Beyond billable hours

The first hint that it’s not business as usual at Procido LLP might be the dapper Cardigan Welsh corgi patrolling the firm’s headquarters in Saskatoon.

Her name is Aurra Sing. She regularly tags along with Procido managing partner and founder Troy Baril, who has officially made her the director of good vibes. She’s often not the only pet there to lift the workday mood.

“We actually have it written specifically into our lease that we can bring typical house pets because it’s important,” Baril says.

“She has free rein of the office. She knows who has treats and who doesn’t. It’s good for mental health to have dogs around. Studies have shown that.”

Amid reports of law sector burnout and careers cut short, Baril and founding partner Chad Eggerman have overhauled traditional business models at the expanding full-service and cloud-based firm. Its specialties include construction and commercial litigation, project management, intellectual property, Indigenous law, privacy, commercial dispute resolution and governance.

“Billable hour targets… we don’t have them,” the Procido website declares.

“We seek lawyers who are self-motivated and want to encourage other aspirations, goals, and objectives they would like to meet in their lives, and we want to support them in doing that.

“Our experience tells us that people like this make better advisors.”

Procido launched in June 2022 and has already grown to more than a dozen lawyers and 15 support staff handling projects across Canada for clients around the world. It has offices in Toronto, Calgary and Winnipeg.

The firm’s name comes from the Latin word for “collapse.”

“We’re trying to collapse the hierarchy of how legal services are delivered,” Baril says.

Procido also emphasizes flexible work options that truly foster work-life balance.

“Not that tongue-in-cheek kind of ‘Yeah, we believe in it, but work 15 hours a day.’ And also how we deliver legal services to clients, providing more cost certainty through flat rates, fixed fees and our innovative subscription fixed annual fee program.”

Clients can pay a certain monthly amount for a detailed scope of work. It’s an approach more in line with what Eggerman saw while practicing for several years in Finland.

Procido also means “to strike.”

“It still has its place, but the billable hour model is inefficient, so we’re trying to strike (it) down,” Baril says.

He and Eggerman know the rigours of more traditional private practice, having been partners at national and Western Canadian regional firms.

Baril consistently clocked about 1,800 hours a year to make partner, but the punishing workloads take their toll.

“There’s this expectation in our profession of working 15 to 20 hours a day and not taking vacation,” he says.

“There’s no reason our profession can’t recognize that burnout is a real thing and account for it. People need vacation time. People need time, for their physical and mental health, to be able to disconnect.

“We don’t just encourage it, we require it.”

A recent report released as the second phase of a national study, Towards a Healthy and Sustainable Practice of Law, has been likened to a cry for help.

Dr. Nathalie Cadieux of the Université de Sherbrooke led the five-year research project, which was funded by the Canadian Bar Association, the Federation of Law Societies of Canada, and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.  

The first report in 2022 found alarming rates of depression and exhaustion along with the use of drugs or alcohol to cope.

The most recent report includes interviews with law professionals who described a rampant culture of overwork where asking for help is seen as a weakness.

Janelle Anderson joined Procido in 2023 as a senior associate. She specializes in governance, regulatory compliance and legal risk management. She had most recently worked as in-house counsel for a federally regulated bank.

As the mother of a young son, she was looking for a chance to practice good law but still be able to care for her family and herself.

“I was hesitant to return to private practice until I had a conversation with the founders at Procido,” Anderson says.

She especially appreciates their commitment to building a family-friendly firm that supports both office and remote work, “recognizing the mass exodus of women after a few years in the profession.”

“There are certain times in my day when I need to be able to do a school pickup or a daycare drop-off and adjust my schedule,” Anderson says.

“It doesn’t mean I don’t serve my clients and their needs. That’s always prioritized, but there’s … a lot more flexibility there.”

While there has been some shift in the law profession since the pandemic to support remote work, there is still often intense pressure at traditional firms to be available for long days.

“You need to be seen to be regarded and given opportunities, and to be supported,” Anderson says.

“It’s ‘Give your entire life and time over to the firm, and we’ll pay you this, and you’re on a partner track.’”

She values Procido's ability to see what associates can contribute at different stages of life as they juggle other demands and interests.

***

Brett Colvin knew he’d had enough in 2019 after almost five years of working 12-hour days for a big law firm. The last straw was when a senior partner came into his office, shut the door, and said: “Brett, keep coming up with your ideas; just keep them to yourself.”

Colvin is now CEO and a co-founder of Calgary-based Goodlawyer. It’s a law company featuring a remote platform connecting businesses with an experienced legal network that has grown to more than 200 lawyers across Canada over the last five years.

“There’s this huge opportunity to provide incredible legal talent to scale-ups and mid-market companies that aren’t ready for a full-time or in-house lawyer,” he says.

Goodlawyer helps independent lawyers build fractional in-house practices at whatever pace works for them. It’s also a chance for professionals who’ve felt profoundly isolated to join a growing community.

“It’s been so encouraging to see how receptive lawyers are to something that looks different,” Colvin says.

“You can work two, three days a week, raise your kids and still make a really good income (doing) really interesting work.”

He says the billable hour model rewards inefficiency while grinding people down. Within it, senior partners have little incentive to change the system or mentor young lawyers.

Goodlawyer’s mission? “It’s to be the most desirable way to practise law,” Colvin says.

“It’s a profession that I think should be a heck of a lot more enjoyable to be part of — especially in the digital age.”