Sara Mainville Advocates for Ethical Legal Fee Arrangements – JFK Law LLP

July 3, 2025

JFK Law LLP is proud to share that our Managing Partner, Sara Mainville, is featured in an interview with Canada’s National Observer. In the article, Mainville sheds light on exploitative practices used in legal fee arrangements with First Nations.

A recent court decision by the King’s Bench of Saskatchewan found that legal fees charged to Beardy’s & Okemasis Cree Nation by its former law firm were unfair and, in some cases, unenforceable. The court ordered the law firm to pay back over $826,000 and an additional $100,000 in costs. After Beardy’s & Okemasis Cree Nation ended their contract with the law firm, the law firm demanded more than $1.1 million in fees plus a share of future contingency payments – even though it had been paid by loans and insurance already – due to a ‘poison pill’ clause in the retainer agreement in the event that the First Nation terminated the agreement.

Read More: https://jfklaw.ca/sara-mainville-advocates-for-ethical-legal-fee-arrangements/