In this episode, we sit down with Steve Parr to discuss what it takes to build and lead a successful boutique law firm. Drawing from his years of experience, Steve shares insights on the importance of proactive estate planning and why having key legal documents in place before they’re needed can provide peace of mind for clients and their families.

Steve also reflects on his own career journey, from environmental initiatives to entrepreneurship and eventually founding his own corporate law practice. Along the way, he discusses the lessons he’s learned about leadership, personal growth, and building a business centered around strong relationships.

The conversation explores the role of team culture in professional services, highlighting how empathy, trust, and high ethical standards can strengthen both internal collaboration and client experiences. Through Steve’s experiences, we examine how intentional leadership, strategic planning, and meaningful connections can contribute to long-term success for both professionals and the people they serve.

Key Takeaways

• Proactive estate planning helps clients and their families avoid unnecessary stress and uncertainty in the future.
• Entrepreneurship challenged Steve to grow both personally and professionally, reinforcing the importance of adaptability.
• Strong teams are built on trust, collaboration, and shared values, which ultimately lead to better client outcomes.
• Self-awareness and personal development play an important role in making sound decisions, especially during challenging situations.
• Building a trusted network of professionals creates more value for clients and improves overall service delivery.
• Responsiveness, attentiveness, and genuine relationship-building are key factors in creating exceptional client experiences.

Links referenced in this episode:

• Parr Business Law
• linkedin.com/in/steveaparr

Thanks for joining us for the eh list today.

Yeah, it was a pleasure to be here, man.

Thank you. Yeah. Steve Parr I've known for over five years.

He's done a lot of great work for a lot of clients here at sas and even for our own firm, particularly around estate planning and about preparing documents in advance of problems occurring so that if something goes wrong, whether it's death, disability, or problem, my clients don't have to be worried. And I really appreciate the work he's done for our firm, my family, and our clients. Thanks for being here, Steve.

Hey, it's a pleasure. Thank you very much for having me.

So we're gonna start with some of your background and then we'll tie it into more of the leadership. We know both you and I operate independent practices, and so we've kind of had a similar journey in that regard.

But before law school, you were planting trees. You were planting trees for six months.

Looking back, what did that experience set you up for and how did that help create the best version of Steve that I get to enjoy today?

Yeah, yeah. So I'm in my 20s.

I basically was a tree planter for about eight years, and then I worked in as a line cook, and then I was in school, you know, so that's kind of how I spent my time. And I think tree planting just really taught me well. Taught me to work hard, you know? Yeah. Years.

There's no point in being out in the middle of a clear cut for the entirety of your summer if you're not going to work hard and bust your butt and make as much money as you can. And. Yeah, you just got to move your body, so.

Well, you get paid then, right?

You get paid per tree? Yeah. As I recall, it was about 11 cents per tree, so. And I don't really think the price has gone up that much. So it's a. It's a tough gig.

Didn't get impacted by inflation.

Didn't. Yeah, yeah. Somehow it didn't. Didn't ride that curve.

So now you went from environmental law into eco justice to then launching your own corporate law firm.

Yeah.

What shifted in your focus from that point to how you decided to focus on estates and solicitor work?

Yeah, yeah. So, you know, one thing that really kind of changed my trajectory was when I first moved to Vancouver, I discovered entrepreneurship.

So I had no interest really in business or in entrepreneurship of any sort whatsoever. During my 20s, in fact, I was, like, very much oriented towards kind of like, social causes.

But in my 30s, I met a completely different group of Social circle. A different social circle. And I started attending masterminds and different kinds of events.

And then while I was completing my articles in to complete my law degree, I started managing vacation rentals, Airbnbs throughout Vancouver and Whistler. And so that was a big pivot for me, and I suddenly was making more money than I was inside of my law job, and I had full autonomy over my time.

So in other words, I just discovered what it was like to be a business owner. And. And so I. I left law, actually. And then I went down that path of just running my vacation rental management company.

I love that. I didn't know that about you, Steve.

I helped my brother start a charter fishing company in Tofino, and so I was managing some of his bookings while I was finishing up my business degree. So I already knew I was gonna do something entrepreneurial. I shouldn't know what, but that's super interesting.

And did you end up selling that business or. I did.

Yeah. No, I sold it for a princely sum. That was a very modest sum to my business partner. Yeah, no, that's great.

He continued to run it for a few years, and then he actually sold it and turned to another party. So.

I love it. I love it. Well, and then finding your bringing your passion of entrepreneurship and law together, like, that's pretty exciting.

Yeah.

But for a while, I imagine it was just you in the business, in the law practice.

Yeah. Yes. Yeah. Actually, not that long. I mean, you find very quickly, I think, in professional services, you need help. It's such a demanding profession.

Like, in many ways, it was. Well, it is much harder than running a vacation rental management business, at least at the scale that we were operating at.

And no, I got an assistant, like, basically right away. Poached her out of the local coffee shop.

Well, hey, you know, she's good with people, which is.

She was very good with people and chat. She had a lot of degree too, so that no way came in handy. Yeah.

So you've been running power business law for about a decade now.

Yeah.

What does the firm look like today. And what kind of clients do you best serve in the firm?

Yeah. So the firm now I'm.

I have two associates, so two associate lawyers, and they both practice in corporate law, so they're incredible corporate lawyers. They deal with financings and with incorporations, so setting up new companies, managing how that money gets into that new company.

So when there's outside investors, so. And then entering into all the contractual arrangements that are, you know, with employees.

Employees, contractors, shareholder agreements, which we'll probably talk about more in depth at some point during this conversation through to selling the company. So we. We assist with a lot of M and A transactions. We have over 700 clients right now on the corporate side.

And then that has allowed me to shift my focus over to estate planning.

So around three or four years into my practice, I started uncovering that a lot of my business owner clients needed to get wills, needed to get their powers of attorney done. And so I went back to school, did a bunch more designations, and.

And then started shifting my focus over to estate planning, which has been really satisfying for me.

I love it. That's super logical. So essentially helping set up the companies you're managing, the record books.

That's correct, yeah.

Yeah. So you have sort of those recurring clientele, they have more needs, and you went and furthered your education to.

To provide better service and support for those clients, and they're comfortable with you and want to continue working with you.

Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

I love it.

Yeah. Yeah.

And, you know, Brandon, like, the fun thing about this is, like, I think when I really started my practice, I was like, I just want to be around business owners.

This is a great hack to just be around as many business owners as I can, because there's brilliant people who are always taking risks, who are always figuring out things, who are doing things that other people aren't working, willing to do. And, you know, I'm 10 years in now, and I feel like you're probably around 10 years in as well.

And it's like, how many amazing people have we met along the way now? Like, it's absolutely incredible, you know, if.

You can be fired up after every client meeting and be pumped on what.

You're doing, like, yeah, it doesn't feel like you're working well, 100, you know, and more and more.

That's exactly what it's like, is like you meet these astonishing individuals who have been, you know, are often highly successful, highly motivated individuals, both as business owners and other advisors. Other advisors who are. Who are similarly pumped up, you know, and are are finding innov innovative ways to help each other to.

Anyways, I'm kind of rambling here, but like, it is.

There's like a lot of excitement, I think, inside of this industry, which is surprising to me because I think at the start of my journey, Brandon, I didn't know that it would be this interesting, you know, and that's why I took that two year detour right into Airbnb and vacation Rentals, because I was concerned that law was just going to be all stuffy and dry. But it doesn't have to be.

I was scared of this financial services industry too. Like, I heard about this industry through an organization called Freedom 55, which allowed advisors to build their own practice from scratch.

And that was what actually attracted me, was, okay, so I don't really have a boss other than my clients. Like, I get to serve my clients. And then that could turn into a business over time.

I didn't know that there was a 90% failure rate among people that tried to enter that business.

Really? Yeah, yeah.

What most people fail who go direct into starting their own practice from scratch, more likely is they would start working for a firm or a bank. And then once they're in that, they get comfortable and it's harder for them to go start their own thing.

Right.

So.

Well, this is why we get along. Yes. Because we have the same path. You know, I didn't start inside of a big firm. It is very unusual for a young lawyer to start out on his own. So.

And you've. You've been crushing it. Now, let's talk a bit about culture and people you've brought in.

So how did you, I guess, make your decisions as to who you bring into the firm and then how do you attract, sort of retain those people over time as your firm evolves?

Yeah, yeah, great question. You know, like, the biggest asset that we have is our people. It is absolutely everything, you know, from how they interact with each other, how I.

The energy that I feel when I walk into the office every morning, the sense of trust, you know, because there's so much that you're depending upon for your team to handle all these different aspects of the business, whether it's interacting with the clients or whether it's things like marketing or finance or all the other aspects of running a business. You have to have great people.

And.

Yeah. How did I find them? You know, some of it is just dumb luck, honestly. Like, I've had. Yeah.

You know, one of my associate lawyers has been around for five years, Ty Durgasoff. He's incredible. He's just like one of the most diligent individuals that I've ever come across. Is just great. Remarkably consistent. And. Yeah.

And then I have, like, an extraordinary paralegal, Chevy Law. Her last name is Law.

It's like, she is the law.

She is the law. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But she's absolutely extraordinary. And anyways, I'm. I could name everybody on my team, but yeah, she. They. They allow me to.

They've allowed me to expand. Because you have that solid foundation, right. Of like, you know, that these people got your back and consequently have your clients back.

Back as well. Yeah. I mean, I could talk a lot about this. I think ethics are absolutely paramount. You know, obviously, in any.

In any business ethics is what is going to allow you to stay around forever. Hey, like, not go to jail. But B, you got to protect your reputation more than anything else. Right. Like, all it takes is. Is one bad experience or it.

Yeah. And it could all go. It can all go away very rapidly.

And so the people that you work with, that you've got to make sure that they are ethically oriented first and foremost. And then kindness, you know, kindness is absolutely critical. Law is super stressful.

You know, and people do not just, like dentists, they don't want to go to see their lawyer. And, you know, they're having conversations that are. That are uncomfortable, and they're often.

They're prompted to go see their lawyer after something difficult has already happened, you know, like a shareholder dispute or something like that. So you got to have people who have. Or high in the. High in empathy and also have the technical skill to. To be able to solve the problems that they're.

That we're being presented with.

So you've attracted great people and they've got your back. How do you show that you've got their back and keep them around?

Listen. Yeah, I mean, listen, first and foremost, actually pay attention. You know, like, we're business owners.

We've got a billion things on our head at any given moment, and it's the easiest thing to just put up blinders and not pay attention to other people inside of your business because you're so focused trying to serve your clients or you're so focused hunting the next deal or developing a referral relationship or whatever your priority. Priority of the day is. And yeah, I am far from perfect at this. I could.

If my team is listening to this right now, I'm sure they're just, you know, laughing because I know that I fail this regularly, but actually just paying attention and asking, you know, how people are doing and caring what they have to say and actually just remaining engaged with them is. Is really important. Paying people. Well, of course it's important. Yeah. We're not here.

Not a charity.

Yeah, it's not a charity. Yeah, of course you got to pay people well. You know, I think respecting things around, respecting boundaries, you know, people have.

Have lives outside of work. And just because it's a law firm doesn't mean you get to say, hey, you gotta stay till 8pm every night, or whatever it is they did on suits.

They did it on suits. Yeah, exactly. So, you know. Yeah. Respect for that and. Yeah, and. And I also think, like. Right. Respect for their professional perspective.

And this goes, I think, more to working with other lawyers, because you have to recognize that they're not just there to do whatever you tell them to do. And if they are, you have a much bigger problem. You do not.

As a, you know, as a law firm owner, you do not want somebody who is afraid to bring their opinion because they actually have a professional duty to bring their opinion about what is in the best interest of the client. Their job is not to do what's in the best interest of the firm is to protect the client at all costs and.

And to adhere to the ethical codes that we're all bound by. So.

Yeah, so you want to create an environment where it's safe to do that, where somebody can come to you and say, hey, Steve, like, no, we actually got to do it this way. And I feel very grateful that. I feel like I have developed that kind of environment because, yeah, people don't hold back.

Yeah, you want to have that trust, was the first thing you said, Steve. And I think that comes back to trust with your team creates trust with the client, and then ideally, trust with the law society as well. Right.

Because if you do have a lawyer on your team that has signed off on something, you should have reviewed it, and then you both could be on the hook.

Right. It's the same with us.

So we have regulatory bodies on the investment and insurance side, CFP board. If we make an improper recommendation, we could be sued.

So for that reason, we need to always ensure the team's comfortable sharing their perspective. Because they could be right and we're wrong.

Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah.

So there's a ton of law firms. There's a lot of financial advisory firms. What would you say that clients get with working with a boutique firm versus a large firm?

Yeah, I mean, there's great large firms out there, and there's great Small firms out there.

I think in general, though, what you're going to get worth working with a smaller firm is that you're going to get more contact, you're going to have more continuity of care if, you know, a smaller firm is generally going to be able to provide that kind of personalized service that people want. And I think there can be a tendency to get lost in the shuffle at the larger firms.

The larger firms are also, of course, are more accustomed to working with clients with very, very deep pockets, which typically can mean institutional clients or companies very, very large private companies and public companies. So if you don't fall into that category, then it can be difficult to get the kind of attention that you deserve at a larger firm.

So smaller firms are also tend to follow along very specialized areas of expertise. So they will tend to have a type of niche that is, that may is hopefully in alignment with what it is you're looking for. For sure. Yeah.

You can't be good at. Good at everything, so you need to pick your specialty as your firm has.

Yeah, exactly. So, yeah.

I mean, the downside, of course, is that, you know, most small business owners are going to need a variety of different domains of law, of legal expertise to support them. So the larger firm, you know, generally they have lawyers in almost every domain, so you don't necessarily need to switch.

But the reality is, is that every lawyer inside of a large law firm, they're going to have a completely different way of practicing. So just because they have the same banner doesn't necessarily mean you're going to have the same type of quality of experience.

So how small firm practitioners approach this problem is that we develop trusted relationships with other small firm practitioners who all have their own lane, all have their area of expertise.

And, you know, that's exactly what we do, is like, we tend to circle our clients up with everybody that we believe that they need to be in contact with.

Yeah, no, the circle of trust.

Yeah, I love it. Yeah.

Yeah. We operate similarly on our side. Right. Like, we don't touch law, we don't touch accounting.

And so depending on what a client needs leveraging a trusted referral partner like Steve or Ty helps ensure that clients are best served by people that we've already vetted. And then they're not needing to go to Google or roll the dice with some random.

And ideally, they've met you at one of our events in the past, which makes it even smoother.

Exactly, yeah. And I mean, everybody approaches it so differently.

That's one of the frustrating things I Think about both of our industries is that everybody's approach to how they interact with clients is so vastly different. So yeah, you want people that are the same kind of energetic fit.

So you just know intuitively that yeah, they're going to get along with, with Ty or with Mark or with Brandon or Steve.

So yeah, yeah, there's, there's sort of the professional competence bar that I think is expected among any professional you work with. But then there's the client experience bar of like, am I going to enjoy my interactions with this firm and with these people?

Yeah. And are they going to get back to me in a timely fashion? That's one of the biggest issues that happens. I mean it's so basic.

But yeah, you wouldn't believe how often clients have come to me and said, I said why, why have you left your old lawyer? And they said, well, they just didn't, you know, they took weeks to get back to me. It's just not acceptable. So for sure.

No, no, we operate similar. Same day response, for sure. If you can't get them the answer, then we'll tell them it's going to take us some time.

But like you're going to hear from me at least know where you're at with stuff, right?

Exactly. Yeah.

How important are those professional relationships that you've built over time and how has that helped you grow your business and better support your team?

Yeah, I mean they're absolutely critical for a couple of reasons. One, because you can't possibly know everything so you need to involve other professionals who have their own domains of expertise.

So it's, it's absolutely essential for my own education and I think it's, I think it's really professional obligation of every practitioner to, to have a strong network of relationships that they can lean on, that they can bounce ideas off of and of course, yeah, to, to meet new clients, to. It's, it's a referral based business primarily.

We have a good online presence, but I think still more than 60% of our clients come from referral sources. So you've got to continually develop those relationships.

And you know, I think for anybody who's considering, you know, starting up their own practice, that's something that you should be investing in from day one.

Yeah, it's, it's, I'm glad you brought that up because you are one of the best at. Right. Putting out high quality content that is educational as well as somewhat entertaining.

And I think that's actually an advantage to some of the boutique firms versus the larger firms. Whether you're looking at legal, accounting, or financial advice.

Yeah. Thank you.

But what interesting point. You brought up 60%.

So coming from referral, it seems to be that doesn't matter if you have great content, they still want to come from someone they know and trust in their network.

Absolutely. I think the content is really just out there to provide a little bit of additional brand collateral. Yeah.

So that people have a, you know, some more touch points before they start, before they actually hop on a first call. But, you know, ideally it's. It's often other advisors who are looking at that content, not really the clients themselves.

Sometimes the clients do, but, you know, the advisors, then that might cue them to make an introduction, so.

Well, I appreciate your flying to my comments. Anyway.

You're my number one fan. Thank you, Brandon.

Now, Steve, you've been part of a group called ARCA Brotherhood for many years, and I've known you as being a leader in terms of bringing men together to talk about challenges and opportunities to grow. How has that involvement helped shape you as a leader within your organization and help you build your company?

Yeah, running a business is stressful. Being a lawyer is stressful. I think just being a human is stressful these days. But, yeah, all of these, These.

These have been big challenges in my life. And having. Having a solid group of guys that I can go to every single week has really helped me weather those storms.

You know, I. I meet with my men's group every single Tuesday in person, and I've been doing so for the last 10 years. And 10 years ago, my life was completely different, and my psychology was very different. I would just say, you know, in general, it's just much less.

It was more juvenile, which makes sense, of course. You're 10 years younger.

Me too.

Right. But, you know, the reality is, is that getting old is. Or getting older is. Is a reality.

It's like an inevitability of being a human being, but getting wiser and getting more mature. That doesn't happen through the passage of time. That happens through intentional effort.

And the men's group is not a panacea, but it is definitely an arena where I get to sit in a circle of other guys and share my piece about whatever struggle I might be dealing with that week and get honest feedback about how I'm showing up, like, how I'm responsible for creating that mess. You know, say it was like a bad hire or something. You know, some other thing that happened in business. You could look at it as, oh, I did a bad hire.

Oh, people are so xyz. You know, and start blaming the person that you hired when the reality is you're the business owner, you're the person who made that decision.

You're the person who, you know, did the due diligence or didn't or got clear about exactly what the kind of person is that you need to have in a specific role or you didn't get clear. Either way, it's puck stops with you. The puck stops with you 100%. And. And, you know, having a men's group, that's.

That's been super helpful for me because they see you over time, so you show up week after week and they start to notice patterns about you.

So accountability partners, for sure.

And accountability partners, too, Absolutely. I've got a weekly group with, like, three other guys.

And, yeah, every single week we share our stats from our, you know, our whoops or whatever fitness device they're using. So, like, sleep scores and how many workouts you got and all that kind of stuff. So. Yeah, I mean, it's kind of. It's kind of fun to do that too.

Yeah. No, I've only been able to attend a few of those sessions, but I appreciate the fact that you organized them, and I definitely got value out of it.

So thank you for being a leader in that regard.

Absolutely, man. Yeah, we'll get a Saturday session going on soon. Appreciate it, man.

What does inner work actually mean to you, and how has that impacted how you make decisions? Decisions?

Yeah. I think inner work is about reflection. It's about honesty, and it's about ownership over your.

We all know what our is, you know, like, for me, it's about distracting myself. It's about indulging in habits that aren't productive.

It's about avoiding uncomfortable feelings and, you know, turning on Netflix or something like that when I'm having feelings that I don't like.

And inner work is about extending the amount of time that you're willing and able to sit in that discomfort to let it teach you what it's there to teach you. So, yeah, I think inner work is just a. It's a deliberate practice, and it's something that you come back to again and again.

And it's something that is supported by being in a strong community of other practitioners, because we're all just practitioners doing some kind of work here to figure out how to better ourselves, how to become more emotionally regulated, you know, because I really think that that's what emotional regulation is all about.

And awareness.

Yeah, it's just like, just having that ability to not React, you know, when something goes south. And it always will in business. Yep. Like daily there's things. Yeah.

These, these practices, they, they allow you to weather that storm and not have a knee jerk reaction and not have an emotional blowout and not take it out on your spouse or your, you know, your employees or your clients even. Because I've seen that, you know, I've seen that in other advisors and I've seen that inside of myself for sure. So yeah, yeah.

Always just try to be a little bit better than yesterday. The phrase I use with Eileen, my associate, is water off a duck's back.

Yeah.

If you can't control it, then there's no point getting frustrated.

Absolutely. Yeah.

I love that. And a lot of men I think sometimes maybe look down at self work and they won't invest the time and energy.

So what would you say to, for.

Any men that are listening that perhaps need something like this but just haven't quite taken the jump?

Yeah, you know. Well, first of all, I would say that joining a men's group, I think it's absolutely amazing. It's been huge for me. I've.

It's completely changed my life and I'm not going to tell anybody to do anything. You know, if it's not for you, it's not for you, that's fine. And that doesn't mean that it's the only path to self development.

So there is some sort of like individual preferences that I think need to be honored here. Everybody's on their own unique journey and have, has their own sort of way that's going to work for them.

You know, for some people, maybe they just want to sit in nature and you know, meditate.

Others, they find themselves, they find their, their sense of clarity and, and connection to self through exercise and through know maybe just a long walk in the woods. Whatever it is, you know, like I'm not here to judge. I'm just happy to share a little bit about what's worked for me.

So yeah, I think like if, if you're out there and you're thinking, you know, for, for the guys who are sort of like looking down on inner work or something like that, I think it's more about, I would just encourage guys to, to ask themselves, well, what developmental path makes sense for me, assuming they're interested in becoming a better person. I mean if they're not, that's fine too. Whatever.

We're on our own journey.

We're all on our own journey. I just probably won't spend much time with you. Yeah.

There's people that are making an effort to be the best version of the version of themselves and others that are trying to drag you down to wherever they're at. And, yeah, you got to pick and choose where you spend your time.

So you do. You do.

Well, thank you for spending some time with me today.

Oh, it's been a pleasure, man. I, you know, I really enjoyed this conversation.

For those that want to hear more from you or want to work with you, where's the best place for them to reach out or contact you?

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, you can find me on LinkedIn really easily. Steve Parr.

My firm's called parbusinesslaw.com and, yeah, really, that's the easiest way to get in touch. Hit me, send me a message on LinkedIn, and then we can set up a time to have a chat. Beauty.