When You’re On Top of a Mountain and a Client Calls
Some moments in this profession stay with you – usually because they reveal something about how interconnected our work has become. One of those moments came last month, when I found myself standing on a ridge near Park City, Utah, boots in the dust, looking out over the mountains while helping a client finalize a contract negotiation.
I had taken a couple of extra days around a meeting in Salt Lake City and explored Snow Canyon State Park, the trails north of the city, and even the bison and salt flats on Antelope Island. Utah is striking, friendly and surprisingly serene.
And yet, as many lawyers will appreciate, serenity disappears the moment the phone rings.
Vivid Reminder
I was literally at the top of a mountain – I had reached the summit of Ensign Peak – when a client called seeking real-time advice. So I pit-stopped my hike and, from the same viewpoint where pioneers once surveyed the valley to plan a city, helped my client survey their options for almost an hour.
It was a vivid reminder that business today moves across borders and time zones – and how clients deserve responsive, practical support, wherever their lawyer happens to be standing.
That experience was an almost symbolic backdrop to why I was in Utah in the first place.
From Oct. 8 to 10, my fellow Lawson Creamer partner Mel Norton and I joined lawyers from the United States, Canada, Latin America and the Caribbean at a regional Meritas meeting.
Meritas is a global alliance of independent, full-service law firms that meet rigorous standards of client service, expertise and responsiveness. Membership is by invitation only and reviewed regularly to ensure consistent quality. About 180 law firms – including Lawson Creamer – belong, forging a worldwide network.
Valuable Head Start
For clients, that means when an issue touches another jurisdiction – whether it’s a contract in the U.S., a regulatory matter in Western Canada or an emerging opportunity abroad – we can pick up the phone and connect with trusted colleagues who know the local landscape. The first 30 minutes of preliminary insight from those firms is provided at no cost, giving our clients a valuable head start when navigating unfamiliar territory.
The Meritas gatherings are incredibly useful – smaller, focused sessions where we can dig into cross-border trade issues, compare experiences, and strengthen the connections we rely on when clients need help in other jurisdictions.
I have become more involved in Meritas over the last few years and continue to be struck by the shared mindset among member firms. Whether speaking with someone from Toronto, Denver, Mexico City or Halifax, the conversations blend global perspective with real-world, on-the-ground insight – exactly what businesses need when operating across borders.
Lawson Creamer’s membership in Meritas helps us deliver something that is increasingly essential: world-class legal capability anchored in local understanding. Clients shouldn’t have to choose between working with a firm that knows their community and one that can handle multi-jurisdictional matters. Through Meritas, they don’t have to.
From mountain ridges in Utah to boardrooms here in Saint John, our work follows wherever our clients do business. And thanks to the strength of this global network, we can support them with confidence – across borders, across time zones and across whatever opportunities come next.
Veronica L. Ford is a Partner with Lawson Creamer. She can be reached at vford@lawsoncreamer.com.