Former funeral home transformed into legal offices for Fort Frances lawyers

A former funeral home in Fort Frances has been transformed into law offices.

The firm of Judson-Howie officially opened their building last week.

They acquired the former Green’s Funeral Home shortly after it closed two years ago.

Doug Judson says renovations were recently completed.

“This building had electric heat. We had to put furnaces in it. We had to do the shingles. There was a dumbwaiter for caskets. We had to get taken out,” says Judson.

“There were all kinds of things like that that had to be taken care of before we could do things like shaping the space into what it is today for us, which is a modern practice environment for our firm.”

The firm has taken advantage of the latest in technology, with offices set up with triple screens, standing desks, and video conferencing.

There is additional space in the lower level, which they hope to make available in the future to large groups for things as board meetings or workshops.

The building has also been spruced up with numerous art pieces from local and regional artists that hang throughout the building.

“There’s a lot of Indigenous woodland art because we’re trying to make it a space that reflects the clientele that we serve and so that they feel good when they come here,” says Judson.

“A lot of people don’t feel good when they come here for various reasons. Visiting a lawyer can be stressful. But also, they’re coming to a funeral home that maybe they don’t have great feelings about from the past. So we’re trying to reimagine the space in a good way.”

The firm has four lawyers, soon to be five, and a law clerk on staff, along with a co-op student and a law school student, soon to join the bar.

The firm is taking full advantage of Lakehead University’s Bora Laskin Law School by welcoming students to do placements as they break into the profession.

“I think Doug and I take our role in the profession very seriously as mentors to junior lawyers. And we’ve really emphasized bringing people in straight from law school and doing their practice placement with us,” says Peter Howie.

Their office building includes a residence, providing students from out of town with a place to stay while doing their placement.