A firm commitment

04-Profile:04-Profile
5/27/08
6:11 AM
Page 43
A firm commitment
At Kelowna, B.C., law firm Pushor Mitchell, giving back
to the community is what it’s all about.
Profile
Pushor Mitchell LLP
Pushor Mitchell LLP, Kelowna
From left to right: James
Paterson, Ron Solmer, Theresa
Arsenault, Paul Mitchell and
Richard Montgomery
By Bill Rogers
MICHAEL HINTRINGER
W
atching a lawyer get a pie in the face might
sound like the punch line to a bad lawyer
joke. But at the Kelowna, B.C., law firm
Pushor Mitchell LLP, taking a pie in the
face is actually a way of improving the
image of lawyers.
Paul Mitchell, a personal injury specialist and name
partner in the firm, has been the recipient of several airborne desserts as part of the “Pie a Partner” workplace
charity campaign. “All the partners agree to do it,” he
says. “The donation is ten bucks a pie. We raise a lot of
money for the United Way, and it’s a lot of fun — particularly for the staff, when they toss pies at us. They
really enjoy that.
“Luckily,” he adds, “there were three different
flavours, so it wasn’t too bad.”
The pie campaign is just one example of a remarkable commitment to charity and community work that
has been part of the culture at Pushor Mitchell since the
firm was established in the 1970s. Countless hours have
been donated by both lawyers and staff for various
Juin 2008
projects and charities.
But Mitchell is quick to point out that many other law
firms engage in similar altruistic activities. It puts the lie
to the tired stereotype of lawyers as sharks who always
take and seldom give. “Community work is part of the
professional calling of a lawyer,” he says.
“Lawyers do get an unreasonably bad
rap. If we’re out there doing community
work, it will only do good things for
the profession’s image.”
Lawyers have a lot of special skills they can bring to
the table, he adds. “Most non-profit organizations want
a lawyer on the board, and for good reason. Lawyers
bring a certain amount of level-headedness. And donating the time for these things is becoming more and more
a part of the legal profession.”
w w w. c b a . o r g
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L’engagement d’une firme
Un valeur que tient à cœur le cabinet Pushor Mitchell.
Q
ui aurait cru que l’entartage
pourrait servir à améliorer
l’image des avocats? Dans le
cabinet Pushor Mitchell LL.P., la pratique cocasse connue sous le nom de
Pie a Partner consiste en fait en une
campagne de charité. Selon Paul
Mitchell, un associé du cabinet qui a
reçu plusieurs entartages, les dons de
10 $ par entartage aident à renflouer
les caisses de United Way. Cette campagne n’est qu’un exemple des activités de charité et des actions communautaires qui font partie intégrante de la culture de Pushor
Mitchell depuis son lancement dans
les années 70.
Me Mitchell fait remarquer que
bien d’autres cabinets sont engagés
dans des activités altruistes similaires
et que cela fait partie de la vocation
d’avocat. On est loin du stéréotype
selon lequel les avocats s’apparentent
à des requins qui prennent toujours et
donnent rarement!
Me Mitchell voit une tendance chez
les avocats qui se consacrent à des
activités de bénévolat au sein d’organismes à but non lucratif.
« Les plus jeunes avocats sont particulièrement motivés par la satisfaction qu’ils peuvent tirer de leur travail, qui dépasse le plaisir d’obtenir un
chèque de paie », affirme-t-il.
Le travail communautaire est l’une
des raisons majeures pour lesquelles
ces jeunes juristes aiment leur emploi.
« Cela rend l’environnement de travail
agréable. Cela les fait également sentir bien ».
Me Mitchell soutient que les avocats qui veulent s’absenter pour faire
du bénévolat ne rencontrent aucune
résistance à cet égard. « Nous les y
encourageons », au contraire. « En
fait, nous nous attendons à ce qu’ils
soient impliqués dans la communauté.
C’est bon à la fois pour cette dernière
et pour le moral du personnel ».
Deuc événements, le Kelowna Apple
Mitchell feels that younger lawyers are especially motivated to find job satisfaction that goes beyond a paycheque. “It’s
not just money anymore,” he says. “What else do they get out
of their job?”
Community work has become a big reason young lawyers
enjoy coming to the office. “There’s always something going
on that the staff and lawyers are working on together,” says
Mitchell. “It makes the workplace fun. It pays you back in
spades. It’s good for your soul. When you come home from the
office and you feel good, that’s priceless.”
If a lawyer wants to take time off to volunteer, no problem.
“We don’t say, ‘You’ve got a file you should be working on.’
We pat them on the back and say, ‘Good for you.’ In fact,
when people start at the firm, they learn pretty quickly that we
expect them to get involved in the community, for a variety of
reasons. Obviously it’s good for the community, but it’s also
really good for staff morale and lawyer morale.”
Whether it’s deploying dozens of people to help organize
the Kelowna Apple Triathlon, or assisting organizations like
Big Brothers, the commitments tend to be ongoing and substantial. “When we take something on, we tend to do it year
after year,” says lawyer James Paterson. “We have a lot of
ongoing obligations.” Paterson himself heads up the local
Chamber of Commerce, a 30-hour-a-week volunteer job.
Last year, Pushor Mitchell was awarded the Corporate
Community Citizen of the Year Award at the Central
Okanagan Civic and Community Awards, in recognition of
the firm’s support for organizations and community initiatives
44
Triathlon et Grands Frères Grandes
Sœurs figurent parmi les activités
bénévoles menées par le personnel du
cabinet et énoncées par l’avocat et
collègue de Paul Mitchell James
Paterson. Il dirigera d’ailleurs prochainement la Chambre de commerce
locale, à raison de 30 heures de
bénévolat par semaine. Me Mitchell a
présidé la coupe Memorial 2004 de
l’équipe de hockey Kelowna Rockets,
ce qui a nécessité une année et
demie de préparation et une équipe
de 850 bénévoles.
L’an dernier, Pushor Mitchell a reçu
le Prix de l'entreprise citoyenne de
l’année (catégorie communautaire)
en reconnaissance pour de l’appui
apporté par le cabinet à des initiatives
d’organismes de bienfaisance pour les
résidents de Kelowna.
Non seulement le travail communautaire aide à recruter et à retenir le
personnel, mais cela rehausse également l’image de la profession. Selon
Me Mitchell, un cabinet peut dépenser beaucoup d’argent pour faire
de la publicité, mais rien ne se compare au travail communautaire. N
— Yasmina El Jamaï
that directly benefit the residents of Kelowna. Not only that,
but lawyer Theresa Arsenault was nominated for Woman of
the Year.
“We don’t do this for the awards,” Arsenault says. “We
do it because you feel like you’re making a difference, making the community a better place. It’s a very personally
rewarding thing.”
For Mitchell’s part, his most memorable experience was
when he was asked by the Kelowna Rockets hockey team to
chair their 2004 Memorial Cup. “It took a year and a half of
preparation, with a team of 850 volunteers,” he recalls.
“I remember watching the final game, with a sell-out crowd
of 6,500 screaming fans. The TV crew said they had never
heard such noise from a crowd at any sporting event they had
ever attended, including NHL playoffs. The entire city went
wild. My second-best memory was drinking beer out of the
Memorial Cup with the team.”
There are some side benefits to community work, Mitchell
admits. “It’s great to recruit and retain staff — the volunteer
culture is wonderful for that.
“And lawyers do get an unreasonably bad rap,” he notes.
“If we’re out there doing community work, it will only do
good things for the profession’s image. It’s crucial. You can
spend all kinds of money on ads, trying to enhance the image
of the lawyers, but community work is the absolute best. To
me, that’s the magic bullet.” N
Bill Rogers is a a lawyer and freelance writer in Toronto.
N AT I O N A L
June 2008