Steve Monk’s winding path included changing professions and leaving a stable job several times before finding his passion with CEO Law. His journey through law is a perfect example of how it is never too late to give yourself the chance to find happiness.
After completing his engineering degree at Queen’s University, Steve worked at Lockheed Martin. Having worked as an engineer for a couple years, Steve decided that a career in engineering wasn’t for him, and he went back to school. Because of his coinciding interests in law and business, he completed a dual LLB MBA degree.
Once he successfully completed law school, Steve worked on Bay Street at Davies, Ward & Beck LLP. Several years later, once again, Steve decided that big law was not his passion, and he went searching for his dream job. Making use of his MBA, Steve went into telecommunications and worked at an entrepreneurial venture where they raised 40 million dollars. He then moved on to work for Wolters Kluwer, a global publisher. There, he worked in various markets including legal. After 12 years working at Wolters Kluwer, the company was sold and Steve went back into law to manage Cognition LLP, an innovation law firm.
Having jumped back and forth from engineering to law to business and everywhere in between, Steve had a lifetime of experience and skills that he could apply to his next and ultimate career stage.
In 2017, at 52 years old, Steve started CEO Law. The goal was to change the status quo of legal services by creating a legal experience that is better for clients and lawyers. CEO Law lawyers don’t just tell clients what they need to do, they understand what clients want and tailor their service to fit the price point they can afford.
CEO Law’s name is based on the acronym: Customer Employees Owners. Steve founded CEO Law with a commitment to happy customers, employees, and owners - in that order. This is their philosophy on how to build a great company. First, they focus on the customer’s happiness, then the employees’, and once both are satisfied, the owners will be happy as a result.
Traditional law firms have the opposite model. The firm exists for the benefit of partners and clients are at the bottom of the totem pole. Customers must make their way to the firm building, pay for parking, and speak with a lawyer for an expensive fee. CEO Law turns that on its head, and lawyers meet customers where they are at instead.
As an entrepreneur, Steve enjoys making a difference and although there is risk taking, the reward is worth it. Being an entrepreneur is like being a parent. Steve is raising CEO Law with the highest degree of care and interest. With CEO Law, he has found a job where he is challenged and interested. He now has the satisfaction he lacked in previous positions because he has built something to help customers and built a team that supports one another.
Steve suggests to anyone, if they are not happy with their current job, to think about what might make them happy and then try it. It’s hard to know exactly what you want to do until you try it, but once you do, it’s okay to make another change if you don’t like it.
It’s not easy to find what you're passionate about but “work is love made visible” (Khalil Gibran, The Prophet).