Dawgs of Law

The eagle soars down from the trees over a convoy of bikers and takes the lead, as if to say, “follow me”.  His place in front of the riders, he is king of the over world, leader of the flock.  He beckons them onward as they ride through the winding roads that are twisty and tight, opening up into majestic mountains.

The mountain range altitude is so high that the Highway 40 Loop, in Alberta, is closed until June 15. Snowy conditions at that altitude would make it a potentially a dangerous place for riders any time before June.

Imagine summer waking up the trees and the forest opening up from a long winter in hibernation. Out here on your motorbike, you experience everything. You are one with nature. You are nature. It’s in your face.

As only bikers know, the freedom to ride your motorcycle on the highways of Canada is a dream come true – you get to experience it all. A palette of paintings like only mother nature can provide. There’s 60 foot trees that flank both sides of the road, a brown bear as she looks on in indifference and finally the bikers land at the waterfalls. The eagle, he carries on, and for the bikers it’s time for a beverage.

Every ride includes a break where the 22 riders of the “Dawgs of Law”, take the time for a pit stop along the way. Ken Hoag, a lawyer in the province of Alberta, started the group, Dawgs of Law, 2009. Ken’s passion is motorcycles and to date he has five of his own. His collection includes a 2013 Harley Davidson Streetglide, a 2004 Harley Davidson Ultra Classic, a1985 Yamaha FJ1100 and two 1973 Honda Z50’s. That’s quite a portfolio! Dawgs of Law is a motorcycle club for individuals in the legal and law enforcement profession who own a motorcycle and share a passion for riding the open highway.

“Dawgs of Law is an informal organization that doesn’t have a lot of rules and regulations, well except for one – while on road trips “no shop talk”, Ken laughs.

While there is no shop talk on road trips, knowing and riding with each other certainly makes for great relationships in and out of court. Ken says, “Because many of us know each other in an informal riding setting, when it comes to working with each other we tend to be more understanding and come together, working in the best interest of our clients. It’s kind of like an unspoken mitigation process. That’s really important because it gives the voice back to the client before matters end up in court.”

Riding together is a great way to build a bridge between personal and professional lives. Members get to know each other in the club and are more respectful and courteous which naturally helps with bridging gaps. It makes perfect sense, we know that fundamentally when we have a relationship with someone we are much more likely to seek a solution. This can only be good for clients in litigation.

Ken expands into the psychology of why this group works so well, “Riding with our members of Dawgs of Law, creates incredible rapport both personally and professionally and often when we work together, we may brainstorm with counsel to find ways to help the client rather than litigate against each other. That’s important because once in court the client has no power and is at the mercy of the judge. Working with my fellow riders we can avoid all of that and do what we do best – work together for best interest of our clients, saving them time and money.”

Ken invites other riders to join the group. He says, “We’d like to see more individuals in our profession who haven’t heard of us. I would like to invite other lawyers and law enforcement officials to come along and check it out. Take the adventure with us.”

So it seems that The Dawgs of Law have set an example and “raised the bar” for all Lawyers – pardon the pun! Creating a passionate adventure that unites them with nature, unites them with their work lives, and at the same time creates a whole new range of positive solutions for their clients, is clearly a winning formula.