Raising a Successful Family Law Practice with Sarah Boulby

Sarah Boulby, partner in Boulby Weinberg LLP, joins me on the podcast this week. A practicing family lawyer since 1993, Sarah advises clients located in Ontario and internationally on complex support, property and parenting issues. Some of her many accomplishments include being listed in Best Lawyers International, recognized by Best Lawyers as the Toronto Family Lawyer of the Year in 2019, and ranked by Lexpert as one of Toronto’s Leading Practitioners of Family Law. Sarah also serves as a Director of the Toronto Lawyers Association and the Chair of the Family and Estates Committee of the Toronto Lawyers Association.

During our conversation today, Sarah shares her perspective on the cause of the recent rise in marital conflicts and settlement renegotiation remedies for owners of businesses impacted by the pandemic, and offers a comparison of the legal responsibilities of married and common law couples. She also discusses the high cost of getting a divorce and shares her recommendations for reducing both the financial and emotional pain involved, provides advice for those about to become lawyers, and gives a glimpse into the use of technology in her work.

Raising a Successful Family Law Practice with Sarah Boulby

Download the full transcript here

Highlights:

The rights and responsibilities for common law couples are significantly less than for married couples.
The most challenging part of Sarah’s work is helping people through the emotional part.
Sarah’s advice to those about to become lawyers is to resist those pressures to work hideous hours and, from the beginning, focus on a long career and on developing your business as opposed to just racking up the hours.
Sarah puts about 15-20% of her money into savings, invests in RSPs, and has disability insurance.
The decision with her current partner to set up their own firm was transformative because it brought back some of the joy about going to work.

Quotes:

“But for common law couples, there is no property law, no family property law. You own what you own and your spouse owns what he or she owns and that’s it.”

“What I do is the business of the breakdown of people’s relationships. And so, people are often hurt, and that impacts how they approach it.”

“What I recommend is be as honest as you can in terms of the financial details, because the whole system is based on really comprehensive financial disclosure, and resistance on that front can just end up costing a lot of grief and a lot of money that’s ill-spent.”

“If you work hideous hours, you probably are going to be less considerate and less of a listener and less able to help the clients that you have.”

“So we’re managing a little business and we have all of everything from negotiating the lease to dealing with HR issues to dealing with the bank – those kind of things. Oddly enough, I quite enjoy that.”