What is it like working as a corporate lawyer amidst the hustle and bustle of New York City? Alumna and author Lindsay Cameron (née Lamprecht) recently shared her experience with us, an experience that inspired her first novel, BigLaw.
After graduating from the Peter A. Allard School of Law in 2002, Cameron began her career at a law firm in downtown Vancouver. Soon after, she accepted a position in the corporate department of a large New York City law firm. While the experience was intense and enjoyable, and certainly eye-opening, Cameron ultimately made the decision to leave her practice and focus on starting a family and pursuing more creative interests. It was at this time that she started seriously to consider writing, a hobby that she had always enjoyed.
Cameron chose to write about what she knew best, and her experiences in New York provided enough material to inspire her debut novel, BigLaw. Cameron explains that “BigLaw” is a commonly-used term in New York to describe large law firms with hundreds or thousands of lawyers working on high-profile corporate deals. Her novel tells the story of a young, ambitious woman trying to climb the corporate ladder. She soon becomes entangled in the demanding environment and finds herself the focus of an investigation that threatens everything she’s worked so hard to achieve. Although a work of fiction, Cameron says that her own experiences as a lawyer in New York inspired some of the characters and circumstances.
While Cameron enjoyed her work as a lawyer, she appreciates the new challenge of writing. She says her favourite moment as a writer thus far was the very first phone call she received from her literary agent.
“You take a lot of time to write and while you’re writing it’s very solitary. You don’t know how it’s going, or if people will like it. But having my agent call me and tell me that she loved it and wanted to work with me was wonderful because it was validation that all the time I put into the book was time well-spent.”
Others are beginning to share her agent’s enthusiasm for BigLaw. A few months ago, Paramount Pictures bought the television and film rights for the book. Cameron is keeping her fingers crossed that she’ll see her characters make it to the big screen soon.
Looking forward, Cameron says she hopes to continue writing. She still lives in New York, with her husband and two children, and already has a couple of ideas for new novels floating around. BigLaw: A Novel, was released in hardcopy on September 7, 2015.