Priya Sankarapapa does not take on every client who walks through her door, metaphorically speaking, because no client actually walks through her office. Priya is a sole practitioner in Calgary and her practice is entirely virtual. She only meets with clients over phone or video conferencing and works from her home office, outside on her patio on a nice day or from her hometown in India.
Priya is technically a foreign trained lawyer, although she hates that term. More accurately, she is a Canadian lawyer who also has a law degree from India. Immediately after articling in Canada, she went solo. At the time, she was also busy adjusting to life in a new country and caring for a young family. Needing something more secure, Priya gave up her new practice to work for the Department of Justice.
She stayed with the DOJ for fifteen years and loved her time there and the stability it provided. But as her son grew up and eventually moved out of the house, the dream of attempting solo practice again was on her mind. Priorities changed from caring for her child to caring for her parents back home.
In 2018, Priya took the plunge and started her firm PVS Immigration. The only drawback Priya has found running her own practice is that the income fluctuates. However, she now has the opportunity to travel back home to India every winter to visit her family. While other Albertans are shivering in the cold weather, Priya gets to spend two to three months in a much warmer climate and of even more importance, she gets to stay closely connected to the people she loves. Her paycheques may not be as reliable as they once were, but some things matter much more than money.
Priya’s entire practice is on a cloud system, all of her files are electronic and she uses software like Clio to help her operate effectively. This means that she can continue working virtually while she is in India (or sitting outside on summer days in Calgary) and does not have to spend money on office space and other overhead. Priya only meets clients face-to-face if they ask for that specifically. She has not gotten any pushback when scheduling virtual meetings, and uses Zoom, FaceTime, Skype, WhatsApp and whatever else works for the client.
Having been originally trained in law in India puts Priya at an advantage in some ways. She is fluent in Tamil, her native language, which helps her communicate with many of her clients. Most of her clients are immigrating to Canada from India and her personal and cultural knowledge of their situations helps her build trusting relationships with them.
Although not every Indian client she has speaks Tamil, they all feel more comfortable speaking with a lawyer who understands where they come from.
Priya feels very blessed to be where she is now. Since going solo, her mental and physical health have dramatically improved. Her skin has cleared up, her head is not foggy and her stomach is not in knots. She recognizes that a lot of physical ailments are the result of stress and encourages other lawyers to be more aware of their mental health.
Priya has designed her practice intentionally to support the life she wants. This means ignoring traditional definitions of success, and making decisions, like whether to take on a new client, based on her values and priorities in life . Priya is also an advocate of access to justice and strives to make the law as simple as possible for her clients. Priya does not think that private practice or even law is the right fit for everyone who went to law school and she believes everyone has the freedom to do what they want with their careers. Start small- take a couple of days off, clear your schedule and your mind- and simply listen to the soft whispers of your heart- it already knows the way. No matter what you do, remember you always have a choice. You’ve got this- you CAN design the life and career that works best for you.
Whenever Priya meets someone for the first time, she ends the conversation by asking them “what is your message to the world?”. If you ask Priya that question, her answer is, “You are Loved”. Ask yourself, what is your message to the world? Priya would love to know.