Local Government Lawyer - Construction Practice

Young, Anderson is one of British Columbia’s leading boutique law firms representing local governments. That may sound like a narrow practice; it isn’t. We are a full-service law firm acting for local governments. In addition to advising our clients on local government law issues (e.g., statutory authority, governance, financial management, land use and other regulations), our practice includes real estate and development law, corporate and business law, labour and employment law, human rights law, procurement and construction law, first nations law, environmental law, and freedom of information and protection of privacy law. As lawyers acting for local governments, we play a key role in implementing public policy and shaping local communities. We take pride in the fact that we represent the public interest.

When Young, Anderson was established in the 1980s, the partners’ approach to the practice of law was founded on balance, recognizing the importance for lawyers to have a life outside of the office. We have a modest annual billable target of 1450 hours. We don’t have a non-billable target. Our client base is stable, so we don’t require a portable book of business or expect our lawyers to bring in new clients. We do encourage our lawyers to give back to our clients, by providing educational opportunities through writing for our newsletter or client bulletins, or presenting at our annual client seminar and conferences hosted by various local government associations.

Our salaries are competitive with other downtown Vancouver law firms with annual billable targets similar to ours. Our benefits program is comprehensive.

Associate lawyers at Young, Anderson have a significant degree of independence; they regularly have conduct of their own files. At the same time, there is significant ongoing mentoring. We have an open-door policy and collegial workplace, with our lawyers being encouraged to discuss their files.

We strongly feel that Young, Anderson provides the opportunity for an interesting and fulfilling practice in an unparalleled working environment. We are committed to building long term relationships with our lawyers. Testament to that is the fact that the majority of the firm’s partners articled at the firm, and several of the others joined the firm after one or two years of call.

An area of our practice where we see potential for growth is advising and representing local governments in all areas of law related to construction (e.g., procurement, contract drafting and review, and disputes and claims). We are looking for a lawyer with 4 to 6 years’ experience to join our team as an associate lawyer, having a general local government law practice, with an emphasis on advising and representing clients on construction matters. We envision this practice as initially being 50% general local government law and 50% construction and other litigation related matters.

This position will be in our downtown Vancouver office, with flexibility for hybrid work. The salary for this position is in the range of $130,000.00 (4 years' relevant experience) and $155,000.00 (6 years' relevant experience), plus an annual bonus.

If you are interested in this opportunity, please send your cover letter and resume, in confidence, to Angie MacDonald, at [email protected], with Construction Practice in your subject line.