A Leap of Faith

It's been eighteen years since I've practiced law.

I stopped practicing in 1994 due to the significant health (to say nothing of other) needs of my oldest daughter. And I've always said I wouldn't go back to practice unless I could have just a "disability" practice.

In other words, not unless I could only take cases involving disability-related issues. But considering that most families with a disabled family member can't afford a lawyer and I figure that it will likely take Nova Scotia a good 20 years to get to the point where the government helps subsidize the cost of legal representation for families ... I just couldn't see it happening.

But for the past year or so, I've been playing around with the idea of doing just that ... going back to the practice of law.

What if I went back to practice? Just on a part-time basis?

What if I could offer people the option of either purchasing the Guardianship Kit or hiring me to bring their guardianship application?

What if I could, not just talk about the Henson Trust, but actually do up Wills for people with the proper wording?
What if ...?

Not only would my fees be significantly lower than the majority of lawyers' but people were already asking if they could hire me to bring guardianship applications and I had to explain that no, I wasn't practicing.

So it was that I've been playing around with this idea for a while now.

I tried to talk myself out of it ... after 18 years of not practicing, just how many hoops would the Barristers' Society make me go through before granting me practicing status again? For a while, that seemed like a good enough reason not to proceed any further.

But eventually I realized that I might just be staring in the face (and yet not seeing) exactly what I have been looking for so hard for quite a while now. This has been my passion for so many years now - how long have I been telling people that if I could find a way to marry law and disability (and get paid for it), I would be truly happy? Trust me, a very long time.

And so it was that eventually, very slowly, light began to dawn on marblehead (that would be me, in case you were wondering) and I made the decision to take the leap and return to practice. 

Now I must admit that the time between making that decision and actually commencing the process  has been a little slow but ... I am happy to inform you that yesterday I mailed my aplication to change to practicing status to the Bar Society.

What now, you ask?

Now.

  

Now I sit and wait to hear back as to what, exactly, I will have to do before I can start practicing again.

Wish me luck. Please.