SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Legal firm Field Law recently celebrated a milestone, a century in business and one of the partners wouldn't trade that partnership or life in the North for anything.

Field Law partner Jack R. Williams stands in the entrance of his Yellowknife office. The company recently celebrated its 100th anniversary. - Karen K. Ho/NNSL photo

While its Yellowknife office was only added on in 2001, partner Jack Williams said joining was a key point in acknowledging how much work is in the North and how his firm couldn't do it alone.

"I went and found them," he said with a laugh. "I had lots of work and I needed lawyers."

Williams has been involved in deals, sometimes worth billions of dollars, with many of the major mining companies and diamond companies here in the territory, handling the financing and the Inuit Impact Benefit Agreements.

"I do big deals with Toronto lawyers," he said. "I work cooperatively with lawyers across Canada and around the world. We get big things."

For Williams, being located in Yellowknife is also a personal choice.

"I have all my infrastructure here," he said. "If my partners want me to move to Calgary and I want to have a boat and a cabin and all this other stuff, that I like living as a personal lifestyle I can't afford that in Calgary."

The Latham Island resident is proud of the fact that his boat is parked in front of his house and his office is a four-minute commute.

"In traffic," he said with a smile. "I could probably work anywhere in the world. I've been headhunted, but this is a nice place to live."

A born-and-raised Yellowknifer, Williams has worked in the territory for decades, including as a management consultant to indigenous groups before deciding to pursue law.

After Williams went to law school in Victoria, turned down job offers in Vancouver and return to Yellowknife for easier access to an outdoor lifestyle.

"They said to me, 'Oh, you like boating you can boat here' and I thought 'You'll make me work so hard I'll never get out there'," he said with another laugh. "Up here, there's more opportunity."

Williams has always been a strong advocate of the advantages of working in the North.

"People who come up here, especially as a young professional in just about any field, you have the opportunity to advance quite fast," he said. "You get to work on things you wouldn't even get a chance on if you were with a bigger firm down south."

Williams, whose father was an Edmonton wildlife officer and mother was Northern Metis, said his Indigenous heritage has allowed him to connect with Northern communities and access work other lawyers wouldn't be able to do.

"My biggest client is aboriginal development corporations," he said. "That's my main focus. I do have a lot of these connections."

Williams, who calls himself a relationship manager, specializes in corporate and commercial law. But he said a lot of people don't know he's aboriginal and it's not something the firm necessarily advertises.

"A lot of the people in the North know me, they know me as an aboriginal person," he said. "A lot of people in the south know I do this work and would be surprised to find out I'm aboriginal."

He said Field Law, with its offices in Yellowknife, Edmonton and Calgary, is a relatively large regional firm.

While many of the bigger law firms in Alberta have partnered with national or global firms, Williams said Field Law strategically didn't do that because they retain the ability to maintain their own resources.

"You're not being dictated to by somebody in the south who knows nothing about your market," he said.

Like with many Yellowknife businesses, the biggest challenge for Williams and the Yellowknife office of Field Law is a shortage of people.

"Qualified people, qualified staff, legal staff are really hard to come by," he said.

Currently, Field Law's Yellowknife office has four resident lawyers, two part-time or half-time lawyers who split their time with the Edmonton office and an additional group of 18 lawyers.

William's said he's been able to prepare more quickly in the NWT.

"If I was down south I wouldn't be a senior lawyer, I've only been practising 25 years," he said, recounting a past partner at Field who had been practising for 40 years.

The issue of politics, even with his experience with aboriginal groups, doesn't really interest him.

"I'd be interested in big business moreso than politics," he said.

With a paycheck like that, Williams said he could join his wife Paivi in retirement at any time but he enjoys working.

But ultimately, Williams sees himself gradually reducing his workload and taking more holidays.

"I'm not even on the LinkedIn network," he said. "I've got way more work than I can handle."

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