It is with mixed feelings that the lawyers and staff at Pushor Mitchell wish to announce the retirement of Rick Pushor from the practice of law effective December 31, 2012.
Rick is one of the founding partners of our firm. Pushor Mitchell, as we are now known, had started 5 months before he joined. While there is some controversy about this, Rick says it was his choice to go out to Rutland to establish the “Rutland Office”. Rick’s practice thrived in large part because he related so well to his clients many of whom were also just starting out with their business or professional careers. As he is often heard to say to young lawyers – he was never ashamed to ask for a file. The files and success came for Rick and the firm.
The Rutland Office was a special place for the many staff and lawyers who worked there. Just as Rutland and Kelowna melded into each other over the years, we too merged our offices in the old Credit Union building on Ellis Street in 1988. In 1991 we developed and built (on the old Days’ Funeral Home site) the building that has housed Pushor Mitchell ever since.
Rick has contributed greatly to the success of Pushor Mitchell by instilling, in those who would listen, his values of: ethics without compromise, hard work, determination, technical excellence, compassion, fairness to and consideration for clients/staff and lawyers within the firm, team work, empathy and service to the community. We believe these values have become the values of the firm and the reason that Pushor Mitchell has grown into the largest law firm in British Columbia outside of the Lower Mainland.
The Pushor Mitchell that Rick started is proud of its contributions to the legal community and the broader community we live in. Some of those accomplishments include:
- Past Kelowna Chamber of Commerce Large Business of the Year Award Winner
- 2008 Corporate Citizen of the Year
- 2009 Canadian Bar Association B.C. Life Balance Award
- 2011 Kelowna Chamber of Commerce Green Award
- Title Sponsor of the $10,000 Annual UBC Gold Medal Prize to the Top Graduating Student
The list goes on but the point is that we are committed to helping make a community that has been so good to us, a better place. Having said that, our most important purpose remains satisfying the legal needs of our clients. Rick has been instrumental in fostering a client centered service culture at Pushor Mitchell and we are proud and pleased to let you know that 99.1% of our clients, in a recent survey, would recommend us to their peers. We are confident that the culture that Rick was instrumental in building at our firm will serve us and our clients well in the future.
So why do we have mixed feelings about Rick retiring? On the plus side, we won’t have to hear about his holes in one as often, and we are happy that he will have more time for himself after practicing law for almost 40 years. However, the big negative is that we will greatly miss his contributions, company and camaraderie. We know that Rick will approach his retirement with the gusto he employed in the practice of law. We hope you will join us in wishing him well.