Law’12 grad shares and life f A Tuesday morning might be just another day at the office for many Canadians. But for Bay Street lawyer and meditation coach Catie Fenn, Law’12 (Artsci’09), it could be the time to wrap up a litigation case, prepare for a “soul coaching” session, or fly off to Costa Rica to lead a transformational retreat. Lucy Sun, Law’19, a member of the Queen’s Law Social Innovation Team, sat down with Catie Fenn at a Toronto coffee shop in January to discuss her life, career, how she maintains a healthy work/life balance – and why she participated in a popular reality TV show. Sun: Your Instagram bio says, “Soul Coach, Speaker, Lawyer, Magic Maker. Helping people learn to be happy.” Tell me about your journey to being happy. Fenn: I would say my journey to becoming happier started when I was articling and I had just achieved everything I had ever wanted to. I had this amazing Bay Street litigation job that I was loving, I was in an amazing relationship, I was living in an area of Toronto that I had always wanted to live in – I had basically achieved the vision I had worked towards for so long. But at the same time, I felt more flat and disconnected than I had ever felt before. I had this objectively perfect life that I’d always wanted, but I wasn’t happy. So, I started to deconstruct each area of my life to look at what really was making me happy and ask myself if I had created some things only because they were what society told me I should want. The first thing I did to actually feel happier was to start meditation. It was a whole journey after that to unravel my life and rebuild it into something that truly fulfilled me. Everyone will say, “I don’t have time to meditate” or “I don’t have time to take care of myself,” but there’s this teacher I love and she always asks, “Do you have time to feel terrible?” Of course you don’t. I work on my happiness like it’s a full-time job. 78 QUEEN’S LAW REPORTS ONLINE
Catie Fenn, Law’12, is a lawyer, a meditation and soul coach, and a former contesta Catie Fenn, Law’12, is a lawyer, a meditation and soul coach, and a former contestant on The Bachelor.
Sun: Tell me about your practice as an associate with the litigation boutique Brown and Burnes. Fenn: I work in civil litigation and my claims are primarily defending personal injury actions. I really love it because I’m constantly participating in the litigation process – every week I’m out at discovery, or in mediation, in motions court, in pre-trial … there’s so much variety and I get to be out and about and meet people. I’ve always wanted to be a lawyer because, intellectually, I found the law very fascinating. I also used to work at a bar in Yorkville, where I talked with a lot of lawyers about their practice areas and those conversations confirmed for me I wanted to pursue the law. And honestly, I sort
