During his early working years, Justin had careers in IT and photography. As a photographer, he had the chance to travel to countries he had never heard of before. Although he knew it was not his life calling, it was exciting.
Shortly after getting married, Justin’s wife started attending law school in Saskatoon. Their friend group consisted almost exclusively of law students and conversations often would turn to legal cases and news. Justin started becoming more interested in the legal field. He soon was accepted into the University of Saskatchewan’s Bachelor of Commerce / Juris Doctor dual degree program.
Two things in Justin's life seem to go together, formal education and growing his family.
Most first year law students lose sleep over cramming for exams. His first year of law school also marked the year he first became a parent. Justin's wife went into labour between the first and second exams. Justin spent the weekend at the hospital, welcoming his first daughter, which serendipitously was located right across the street from campus. Never having been a coffee drinker, Justin succumbed to the caffeine craze that weekend to get through exams and support his growing family. In a daze, he made it through the next exam with little recollection of writing it. Thankfully he passed all 5 of his finals but better yet, he became a father to a beautiful baby girl. Since then, his tastes developed from a cup of mocha through double doubles to now enjoying espresso.
During his second year of law school, Justin’s wife returned to work, and he scheduled his course load around their parenting schedule. Although he had to juggle being a father and a student, Justin is glad he started his family during school. Looking back, he found more flexibility as a student than as a lawyer. Justin’s pairing of education with building a family didn’t end in law school. His second child arrived during his articling year at a busy firm. His third child was born this past October 2021 just before he started his MBA part-time at Simon Fraser University in January.
Justin currently works as in-house counsel for Save-On-Foods. The job brought Justin and his wife from Saskatoon back to the Fraser Valley, British Columbia. Justin and his family are happy returning to the West Coast; however the housing prices and traffic congestion were a bit of a shock.
Justin’s work focuses on contracts, leases, and acquisitions. He enjoys focusing on the transactional side of the business equation. Save-On-Foods has almost 200 stores and over 20,000 employees across western Canada. Early in 2021 Jim Pattison formed the Pattison Food Group, with Save-On-Foods being the largest member. With this change, Justin, along with the Save-On-Foods legal team, also does legal work for Pattison Food Group entities. Because of the various companies he assists and their growing team, Justin feels like their legal department has become a little law firm.
Although family is his most important priority, Justin views life holistically. It’s not split into categories like work, family, and vacation. He lives his life according to his values. Having been raised by parents who emphasized the importance of giving back to their community, Justin has always looked for different ways to help others and has been involved on several boards since his time at law school. He has volunteered on the Saskatoon SPCA board and currently volunteers on the board of Lung Saskatchewan and their affiliate the Lung Foundation. In these roles he gets to see a different side of the organizations and build his network, both of which benefit his practice as a lawyer. Justin’s passion to help others also led him to teaching in the paralegal program at Vancouver Community College.
Justin encourages other lawyers to participate in their community. Board positions are a good way for lawyers to give back while gaining valuable experience that is applicable in their practice. Whether it’s the organization’s cause, area or the type of work, there are many positions where lawyers can volunteer while also gaining valuable skills.
To juggle multifaceted roles and responsibilities, Justin learned to prioritize. Everyone, especially lawyers, are busy.
However, every day we are making choices to prioritize one task over another. By planning ahead and prioritizing accordingly, Justin's lifestyle has been more flexible. He makes sure he is home for dinner with the family and attends his children’s activities but can also be seen closing a deal at the kitchen table or even on the baseball field while coaching his daughter.
Prioritizing is not necessarily about deciding which tasks are more important, it is more so a matter of finding time. Knowing how you work best and scheduling yourself around that is one way to prioritize. Justin, for example, wakes up early and does not work well at night. His wife on the other hand often gets her best work done after he’s asleep.
Every lawyer’s “perfect fit” is unique to them. The big question Justin encourages others to ask is how a firm or job fits into their balance of priorities.