When I started out, I always wanted a job in a big office. And I think that’s the dream of most students starting out. You have the “course au stages” (internships) and interviews, and I was so disappointed in the end when I didn’t get an offer from a big firm. But in the end, it was the best thing in the world that could have happened, that I didn’t work in a big firm.
My name is Joey Zukran and I’m the founder of LPC Avocats in Montreal. My law firm focuses on consumer protection related class-actions. Most of our work is on the plaintiff’s side, so we actually file class actions on behalf of individuals and consumers who are either defrauded or who suffered some kind of misrepresentation by companies.
I always had a passion for law in my personal life and I always wanted to go to law school. I actually had the opportunity to apply to University of Ottawa, civil law section much later on in life, so I applied to Ottawa. Actually, initially I got refused, fortunately they didn’t have my last semester of cegep, and when you added my physical education course it got me to about 80.02, so by a couple of decimal points I got into law and then the rest is history.
I was always interested in defending consumer’s rights against large corporations. Be it fighting with my cellphone provider for 2$ credit. And I would spend hours on the phone fighting with these companies because obviously they’re in the – they have negotiation power. They’re the big bad large corporation and good luck often with an overseas customer service agent trying to tell them “Hey the Quebec consumer protection act applies”.
When I was a law student, I had a job with a large regional law firm and was asked to research the issue of misrepresentation in consumer protection law.
It was like a novel. I would read sections 219, 220, 221, 220 and etc. and I saw how each article applied to violations that I see every day committed by merchants. Fast forward several years later, when I was sworn in, I decided to open my own firm.
You can imagine working in class actions, which is strictly commission based, took me about 30 days to realize you can’t really pay the rent so easily in this field. I actually had to mortgage my house in order to survive the first year or so of practice, which means that A) I had to really believe in what I was doing and B) you know work hard to achieve a result.
My message to law students who are either just starting off law school or finishing and going into the workforce is be driven by what you’re passionate about if you’re passionate, and if you believe in your own ability to succeed, then the sky is the limit.
You have to look at life over five years or ten years or even twenty, and the things that are happening today are happening for a reason. So, if you don’t have the job or the position you think is right for you, there’s a divine reason, I’d say, that you don’t have it. And to follow your passion, so if you’re passionate about something, follow your passion work very hard in the field, concentrate in one thing, but one thing you love very much. Put the blood and sweat into it and you’ll get results.
