Sara Koryowski
Legal Counsel
Motivational Health Coach for Women
Justice Canada
Negotiations and Specific Claims West Section
About Sara
I’m so excited to be sharing about Sara because not only is she inspiring, but we’ve also been friends for like forever – we met at UBC Law School in 1998, and after that articled together at Miller Thomson in Vancouver before we were both called to the bar.
Sara works as Legal Counsel in an extremely interesting area of law, and has been there since 2008. She is employed in an advisory position to the Canadian Federal Government, preparing legal opinions for her client and providing legal advice during negotiations in connection with assets claimed by First Nations. And not just any claims, but rather claims that would normally be barred by the statute of limitations because they are over fifteen years old. This is because one of the objectives of her client (the Federal Government) is to settle these claims.
This is a fascinating and evolving area of law. When Sara began working in the field close to twenty years ago, there was almost no case law and many claims did not enter into negotiations. Now, in contrast, there exists a rich body of case law and most claims do enter negotiations that lead to settlement.
Pressure Point – is the practice of law really for me?
A significant professional pressure point that Sara overcame occurred not long after she was called to the BC Bar. As background, Sara had always dreamed of being a lawyer, working as a Human Rights litigator. However, upon beginning to practice she realized that reality did not always stack up to her dreams.
For one, Sara discovered that she was not fond of the litigator lifestyle, with its intense time pressures and deadlines and insane rushing around and crazy hours. She really liked being in court, but the rest of being a litigator was not a great fit. So Sara moved onto a solicitor practice, but found that that too did not appeal to her, for she found the subject-matter uninteresting and she still struggled with the pressures of private practice.
So Sara left the practice of law. It was a huge disappointment to her because she had always dreamed of being a lawyer and had worked so hard to get there. But she decided to bite the bullet and be realistic and accept that maybe it just wasn’t for her after all. But it was still incredibly disappointing.
For a couple of years Sara bounced around other jobs, trying out new experiences, including working in temp work and at a school. But nothing really hit home, and apparently something inside of Sara kept raising the lawyer flag. Because interestingly enough, Sara kept her toes in the water, including taking on the occasional legal research gig and keeping her membership with the BC Law Society current. And at some point Sara decided to try out the practice of law again, applied to a whole bunch of places, and happily wound up in her current position as Legal Counsel which turns out to be a fantastic fit for her.
When environment is the issue
It’s such a great fit because the issues Sara had with her previous litigator and solicitor positions don’t exist here. For Sara, it was never about not liking the practice of law or being a lawyer, but simply not enjoying the environments in which she found herself – for instance, the pressures frequently found in private law practice. In contrast, her current advisory position includes working in a dynamic and interesting field of law, combined with an environment that suits her interests and lifestyle. Including 40 hour work weeks with no overtime, weekends, or nights.
Sara’s advice to any lawyer struggling to fit into their position is to look at what they do and don’t like about it. And if the dislikes revolve around the environment, it could be a signal that that’s the problem, not the practice of law in general.
Motivational health coaching for women
In addition to her advisory role to the government, Sara is a motivational health coach for women. In her coaching business she helps women get into a health routine by making themselves a priority and getting past and dealing with all the excuses of why they “can’t” stick to their routine.
This is because, in Sara’s eyes, fitness is less about the fitness routine itself, and more about your mental state. For it doesn’t matter if you belong to a fabulous gym or have joined a top-notch fitness program – if you have mental blocks, you’re not going to stick to it long-term.
I so agree with Sara on this, and so I’ve joined her coaching program so she can help me get rid of the mental blocks I have around getting back into running again. It’s been a year and a half now, and I just can’t seem to get myself to get back into it again. I’m so excited to be working with Sara as my motivational fitness coach!
To contact Sara Koryowski:
sarakfit@gmail.com
You can also check out Sara’s former Instagram account. She’s no longer active on the platform, but it still gives you an idea of her personality and values.