After working for large national law firms, Ryan Hillier and Sophie Tremblay founded Novalex in 2016 on the “one for one” model. For each hour of legal services billed to a client, the firm gives one hour of work pro bono (free legal advice).
While that might sound like a lot, Ryan Hillier says the model is financially viable, especially because they’ve lowered their operating costs. “Instead of investing in very luxurious offices in a downtown tower, with marble floors and paintings by Riopelle on the walls, we kept it minimalist,” explains the co-founder.
Novalex is indeed nestled a few minutes from Montreal skyscrapers, in the Griffintown district, and in relatively modest spaces. The company has also adopted a policy work from anywhere, so that its lawyers and employees can work from wherever they want.
By the end of the year, each of the 26 lawyers will have offered the equivalent of 33.6 days of service in 2021 pro bono low-income people, non-profit organizations (NPOs) and social enterprises.
Make a difference
Beyond this initiative, philanthropy is part of Novalex’s DNA, even if Ryan Hillier prefers another term. “I prefer to talk about social impact,” he says. We created the firm with the goal of giving back. We wanted to create a human work environment that allows everyone to benefit from the same quality services. ”
Almost everyone in the firm is also involved in causes that are close to their hearts or that are important to their clients. “Some lawyers work during the day on both commercial and pro bono and in the evening, they sit on the boards of directors of NPOs or participate in fundraising campaign committees for hospitals, ”illustrates the one who recently sat on the board of the organization Les petits frères.
This approach has also enabled the company to attract talent from large firms.
Our mission has taken on real meaning since the onset of the pandemic, which has left lawyers wondering why they chose the law in the first place. In most cases, it was to help their neighbor understand and assert their rights. Here they have the opportunity to have the best of both worlds, major projects and pro bono.
Ryan Hillier, co-founder of Novalex
Novalex North
Ryan Hillier is particularly proud of their most recent project, Novalex Nord, which will extend the “one for one” model to Nunavik. “Concretely, it is a continuous management of the files of residents and organizations in northern Quebec who could not afford a lawyer,” he summarizes.
Pandemic obliges, consultations and court attendance are for the moment virtually. In collaboration with the Nunavik Proximity Justice Center, the Quebec Ministry of Justice and the Makivik Corporation, the team works mainly on issues of family, criminal and housing law.
If Novalex tries to make justice accessible, Ryan Hillier specifies that he is only one actor among many others. “We want to set an example, but it is together that we will manage to resolve this critical problem. ”