If you think you need a thick skin to practice law, try the intense criticism of theatre school on for size. Even with a successful background in acting (including an IMDB credit as “kid” in a 1998 episode of the TV show Goosebumps), Daniel McPherson was restless. That was until he started a solo practice in the rural community of Olds, Alberta. Some may find it ironic that a “kid” from downtown Toronto with a taste of Hollywood North ended up in a town of under 10,000 people, but the lessons Daniel learned in the big city have positioned him to transform the way rural lawyering is done.
The beginning of Dan’s law career was not far from the ordinary (maybe even an average law job), but a seed was planted in his mind early on about the kind of lawyer he wanted to be. In search of a law school pizza lunch in his 3L year, Dan found himself at an event featuring lawyers from the Alberta Lawyer’s Assistance Society as guest speakers. He heard them talk about how there was more than one way to be a lawyer and that there were people in the profession who cared about the well-being of others. To this point, he had heard so much about what a difficult and draining career law would be and this new message gave him a new mindset. Dan became involved with the Assist during his articles and spent several years on their Board of Directors afterwards.
So what brought Dan to Olds? Dan and his wife were living and working in Calgary and knew that they wanted to start a family and have a house. With housing prices in the city, this seemed like a far-off goal. Dan’s wife grew-up in Olds, an hour out of Calgary, and her parents still live there. The couple decided that if a family and house were the goal, they could reach it much faster in a place where real estate is still affordable.
Being an innovative lawyer in a small town has some unique advantages. Dan knew there was an open space for him to start something fresh. He runs a paperless office, uses technology to streamline his work and doesn’t have any pillar or gavel images on his website. Dan uses his Instagram page as a blueprint for other lawyers looking to start their own practices and posts “public service announcements” about the tools that are essential to do it.
Dan’s practice, Elevator Law, is essentially virtual but does have an office space. And it’s pretty special. He is set up in a beautiful 100 year old brick building, that is off of the Main street and hard to stumble across. The office is only 3 kms from his house, making it easy for him to dart back and forth between the two to spend time with his family and get some exercise in.
Dan describes his vision for the future of his firm through a Netflix analogy. In the documentary series “Chef’s Table”, a restaurant in a small town is about to throw in the towel when a famous food critic’s car breaks down near it. The critic visits the restaurant and declares it one of the best in the world, which leads to the restaurant’s success. Dan wants Elevator Law to be the go-to for agricultural families and rural Albertans. He wants his small-town firm to be known for exceptional service around the province.
Great client service is a passion of Dan’s. He read in a book called “Building A Story Brand” that as a client-serving lawyer, you are not the hero of the story. Your client is the hero and your branding should focus on their journey. Fancy accolades and awards on a firm’s website are interesting, but clients care more about, for example, who is going to look after their kids if they pass away. Another book that has helped Dan in his legal journey is Dan Pink’s “Drive”. The book describes that real satisfaction from a job is found through mastery, autonomy and purpose. Dan’s purpose is to leave things and people better than he found them.
Dan will not sugar-coat the work it takes to start and maintain your own firm. There will be no shortage of challenges that come along and make you think seriously about quitting, so you have to identify why you want to do it early on. The answer cannot be the money or because you are really good at it. Money is never guaranteed and talent in law is not enough to get you through. The practice of law of is not a morality play. There will be valleys and peaks, but the struggles will help you appreciate the rewards even more.
Dan draws an analogy between his journey and the plot of the true story turned film “Touching the Void”. The film focuses on a mountaineer who falls through a crevasse from the top of a mountain in a storm. He miraculously survives, landing on a thin ledge within the crevasse. He cannot climb out of the crevasse and his only hope is to go farther down with chance he will find the floor, and crawl out gradually. If he stays on the ledge, he will die but if he continues deeper into the unknown, he has a chance at survival. Dan thought about this doubling down decision often in deciding to launch Elevator Law.
A growth mindset keeps Dan going. It is the idea that we can get stronger as we go, no matter what. Things may not go the way you originally planned. Maybe you tried an area of law you thought you would love and you hated it. This does not make you damaged goods. You can let your experiences jade you or you can choose to get stronger, smarter, and more compassionate every year that passes. Asked to summarize his story, Dan borrows a quote from Kanye West to describe his journey and how he landed where did: “everything I’m not made me everything I am”.