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Hugues Boisvert says he has two “fundamental, unbreakable rules” for running a law firm:
“Don’t take a client you don’t like because it’s not going to work,” says the 32-year-old business lawyer and CEO of HazloLaw. “Even if the money is good, don’t take it because the relationship is not going to be there, it’s not going to be genuine. Secondly you have to ask yourself, would you invite that person over for dinner Saturday night? Or out for a glass of wine after work? If the answer is no to both those questions, then it’s not a good fit.”
Boisvert has tried to live by those rules since founding HazloLaw in October 2011, an Ottawa firm with an international reach which he says emphasizes giving fewer clients more attention.
“The first meeting with every client I say, ‘look, we don’t know if we can work together, let’s sit down, explore and chat for half an hour’,” he says. “’At the end of that half hour you will tell me if you can work with me and I will tell you whether I can work with you’.”
He acknowledges that it’s an unorthodox way to do business.
“Clients will say, ‘I’m paying you for a service. You’re supposed to help me regardless of whether you like me or not.’ My philosophy is if I don’t like you and if I don’t think I can make a difference, I’m not going to provide good value. I’ve said to clients, ‘I’m sorry but it’s not going to work.’ They’re disappointed, but it’s in the best interests of everyone around the table.”
It’s an approach he picked up during an internship with a law firm in Buenos Aires. His firm’s name, Hazlo, is Spanish for “do it,” but Boisvert learned that motto is not synonymous with “rush it.”
“In Argentina, the first 45 minutes of a meeting you talk about personal stuff – your wife, your kids. You have to develop a relationship. It’s more fun. It’s more personal. People feel they are important to you. In North America, it’s always go, go, go never time to sit down and have a beer or a glass of wine, take a client to dinner or invite them to your house.”
Boisvert studied civil law at the University of Ottawa, then switched to common law at University of Moncton. But it was international business law, with its prospects for travel and mega-projects that turned his head.
He got his first taste for international business while still in law school when he co-founded Cnapsis, a company thatowns and operates medical labs in Africa.
“We started the company from scratch, raised the money, bought a few facilities and started negotiating with USAID, CIDA and all the big donors around the world. That got me excited about practising internationally.”
Boisvert reached out to his network after being called to the Ontario bar in 2005, finally finding a connection in Argentina.
Grosso & Co., headquartered in Buenos Aires, specializes in international business law, particularly with the mining industry. Founder Juan Carlos Grosso vividly recalls being pursued by the young Canadian lawyer.
“Many young lawyers just distribute resumes by post or e-mail and that’s it,” Grosso said in a telephone interview.“Hugues chased me, which showed his strengths, his interest in coming to Argentina.”
Boisvert came highly recommended, and Grosso was also impressed by the young lawyer’s “highly unusual” background in both common and civil law. Ultimately, it was a long phone call that clinched the deal, marking the start of what has been a lengthy professional and personal relationship.
“(I)t was enough to convince me to say, ‘OK my friend, I don’t know you but you sound good enough to catch a plane and come here’,” says Grosso.
Boisvert overcame the initial culture shock – he didn’t speak Spanish when he arrived – and spent a fruitful year in Argentina, which included brokering a multi-million dollar deal involving JP Morgan in New York, among other high-flying financiers.
“By coincidence I was deeply involved in some complicated merger and acquisition negotiations, the first historical investments by India in Argentina,” Grosso says. “He helped me a lot with those deals.”
Equally important to Grosso during those pressure-cooker days was the way Boisvert “immediately integrated with the rest of the team, regardless of age or gender; with senior lawyers all the way down to the cleaning lady. So after a while I started to take him around to business meetings with clients – which usually you don’t do with young associates. … He always made a very good impression.”
After his internship, Boisvert returned to Ottawa and worked under two local law firms, but the Argentinean experience had whetted his appetite for a closer connection to his clients. He decided to open a boutique law firm specializing in business and tax law, representing owners who are too busy running the shop to grow their business.
HazloLaw now boasts a roster of seven lawyers, including Boisvert and Grosso, with a presence in Ottawa, Montreal and Buenos Aires.
Because we’re not a 200-lawyer firm, you’re dealing with me. If you want to talk to me, even if I’m in Shanghai or Dubai, the client is going to send me an e-mail and I’m going to call them back. It’s all about the relationship with the client. With the rate they are paying us it’s important not to ignore them and it seems that a lot of guys in the business are forgetting that.”
Boisvert says HazloLaw is also unique in that it tends to bill by the project as opposed to by the hour. “The clients love it because they can actually budget. It makes sense for everyone, really. It’s just what clients want.”
His offices in downtown Ottawa are relatively modest, something else clients appreciate.
“I think clients are sick and tired of paying for the view of the parliament buildings or the $6,000 leather chair – especially in our space, which is private enterprise. That means the clients hiring you are the ones who are actually paying you, the owner of the company. It’s one thing if you represent Ford and the senior vice-president, it’s not their money. But in our space it makes a huge difference to be cost-effective.”
Becky Rynor is a freelance journalist in Ottawa.