When lawyers talk about changing careers in search of a happier life, they are often talking about leaving big law. For Daniel Lee, the opposite was true. Daniel did not take a traditional path to land his role as Fasken’s only immigration lawyer in their Vancouver office and he does not take the journey he took to get there or the people who helped him along the way for granted. What started as a gentle lean into law became a focused pursuit for Daniel. He is now passionate about passing on the lessons he learned to other first generation lawyers with similar goals.
Daniel was born in Vancouver and raised by Chinese immigrant parents. Daniel’s parents worked hard to make life better for him and his brother, but he was not exposed to law or lawyers growing up and the idea of becoming one did not enter his mind. Following high school, Daniel did a business degree at SFU and did not enjoy the math classes. Statistics classes brought him down, while the classes that dealt with elements of law excited him.
After undergrad, Daniel worked in HR for a few years and started to consider law more. By his mid-20s, he had only left the country a couple of times for short day trips to Seattle. Mixed with his interest in law, he had also developed a real desire to travel. Instead of committing fully to a law degree, Daniel decided to experience travel and law at the same time by completing a semester of law school in Australia.
Daniel saved up some money and got on a flight, where he enjoyed his last free meal before embarking on a journey as both a backpacker and student on a budget. Daniel had no intentions of staying past his first semester, but seeing how well Daniel took to law, his parents encouraged him to stay to finish the year. He took their advice, and completed the year with outstanding grades. He went on to finish his degree in Australia, performing well throughout and loving every second of it. He is also licensed to practice law in Australia.
Returning to Canada and applying for articles, Daniel ran into the same problem many NCA students do. His law school performance meant little to Canadian law firms. He started looking for work in small firms out of the city and after a negative experience training with a suburban firm, Daniel found articles with a lawyer in Vancouver. His articling experience was not ideal either, as his principal was a politician and most of Daniel’s work was politics-focused.
When Daniel started working for bigger firms, he realized what a good articling experience could have looked like, as compared to his experience. Daniel now also works with the Law Students’ Legal Advice Program (LSLAP) at UBC. This work gives him the opportunity to meet and support foreign trained lawyers who struggle to find work in Canada. He is committed to helping foreign-trained students and encourages anyone in the position he was in to reach out to him.
Luckily, Daniel’s first Associate job made up for the training he had missed. His firm and the opportunity were great, but the practice was general and he wanted to be a specialist. Studying in Australia, Daniel was personally exposed to immigration law and had become more and more interested in it through his legal career. Daniel is a big believer that there are a lot of opportunities out there, but you have to reach out for them. He did just that and reached out to immigration lawyer Jolene Otieno, who suggested an immigration law job at Deloitte in Calgary.
At this point, Daniel was excited to work for a big firm because he had not felt small firms were the right place for him. Moving cities for a job is a big decision, but Daniel suggests that lawyers who are interested in working in a really specific area of law be open to it. There are not a lot of corporate immigration lawyers in the country, so when a job comes up, you take it.
A few years (and a marriage) later, when an opportunity came up at Alexander Holburn in Vancouver, Daniel was happy to take it and return to his home city. After some time at the firm leading the immigration practice, Daniel moved to his current position with Fasken.
A big part of what Daniel loves about immigration law is the variety. He helps big companies do things like transfer employees from overseas offices to Canadian offices and once the employees are in Canada, helps them to become permanent residents. Daniel also does some pro bono immigration work for individuals. His favourite thing about his job is the time spent speaking to clients. He loves finding out their immigration objectives and creating a strategy to achieve them. Another thing Daniel loves is that immigration law changes all the time, which gives newer lawyers like himself the opportunity to become specialists earlier in their careers.
Daniel won’t sugar-coat it, his hours are long. It is hard to take long vacations or get away from his emails because no one else can answer them when he is gone. The work is intensely interesting and rewarding, but if you want to follow in Daniel’s footsteps, be aware that it is not a 9-5 job. Luckily for Daniel, he always wanted to work hard and he is in his element.
Being the sole immigration lawyer in his office might sound lonely, but it’s not. Daniel has found support in the Canadian immigration bar and feels comfortable calling up immigration lawyers across Canada for advice. In particular, Daniel is thankful for the support of Marina Sedai, the past Chair of the National Immigration Section of the Canadian Bar Association.
Despite the long hours, Daniel still finds time to give back to the legal community. He loves his work with LSLAP because he enjoys giving students strategic advice. He relates especially to first generation lawyers who may know firm names, but don’t know anyone in them. Daniel has that insight and is happy to share it.
If you are interested in a specific area of law, look for the lawyers working in that area who are involved in the community. They will be the most likely to talk with you. If you trained overseas and want to work at a big firm immediately after law school, that might not be a realistic goal. In the meantime, get experience working in the area of law you are interested in, so that you’ll be an attractive candidate to the bigger firms later on. If you think big law is right for you, your path to it does not need to be a traditional one and Daniel is proof of that.