Maria Chau's idea of success in the legal profession has admittedly changed since she graduated from UAlberta Law in 2008.
"Ever since I can remember, there was a part of me that was interested in the concept of being a lawyer," she recalls. While pursuing an undergraduate degree in biochemistry from UAlberta, Chau took a business law course, which led her to revisit law as a profession. "Law is actually very similar to sciences. You apply a similar logic and system of problem-solving," she says.
"Once I was in law school, I had, as many people do, aspirations of wearing the suit and working in a downtown tower," she says.
Upon graduating, Chau did just that - articling at Miller Thomson LLP in Edmonton, where she worked in the areas of commercial litigation and bankruptcy insolvency. After three years at Miller Thomson, she transitioned to in-house counsel for Ledcor Group of Companies.
"Practicing in bankruptcy/insolvency, I spent a lot of my time dismantling things - it's fast-paced and exciting, but after a while, I wanted to try my hand at building something up. I wagered that I'd have a chance to do that as in-house counsel," Chau reflects.
Although initially "a bit of a culture shock" to change from the faster pace and production-based success metrics of private practice, the wager worked out, offering her the opportunity to focus on joint ventures, public-private partnership (P3) projects, and other collaborative pursuits.
Unknown to Chau at that time, it would be a collaborative project of a different sort that would cause her to transition once again to a new role.
During law school, she had worked at the Mayfair Golf and Country Club as a server, where she met her partner, Darren Zwicker, then the club's Executive Sous Chef. By the time Chau was at Ledcor, Darren had been operating a catering business for several years, and when it came time to transition his business, the pair decided to undertake the project together.
"I left Ledcor in January 2017 and we opened up Zwick's Pretzels five days later," she says.
"There wasn't much precedent for a stand-alone pretzel shop in Edmonton, so we figured that when it failed, we'd just sell the shop and travel for a while. It caught on like wildfire," she says with a laugh as she recalls when she and Darren were the only two employees.
Today, the shop has about seven employees and has expanded the menu with more sandwich options and a line of house-made sodas, among other changes.
Now with over a year and a half of business under her belt, Chau is easily able to describe how law school helped her embrace - and even strive for - an alternative career in law.
"I left law school seeing the world very differently. I drive as a lawyer, I wake up as a lawyer. Everything I do is informed by my experiences in law. A legal education is an asset to anyone," she says.
That includes students who might think they want a traditional career in law but end up working towards another dream.
"Early on, you never anticipate that after you arrive at your idea of success, you might aspire to something different," she says. "My path might lead me back to legal practice, or it might not. Either way, my legal background will have been critical to getting me to there, and to moving me forward."