Jamie Liew (left) and Karin Galldin Click here to see full sized version.

In the buttoned-down capital, the official opening of a law office is normally a rather staid affair featuring cocktails, appetizers and plenty of networking. But not so when the small firm of Galldin Liew LLP announced its arrival on Ottawa’s legal scene, early last September.

Held on a Saturday night at an alternative-art gallery in the city’s historic yet trendy Byward Market, the event featured vegan snacks, “beats” by a DJ and a silent auction, with $500 in proceeds going to the Dancers’ Equal Rights Association — an advocacy group for exotic dancers in the Ottawa area.

As events go, it was definitely different, but so is Galldin Liew.

Few – if any – lawyers in the national capital wear feather boas in photographs or are described as “stylish” and “hip” as University of Ottawa 2005 common-law graduates Jamie Liew and Karin Galldin have been in the city’s alternative weekly newspaper, Ottawa XPress.

But these two 30-year-old lawyers – both called to the Ontario bar in 2006 – are making history in leading Ottawa’s only feminist legal practice.

“There are women lawyers in Ottawa who identify themselves as feminists,” says Liew. “We wanted to identify our practice as such because we felt there was a gap in terms of how legal services are provided to women.”

The firm outlines its feminist philosophy as one “that works to ensure the physical, economic and social security of women,” and is “guided by the principle of security as a holistic issue for women: from safe and affordable housing, to the entitlement to a harassment-free workplace, to physical and emotional well being in interpersonal relationships.”

To achieve the goal of advancing the rights and equality of women, the pair plan to do regular outreach to women’s groups and dispel “the myth that only lawyers can disseminate legal information in very strict relationships with clients through tight retainers,” says Galldin.

“There’s a real dearth in the legal profession’s ability to get information to vulnerable communities – particularly women – before they reach a crisis point or experience poverty.”

Recognizing that many members of their target clientele can’t afford hefty legal bills and end up representing themselves in court, Liew says the small firm is willing to “work around” clients’ financial limitations to provide them with counsel or direct them to where they can get the information they need.

Their guidance is often upbeat and creative. At the annual Ladyfest Ottawa music and arts festival for women last fall, Galldin and Liew held a workshop called “What the Eff Am I Signing? The Clever Girls’ Guide to Copyright and Contract Law.” In the festival program, they were billed as putting the “gal back in leGAL.”

But it’s not all fun and play. Run as a two-person operation, Galldin Liew doesn’t have the luxury of having a managing partner — or support staff, for that matter. Thus, the two women do everything — from arranging a financing deal with RBC last year (their first choice, the Women’s Credit Union in Ottawa, could not provide the needed online banking service) to answering their own direct phone lines.

Being a feminist centred law firm also involves providing a sanctuary where women feel empowered.

“Our primary concern is ensuring that women feel comfortable coming into our space,” says Liew, who sits on the board of Interval House, an Ottawa women’s shelter.

There is one absolute, though. Galldin Liew will not represent men in criminal defence or family law matters. “It would restrict my ability to serve any woman that comes in the door and finds out that I’m conflicted by having served one of her ex-partners in a previous matter,” says Liew, who also specializes in immigration and administrative law. Galldin, meanwhile, handles civil litigation as well as labour and employment, and human rights law.

They do represent men on files involving estate and business planning.

However, Liew says the goal is to provide “holistic” legal services to a female client who may be simultaneously dealing with a relationship breakdown, a criminal assault-related charge related to the ex-partner and uncertain immigration status.

“We want that woman to come to us rather than jumping to different lawyers.”