Four decades on, NST’s founding spirit remains its greatest competitive edge
It’s been four decades since Irwin Nathanson, K.C., Stephen Schachter, K.C., and Ardella Thompson left a major Vancouver firm to set up a boutique of their own. It was at the time a risky idea, but it’s one Schachter still describes, without hesitation, as irresistible despite the unknowns.
The three litigators had a clear idea of what they wanted: a small firm focused on major civil litigation, free of the administrative weight of a large partnership, and structured around a kind of collegial practice that was rare at the time. Nathanson Schachter & Thompson LLP (NST) opened its doors in 1987.
“It’s never been a ‘look back and wonder,’” Schachter says, adding that it’s hard to believe forty years have passed since he and his co-founders took that leap.
For the legal profession at large, watching how the boutique cemented itself as one of Canada’s premier firms for the most complex cases, hard to believe seems about right.
‘Litigation is not a set piece battle’
The trio’s goal from the outset was straightforward, if easier said than done: to produce a first-rate trial, appellate and dispute resolution practice.
“We loved practising law, the law itself, and where it might take one in terms of developing it,” Nathanson explains. “We felt our little group could compete with the major litigation departments in major firms.”
They would look at matters critically from the very beginning, assessing the strengths and weaknesses of a client’s case and running rigorous analysis. Then they’d go forward with a strategy based on a relatively complete understanding of the dispute and the legal issues — leaving room to adjust course as needed. A judge once said that litigation is not a set-piece battle, “and we took that to heart,” recalls Nathanson.
Happily surprised that the young firm was able to do some major litigation matters with its lean contingent, still the time came to expand. The partners sought like-minded individuals, seeking to attract the best and brightest, often from big firms that had led to NST’s founding in the first place.
Nathanson remembers all too well interviewing at a major Vancouver firm at the start of his career and being told he’d have to carry his senior’s bag for about ten years before he’d be on his feet. He turned down the offer: it wasn’t how he intended to develop then and it wasn’t in line with what he intended to build now.
The guiding philosophy was “to get the best and not make them wait as long as the major firms do; we want to commit to them and we want them to commit to us,” Nathanson explains.
Associates got into the work quickly, from motions and discoveries to second or third chair at trial or other proceedings, and that approach served them well. Many of NST’s current partners grew with the firm over the years to the point where they’re now part of the engine of the firm. They learned alongside senior counsel who knew the work inside and out, making each other better lawyers. That’s attractive to people early in their careers, Nathanson says.
“Today people look at our firm and see the opportunity to work not as one of multiple litigation associates — like little birds all in a nest, looking for some food to be dropped in, who gets what depending on the vagaries of who takes a shine to whom. There’s never been any internal competition here; we work as a whole. The whole firm will mentor you here and that’s a big advantage.”
Schachter agrees, adding that a pension case, which Nathanson now cites as one of his career highlights, captures it perfectly.
Wrestling for eight months with a tricky problem on behalf of a major mining company, at a time when pension law was still developing, four of the senior partners gathered in a boardroom, laid out the issue, and within forty minutes, Schachter had the answer — one that held through the appellate courts. That internal discussion made all the difference in the world to that important case.
“I call it a great thinking cauldron,” Schachter says. “As we went further over the years and that way of working continued, we felt pretty lucky about the whole process. I still do.”
A thinking cauldron culture
That “thinking cauldron” — a workplace where legal and strategic ideas are discussed, opinions formed, advice given, and the work product is the best it can be — became a hallmark of NST, producing a culture that’s now the firm’s most powerful recruitment tool.
As the founders moved further into their careers, who they brought in became not just a matter of quality but of continuity. They wanted to establish a base of younger, competent trial and appellate counsel that could carry the firm forward in the image they’d created.
One of the lawyers brought on was Karen Carteri, K.C., who in the early 2000s was new to the Vancouver market. As a junior lawyer at another firm, she’d heard of NST, known for high-quality, strategic thinking and a goal-oriented and collegial culture. She joined the firm in 2016.
“NST was a pioneer in the formation of civil and commercial litigation boutiques in British Columbia and has continued to lead,” Carteri says. “I felt very honoured to be asked to join such a well-recognized and renowned group of practitioners — where the law and the best results for clients was the main focus. I got to see firsthand why the firm has the reputation it does, and what it means to be part of it.”
Carteri came aboard at a crucial point in NST’s journey, with one of the original founders — Ardella Thompson — retiring that year. With only a handful of partners at that time, the firm was in the middle of a deliberate succession project. Carteri has been central to that effort, not just as a member of the incoming generation, but in helping shape it.
When she joined, Geoffrey Gomery, Q.C., as he was then known, was a partner, and the younger partners included Julia Lawn and Kevin Loo, K.C. — each of whom have since been appointed to the BC Supreme Court or Court of Appeal. Partners James MacInnis, K.C. and Julia Lockhart have each been with the firm from the earliest days of their careers. Murray Clemens, K.C., has also been a centrepiece of NST, having been part of the firm for 27 years. That cohort has since grown to include Mark Oulton, K.C., along with a newer group of younger partners building their reputations quickly.
“Irwin and Stephen still work at the highest level, in terms of quality and the number of hours they’re putting in,” Carteri says. “We’re still learning from them and we work as a group within this wonderful culture.”
One of the younger partners is James Parker, who joined NST about ten years ago immediately after clerking — he’s effectively spent his entire career as a lawyer at NST, he notes — and made partner in 2025. He was drawn to NST because its model mirrored his clerking at the Court of Appeal: very close contact with senior lawyers just like he was used to with judges, and the work itself “built on sharpening each other with continued back-and-forth about the legal issues and factual matrix.”
“The way it was pitched is how it’s gone,” Parker says. “From the early days, there’s a real sense of doing things together and that’s what I loved.” It is a model Parker is determined to preserve.
“Trial work is a great specialty and it’s difficult for younger lawyers to get into,” Schachter notes. “We’re grateful for the long, complex cases we’ve been able to do.”
Both founders note that the opportunity to do complex trial work is becoming harder to come by. Courtroom backlogs, rising costs, and system pressures are pushing many disputes toward mediation, arbitration and summary proceedings. In this changing landscape NST continues to deliver optimal outcomes for its clients.
Against that backdrop, NST’s commitment to taking the hard cases all the way remains unchanged. The complexity of its files demands the highest calibre people and an intense rigour. As Parker puts it, it will never be a volume business.
“The way of practicing is the best part about it,” he says. “That’s the vibe I want to maintain.”
For Carteri, the succession project has always had a deeper purpose than simply filling seats. It’s about that constant learning, the skill sharpening, and achieving the best outcome possible for clients — “and to enjoy it while we’re doing it,” she adds.
“The ‘newer’ partners have become the senior lawyers, taking the train forward and adding to the legacy, while all still working alongside the founders. That’s really lovely.”
The work and the people
Nathanson and Schachter have worked together for over 40 years, and they’ve never had an argument — though the latter quips he might just have a bad memory. They’ve both always maintained that while the work is wonderful, it’s second to the people they work with.
“That’s what it’s all about, and I truly believe that,” Schachter says. “We’ve had some fascinating legal issues and our share of time at the SCC — I always come back to the people I’ve done it with. That’s the great joy and the pleasure.”
It’s the spirit they’re actively passing on to those meeting in the firm’s boardroom going over today’s files, and those who will gather around tomorrow’s.
“We’re going forward with the same culture that began with just three individuals many years ago,” Nathanson states.
This article was produced in partnership with Nathanson Schachter & Thompson LLP
