Sage Legal was initially created in November 2017. The firm was designed to take a different approach to providing services to indigenous clients and communities – namely, leveraging technology to reduce costs and enhance services, while also taking a more ‘generalist’ approach to assisting communities and Nations, with a focus on support and assistance over ‘prestige and expertise’. For me, doing this type of work started with my initial decision to go to law school – that decision was inspired by first trip to East Africa (Uganda), where I went to volunteer and ‘help’ Ugandan health care workers. I met amazing people, learned a great deal, and ultimately left feeling like I had gained much, much more than I contributed to the clinic and patients that I had initially gone to help.

Becoming a lawyer was my attempt to become useful, with a basic goal of working in the realm of alleviating poverty, advocating for human rights, and building better and beneficial legal structures. During law school, I devoted a significant portion of time (probably to the detriment of my grades) working at Student Legal Services – a student-run legal clinic providing free legal information and services to low-income individuals in Edmonton. I was the Legal Education and Reform coordinator and spent time building information and advocacy documents on rights for homeless individuals and rights in relation to police interactions. After completing my articles in 2011 (at a ‘normal’ law firm in Alberta), I was selected to the Canadian Bar Association’s International Internship Program, and was posted in Nairobi, Kenya, with the Kenyan Section of the International Commission of Jurists – this was exactly the type of work that fulfilled my broad goals – I was assisting in international criminal justice cases, helping with implementation of Kenya’s brand-new Constitution, and working around East Africa to help build legal structures and policies to align domestic laws with international laws and norms. Again, while I was passionate about the work, and was able to work with amazing Kenyan lawyers doing impactful work, ultimately I left feeling like I had done good work and learned a lot, but that it was really work that can and should be done by and for Kenyans (not having an ex-pat fill a position that would better be served by a local lawyer).[AM1]

So, I returned to Canada and turned my mind to Access to Justice and Poverty Law work (at Pro Bono Law Alberta and Calgary Legal Guidance). In 2016, I moved back to Victoria with my family, and looked for an opportunity to be able to combine my experiences working in human rights and governance development, and in a way that I could provide services and support without taking up extra space and displacing community members. That’s how I arrived at the practice of Aboriginal Law and Indigenous Rights, and why I’ve tried to structure my practice in a way that is collaborative, supportive, and focuses on empowering our client, now and in the future.

I joined Sage Legal in the height of the pandemic and was drawn to both its model – distributed, accessible, collaborative, and its area of focus – advancing and advocating for Indigenous rights. I joined fresh out of law school, after completing my articles at Calgary Legal Guidance, where I was part of a group of students and lawyers providing free legal services to low-income individuals in Calgary. Prior to articling, I did as much experiential learning as possible during law school. This included a semester with a student-run legal clinic providing free family law services to low-income individuals in Vancouver, a co-op placement with the BC Ministry of Attorney General focusing on development of human rights and family law legislation and policy, and a co-op placement with a boutique Aboriginal law firm working exclusively for Indigenous governments and organizations. These experiences all align with Sage Legal and its model.

My career path has been a bit like a winding stream that naturally funnelled into Sage Legal. As I finished law school, I knew that Aboriginal law and environmental law were where I wanted to be, but I wanted a broad skill-set so I could be as useful as I could once I got there. That meant I spent many years doing general commercial, employment, estate and professional regulatory litigation work. I then took time away from law to do interview based graduate research on British Columbia’s regulation of water in the fracking industry, which took me to Treaty 8 territory.

I’m currently focused on land stewardship initiatives, consultation matters and regulatory processes and hearings. I have the background to engage directly on the technical aspects related to major projects such as pipelines, mines and hydroelectric dams, which allows me tot translate complex material into digestible information for our clients.

I joined Sage Legal because of three main things. One—the services that Sage provides have both depth and breadth. We take time to be able to fully support a client across complex issues. Two—working in this small team is fantastic from a personal satisfaction perspective, and the services that Sage provides have both depth and breadth. We take time to be able to fully support a client across complex issues. And three—the set of clients that Sage works for are excellent. Who wouldn’t want to be part of this team?

As soon as I was hired in 2022, I noticed how unique Sage Legal was for a law firm. Josh has created a firm where teamwork and collaboration are the core values. This was a new experience for me. For me the Sage identity comes from his leadership. The lawyers and clients we work with are exceptional, because Josh trusts them and truly values their insights and opinions.