternate career path. I realized that I didn’t have to be a one-trick pony, and that it was okay to explore and embrace my creativity and other parts of my personality - that I was the only person who got to determine what kind of lawyer and human being I was going to be.
I am not a perfectionist by nature, but I learned how to be perfectionistic when practicing law. In my hobbies, I am generally pretty good at assessing “good enough"—I am never going to win any prizes for my creative endeavors, but that isn’t the point. The point is that I enjoy the items that I make, and it is more about the creative process than the finished product.
But over the last several years, I have gotten to know lawyers whose creativity and artistic expression are at a very high level. I used to wonder how they found the time to invest in their crafts, but then I realized that perfecting their craft is part of how they stay well and how they ensure that they are well-rounded people.
This year, when Assist’s fundraising committee (called our Funding Committee for archaic reasons), was brainstorming about putting the “fun” in “fundraising,” our committee chair, the amazing Jenny McMordie, suggested that we could gather works of art by Alberta lawyers and judges that could adorn holiday cards and then sell card bundles to the legal community. Committee members suggested lawyer and judge artists that we could contact, and then lawyer and judge artists suggested others! It was a bit like a “tell two friends” campaign.
So, I am very pleased to announce Assist’s 2025 holiday and gift card collection! We are offering bundles of 20 cards, each featuring two of ten beautiful images, and you can select bundles of holiday cards or blank cards for sending personal notes - something many us still enjoy in our increasingly digital world. Our talented lawyers and judges work in different art forms, from oil paintings to photography. High quality photographic images of the painting adorn the cards along with incredible wildlife and nature photos.
Each bundle is only $40 (so it’s only $2 per card, a pretty competitive price, along with envelopes). Website order forms will go live early next week.
Bundles will be ready for distribution in early December, but we will only be printing cards by pre-order and will not have additional bundles for sale this year.
I had the honor of helping select works of art by some of our talented lawyer and judge artists who told us to pick what we wanted off their websites! Decisions were very hard. We wanted some to have a winter theme, but not exclusively so, so we hope that everyone will find cards that fit their card-sending practices.
Here are a few ideas about how you can use our card bundles:
When I was a young lawyer, I sacrificed the creative activities I used to enjoy to become a totally devoted lawyer. Through osmosis at my firm, I learned that being a lawyer was our be-all and end-all. And I was usually pretty tired at the end of long days, so pulling out a hobby project didn’t even appeal.
I also received implicit feedback from the first (and one of only two) female lawyers that I met during articling interviews who looked daggers at me for mentioning that my hobbies including creative writing, sewing and knitting. I learned that lawyers engaged in hobbies that were more competitive in nature. I can’t think of any lawyers that I worked with in my early days who talked about artistic hobbies—but maybe they kept them to themselves.
And then there was the issue of what other lawyers might think of my creative hobbies! Just because I enjoy activities doesn’t mean that I was good at them. And to the extent that my creative writing hobby would have allowed people to read into me, it felt dangerous to my reputation as a law-first lawyer.
No one who reads this blog will be surprised to learn that subjugating aspects of one’s personality is not sustainable. My epiphany came about on my first maternity leave where, although I was sleep-deprived, I began to engage with lost parts of myself, which led to my decision to return to work on a reduced hours basis and then develop an alternate career path. I realized that I didn’t have to be a one-trick pony, and that it was okay to explore and embrace my creativity and other parts of my personality - that I was the only person who got to determine what kind of lawyer and human being I was going to be.
I am not a perfectionist by nature, but I learned how to be perfectionistic when practicing law. In my hobbies, I am generally pretty good at assessing “good enough"—I am never going to win any prizes for my creative endeavors, but that isn’t the point. The point is that I enjoy the items that I make, and it is more about the creative process than the finished product.
But over the last several years, I have gotten to know lawyers whose creativity and artistic expression are at a very high level. I used to wonder how they found the time to invest in their crafts, but then I realized that perfecting their craft is part of how they stay well and how they ensure that they are well-rounded people.
This year, when Assist’s fundraising committee (called our Funding Committee for archaic reasons), was brainstorming about putting the “fun” in “fundraising,” our committee chair, the amazing Jenny McMordie, suggested that we could gather works of art by Alberta lawyers and judges that could adorn holiday cards and then sell card bundles to the legal community. Committee members suggested lawyer and judge artists that we could contact, and then lawyer and judge artists suggested others! It was a bit like a “tell two friends” campaign.
So, I am very pleased to announce Assist’s 2025 holiday and gift card collection! We are offering bundles of 20 cards, each featuring two of ten beautiful images, and you can select bundles of holiday cards or blank cards for sending personal notes - something many us still enjoy in our increasingly digital world. Our talented lawyers and judges work in different art forms, from oil paintings to photography. High quality photographic images of the painting adorn the cards along with incredible wildlife and nature photos.
Each bundle is only $40 (so it’s only $2 per card, a pretty competitive price, along with envelopes). Website order forms will go live early next week.
Bundles will be ready for distribution in early December, but we will only be printing cards by pre-order and will not have additional bundles for sale this year.
I had the honor of helping select works of art by some of our talented lawyer and judge artists who told us to pick what we wanted off their websites! Decisions were very hard. We wanted some to have a winter theme, but not exclusively so, so we hope that everyone will find cards that fit their card-sending practices.
Here are a few ideas about how you can use our card bundles:
- Use them as your professional holiday cards to send to clients and colleagues. If I were a private practice lawyer, I might choose to send these special cards to in-house and other lawyer clients to celebrate creativity in our community.
- As gifts for colleagues and friends in the legal community.
- To express thanks to lawyers, staff and students you work with, or for bar admission congratulations.