waterloo region law association

Practicing Here

Learn what being a lawyer here is all about!

There is a great combination of sole practitioners, small firms (with a handful of lawyers) and medium sized firms with 10 to 30 lawyers practicing in the Waterloo Region. And with a population of approximately 500,000 people, the residents of this region require a diverse range of legal services. Listed below are just some of the areas of law that are practiced here:

• Commercial and Residential Real Estate
• Wills and Estates
• Family Law
• Civil Litigation
• Criminal Defense
• Corporate (including transactional work for the purchase and sale of businesses)
• Employment
• Information Technology
• Patents and Trademarks

The Region of Waterloo provides its lawyers with high quality, complex and challenging legal work. As well, unlike some larger financial centres, practicing in Waterloo Region often presents young lawyers with the ability to have more direct client contact. It is common for young lawyers to have carriage of a file and be the main legal contact in their first, second and third years of practice.

For those of you who have an entrepreneurial spirit Waterloo Region presents a great opportunity to develop your own legal practice. There are several community organizations to get involved in, like the Chamber of Commerce and Rotary where you can network and in turn assist you to develop your client base.

Practicing in Waterloo Region is more than just providing legal services. It is about getting involved in your community and giving back to your fellow residents. No matter the needs of your client or the size of your client be they an individual or a corporation - the practice of law in Waterloo Region is rich and rewarding. There is great satisfaction among the practicing bar that you can make a difference in the lives of those you advise.

Courthouse Library

The Waterloo Law Association Law Library is located in the Superior Court of Justice building in downtown Kitchener just 2 blocks from the main street, 1 block from the Ontario Court of Justice, next door to the Ontario Provincial Offences courts and within walking distance of dozens of law firms and offices.

The library has two full time staff members on weekdays from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm. Evening and weekend access is arranged with library staff at the commencement of articles. One-on-one tours and orientation with the collection and electronic resources can be arranged at any time. The print collection consists of LSUC and OBA Continuing Education material, federal and provincial legislation, current loose leaf subscriptions in addition to a comprehensive selection of over 15,000 current and historical texts and law reports.

Students and lawyers are encouraged to take advantage of all the services offered through the law library. AdvoCat, the Law Society of Upper Canada’s online catalogue, can assist in helping you find the text you need to start your research. Through our Document Delivery Agreement, we are able to borrow any item from one of our member libraries and have it for you in most cases the next day. If you need an article in a scholarly journal that we don’t have, we can have it faxed or emailed to us usually the same day. If you are having trouble getting started on your research and need a jump- start, you can access AdvoCHAT directly from your own desktop and chat live online with a librarian who can help you with your question. These are just two of the current and sophisticated services of which you are encouraged to take advantage of.

Visit our website for more information on the Waterloo Law Association Law Library including useful links to many free legal resources available on the Internet WRLA Library.

Pia Williams, Library Manager & Executive Director
Monday to Friday, 8:30 to 4:30
pwilliams@waterloolaw.org