Only in business a year, Canterbury Law has added several staff including a Bermudian law pupil as the firm sees its employment and insolvency practice grow amid the economic downturn.As director Juliana Snelling put it: “Board rooms seem restless at the moment.”Ms Snelling and the firm’s other director Paul Harshaw said the economy is also causing fierce competition among Bermudian law graduates, who once had their pick of firms.“The firm is delighted to have defied the economic odds by hiring several Bermudians over the past year including executive assistants, an administrative assistant and most recently, Bermudian law pupil, Ms Alsha Wilson,” Ms Snelling said.Ms Wilson earned her BA (Hons) in law from Carleton University in Canada, with a concentration on business law and a minor in economics. She then obtained her LLB degree in 2010 at Kent University, after completing her first year of the Kent programme at the Bermuda College. In 2011 she graduated from the College of Law, London-Bloomsbury, with a Post-Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice.“We were very pleased with the combination of Alsha’s obvious legal acumen and highly motivated attitude,” Ms Snelling said. “We initially took her on for only a month and quickly came to realise the added value that she brought to the firm.“I asked her what she was planning to do after her month came to end and she really had no legal doors open to her. That seemed tragic given her legal talent and what she had to offer the Bermudian marketplace. We therefore took her on for a year’s pupillage training and we have never looked back, benefiting every day from her hard work ethic and positive attitude.”Ms Snelling said sadly in these times there are many Bermudian law graduates out there who are finding “there is no room at the inn”.The Bar Association is doing its best to encourage law firms to do their civic duty and take on pupils at this difficult time, as otherwise their long legal education is for naught, she said.The Government does offer a payroll tax break for pupils on a training scheme as an incentive to take on pupils and law firms can benefit by billing for their pupil’s quality work.Mr Harshaw added: “Gone are the days when Bermudian law graduates have their pick of law firms; the competition is fierce. Would-be lawyers need to shed any sense of an ‘air of entitlement attitude’ and show a willingness to engage in hard work for less money.“When Juliana and I joined forces last year we were of the same mind in relation to our business model. Bermuda was in the fourth year of economic recession. Both of us were cautious about growing too quickly. Alsha came to us for work experience in November. We were not expecting to offer any pupillages in 2012, but in the month that Alsha was with us for work experience, we agreed that Alsha was too good to let go. From my perspective, Alsha possessed a combination of legal analysis and insight tempered by an economic and commercial reality not often seen in young lawyers.”Ms Wilson said her pupillage with Canterbury was proving to be invaluable.“ ... From client meetings and lawyers’ negotiations, to court and tribunal hearings, Ms Snelling and Mr Harshaw have continuously exposed me to the legal atmosphere of Bermuda without holding back. No two days have been the same so far, and every day I look forward to going to work wondering what the legal day will bring, whether it’s learning about employment, labour, immigration, human rights, contract, insolvency and other matters, drafting correspondence and pleadings, interviewing clients, researching case law and attending site visits.“Involvement in the Bermuda Community has also been a part of my pupillage, from observing public speaking on legal topics, to career day talks with high school students, attending the Legal Advice Centre at the ’back of town’ to observe Ms Snelling providing free advice to a myriad of people who cannot afford to hire a lawyer, and more.“I very much appreciate Mr Harshaw and Ms Snelling providing me with the opportunity to be employed with the firm as a pupil in these difficult economic times, and for continuing to provide me with such a rewarding experience.”Canterbury has also provided “mini-pupillage” experiences (ranging from two weeks to a month) to law school students wishing to gain real-life legal experience in their holiday breaks. Bermudian law graduate Roger Moniz pupilled with the firm last summer.“I was exposed to various matters during my time at the firm, which ranged from civil to commercial litigation,” he said.“Even though Ms Snelling and Mr Harshaw have very active employment and insolvency practices respectively, they cover much more than that. On any given day I found myself working on employment matters, public (constitutional) issues, contentious property issues, and high-level company disputes. Outside of being interesting, this exposure was beneficial because it assisted in my search for the elusive area of future specialisation. After all, this is one of the main reasons for being a legal intern!”Canterbury celebrated its first year in business on March 1. The law firm — named after Oxford University’s Canterbury Quadrangle in St John’s College where Ms Snelling obtained her law degree — practises in the areas of civil, commercial and trusts litigation, employment, labour and immigration, insolvency, public law, property, contract and other disputes.One year on, the firm has a thriving litigation and employment and labour practice notwithstanding the current state of Bermuda’s economy, Ms Snelling said.“Board rooms seem restless at the moment with high-level executives feeling pushed out for seemingly bogus reasons and employees being made to feel constructively dismissed. Employers are using conduct or performance reasons, often exaggerated in some instances, in order to transition employees out without having to pay them the statutory severance or termination payments that are owed to them under their contracts. Employers have finally caught up with what hoops they have to jump through before lawfully terminating and know how to play the system.“Having said that, employees have to appreciate that they are fortunate to have a job these days and they should be doing their very best at work to keep those jobs, in terms of both attitude and performance. We advise both sides of the legal divide in steering them through what are often highly stressful and emotional disputes, given that a job is often the mark of a person’s self-worth.“At the end of the day, the employment contract is based on the principle of mutual trust, respect and confidence between the parties and that should play itself out through the termination process in the interests of a peaceful and expeditious resolution, something good lawyers strive for in every dispute.”Ms Snelling added: “It’s been a hugely fulfilling experience to create a new business with Paul from the ground up, we are six employees in total (including Paul and me) which lends itself to a true family atmosphere. Board guru Mrs Fiona Luck, a businesswoman I admire very much, said to me recently, ‘Isn’t it wonderful how when you are managing your own business, you can instil your own values in the business and feel good about getting up every day for work?’ At Canterbury, we are all about teamwork, mutual support and encouragement, learning from our mistakes, working hard but having a good giggle along the way, and giving back to the community through reducing our fees in ‘hard cases’ and supporting charitable events. All of that combines to make us a happy group that will hopefully go from strength to strength.”In 2011 Ms Snelling was recognised by the Bermuda Government’s Department of Human Affairs as one of the 100 Women/100 Vision honorees, an award that highlights the achievements of 100 women in Bermuda who have had a positive impact on Bermuda in the economic/ business sector. Last year she was the recipient of the Bermudian Magazine’s Legal Services Award for being the judges’ “go to” lawyer for employment and immigration representation.To learn more about the team at Canterbury Law and articles written by its directors on employment related matters, visit www.canterburylaw.bm.