One lawyer reads the first message, runs the file, and answers the calls. The lawyer who opens the file is the lawyer who closes it. No handoff to a junior lawyer the owner has not met.
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Same lawyer, start to finish
Every decision later in a file depends on the context set in the first conversation. The lawyer who reads the first message carries that context. DRG Law runs on one lawyer per file from open to close.
Larger firms split a file across a senior partner, an associate, and a paralegal. The handoff is the structural feature of the firm. The cost of the handoff lands on the client, in the form of repeated explanations and decisions made by lawyers who never met the owner. DRG Law runs on the opposite structure: one lawyer per file, start to finish.
The decision
The decisions below are the ones where continuity of counsel changes the outcome most. Each one is harder when the lawyer on the file at closing is not the lawyer who opened it.
The first conversation names the decision behind the file, the owner's exit horizon, the family or partner context, and the deadline that matters. DRG Law's lawyer reads that intake personally and writes the file plan from it.
Most owners do not ask the legally important question in the first call. The questions surface as the file moves. A lawyer who held the file from the start hears the question and adjusts; a lawyer brought in mid-file misses it.
Closings carry decisions made in the last twenty-four hours. A lawyer who knew the file from the start makes those decisions in the owner's context. A junior lawyer reading the file the night before makes them in a vacuum.
Owners come back with questions weeks or months after the file closes. The lawyer who ran the file remembers the structure; the lawyer who was not on the file has to read it cold.
How DRG Law writes it
Continuity is not an accident; it is the operating rule. DRG Law's file load is set so the same lawyer can hold the file from open to close without a handoff.
No screening assistant in the middle. The first message lands in front of the lawyer who will run the file if it is taken.
No second-chair handoff to an associate for the substantive work. DRG Law is structured to hold the file at one lawyer, and the file load is set against that structure.
The five-line brief is the format the lawyer keeps the file in. Every interaction with the owner updates the brief; the brief is what the lawyer reads before any call.
Common questions
The lawyer who reads the first message carries the context every later decision depends on. DRG Law runs on one lawyer holding the file and the conversation, no handoff to a junior lawyer the owner has never met. The lawyer who opens the file is the lawyer who closes it.
DRG Law plans for it. Live files have a written status the owner can read at any time, and Damaris arranges coverage with named co-counsel for the windows she is away. The handoff for cover is short, named, and time-limited.
Yes. Files that need a full team of lawyers (very large deals, multi-jurisdiction restructures, complex litigation) are referred to bigger firms. The same-lawyer model fits matters the right size for one senior lawyer to hold, which is most of what an Ontario owner-operated business needs.
The owner does not pay to re-explain the file. The lawyer does not repeat work already done. The decisions get made faster because the context is already in the room.
Next step
The first message lands with Damaris. If DRG Law takes the file, Damaris is the lawyer on it through to close. Send the matter; she reads it personally.