Meet Jack and Oliver: Wrapping up their articling year

Articling is where legal education meets the reality of practice.

Students who have spent years studying the law find themselves applying it – drafting letters that will actually be sent, creating legal documents, researching arguments that will actually be made, sitting across from clients with real problems that need to be solved.

It is a formative year. And for a firm like Lawson Creamer, it is also an opportunity: to observe closely, to teach deliberately and to see what kind of lawyer someone will become.

We have had that opportunity with articling students Oliver Larson and Jack Long.

On June 15, both will be called to the New Brunswick bar – a milestone that has been a long time coming for two people who have been part of this firm for considerably longer than their articling year.

Oliver grew up on the west side of Saint John and attended St. Malachy’s Memorial High School before completing his undergraduate degree at St. Thomas University and his law degree at the University of New Brunswick.

Law was never unfamiliar territory – both of his parents practise law – but he found his own reasons for pursuing it.

“I wanted to go to law school before I knew I wanted to be a lawyer,” he says. “I saw it as a great foundation – for almost anything.”

Once he was in it, the fit became clear. The skills the profession demands – careful reading, precise writing, analytical thinking – were the ones that came most naturally to him.

Oliver, who came to us first as a summer student during law school, has spent his articling year on our civil litigation team, working on files in insolvency, employment and general civil matters, and has taken well to the give-and-take of drafting and refining arguments alongside more senior lawyers.

His articling colleague Jack grew up in the greater Saint John area – born and raised in a city he has chosen to stay in and build his career. He earned a Bachelor of Business Administration from Acadia University before concluding that a law degree offered something he was genuinely looking for: a rigorous education that could open almost any door.

He had already been working summers at Lawson Creamer when he learned he had been accepted at UNB Law.

“I still remember the day,” he says. “I was filling in at the front desk and I got the email. I think back to that moment a lot now – it’s kind of wild how fast it’s gone.”

His articling year has been spent working alongside partner Veronica Ford on corporate, commercial and real property matters.

What draws him to transactional work is the relationship with clients.

“A lot of it is about being with people through some of the most important moments in their lives,” he says – buying a business, closing on property, building something they have worked toward for years.

Ask either of them what they value most about Lawson Creamer and the answer is consistent.

“My biggest thing is the culture,” Oliver says. “There’s a cooperative atmosphere here that I really like – an open-door policy where everyone, from partner to paralegal, is genuinely willing to help.”

Jack agrees. “Everyone here is so busy, but they always make time,” he says. “Everything I’ve learned about the practice of law has come from this firm.”

That is not a coincidence. We have worked hard to build a place where good legal work and good working relationships reinforce each other – where a younger lawyer can bring a question to any member of the firm without hesitation, and where mentorship moves in both directions.

Seeing that reflected back by two people who grew up here, went away to school and came back to build their careers in Saint John – that is one of the most satisfying parts of this work.

We are proud of both Oliver and Jack and look forward to what comes next.

Robert M. Creamer, K.C. is a partner at Lawson Creamer. He can be reached at Rcreamer@lawsoncreamer.com.