From insurance adjuster to leading personal injury lawyer, Sowemimo prioritizes giving back
David Sowemimo, Founder and Managing Lawyer at Watchmaker Injury Law, reflects on his journey from an insurance adjuster to becoming one of Canadian Lawyer's Top 25 Most Influential Lawyers of 2024. He explains how his industry experience shaped his legal career and led to the creation of his firm, his deep community involvement — including establishing a scholarship for Black law students and serving on the Edmonton Police Commission — and how these efforts, along with his legal advocacy, continue to inspire him.
David Sowemimo 00:00:00 Greg, hello and welcome to Canadian Lawyer TV. I'm Greg Greenberg from Key Media, and today we're speaking with David Sowemimo, Founder of and Managing Lawyer at Alberta based Watchmaker Injury Law. David was recently named one of Canadian Lawyers Top 25 Most Influential Lawyers of 2024 and we're here today to talk to him about why. Welcome David. Thanks for joining us, and congratulations on being recognized in the Top 25.
David Sowemimo 00:00:32 Thanks for having me, Greg.
David Sowemimo 00:00:33 To start off, tell me about your background. I understand you started as an adjuster for an insurance company. How did that shape your choices going forward?
David Sowemimo 00:00:42 Yes, I started off in the insurance industry in 2008 I got my first job after my undergrad at at the time, I insurance now called Intacct insurance in Calgary, and I worked there for three and a half years, then decided to go to law school, and I still maintain a lot of those relationships. I still have contact with a lot of the folks that I worked with. I got very good training in the insurance industry, and then decided it was time to go to law school. After I graduated from law school, it was a natural transition for me to go into personal injury. I again maintained the same contact that I had back when I was an adjuster, and those experiences, they served me well today as a personal injury lawyer.
David Sowemimo 00:01:28 Why did you decide to build your own personal injury boutique firm?
David Sowemimo 00:01:32 Watchmaker Injury Law comes out of the combination of my educational qualification, my employment experiences, and most importantly, my values, values of standing up for people, values of speaking up for other folks that can't speak for themselves, marginalized folks in our society. So I felt that I had to bring all those experiences under one umbrella, under one banner, the values of standing up for people, the values of fighting for folks when they need help. So those are the reasons why I felt that we had to bring it together under one umbrella to be able to stand up for people and advocate for folks that can speak for themselves.
David Sowemimo 00:02:14 And what does Watchmaker Injury Law bring to the table as an advocate for clients?
David Sowemimo 00:02:19 First and foremost, you get experience advocacy, as I said before, my inside knowledge of the insurance industry, how they access file, how they operate. Those experiences serve me well today as a personal injury lawyer, you also get detail oriented advocacy and assessment of your file. So we won't simply settle for the least amount of money that is offered by the insurance company. We will go the mile. We'll go the distance for the client. If we need to go to mediation, we will go to mediation. If we need to go to case management, we'll go to case management. That is what we do at watchmaker. Injury Law is to make sure we don't stop until the client is satisfied, you would also get access to leading edge technology as watchmaker Injury Law at this firm, we don't run away from technology. We embrace technology. We have i tech softwares that would keep the clients in the loop of what's happening with your cases. We embrace all sort of techno technological advancement to help the clients assess and adjudicate their power.
Greg Greenberg 00:03:26 And I understand you've always had a deep involvement in your community. Can you give us some examples of how you and your firm show that dedication?
David Sowemimo 00:03:34 First and foremost, we have a scholarship that we started a few years ago at the University of Manitoba. That's where this all started. You know, that's where I went to law school in Winnipeg, Manitoba. And the scholarship affords Black Law Students entrance scholarship to go to law school. This scholarship came out of my own personal experiences when I was thinking about going to law school, and it felt so far fetched. It felt like it was so far over there and it was so difficult to attain. So as soon as I got into law school, I said to myself, you know, what? If I do do well in this profession, I will do something as well to give back to folks coming behind me. And secondly, I am involved in police oversight work in Edmonton. I'm a commission on the Edmonton Police Commission, and the work we do there is to make sure the voices of marginalized folks are heard around the table when conversations come up in relation to policing in Edmonton. If the work is not to bring down anybody, the work is not to dampen the morale of the police officers, the work is to make sure we have a responsive and professional police service in Edmonton.
Greg Greenberg 00:04:46 And why is providing financial support and volunteering your time and expertise important to you?
David Sowemimo 00:04:52 It is about paying it forward. It's about giving back to folks coming behind me when I got into law school, I was a. Recipients of an entrance scholarship as well. So when I got into law school, somebody a couple, they were very magnanimous donors. They gave me an entrance scholarship to be able to go to law school. And I do remember how it felt when I got the scholarship. I remember I felt inspiring. It felt encouraging to be able to go to law school with somebody else funding it. So I said, you know, if I'm established in this profession, I'll do something as well to pay it forward, just so that I'm not the last to vote through law school. We can also encourage other folks as well that want to go to law school, to go to law school.
Greg Greenberg 00:05:37 And finally, can you tell us what being named an Influential Lawyer by your peers, means to you?
David Sowemimo 00:05:43 You know, and to carry for this interview, I will still pinching myself about the award. It's very encouraging. It's very inspiring, for sure. It inspires me to want to do more. It inspires me to want to give more of my time and my resources. You know, when we run from meetings to meetings, sometimes at lunchtime, I'm sitting down in my car in a special confidential Police Commission meeting, and I have to run back to work and and join a questioning that is ongoing. So when you do all that, you don't really know that folks can see what you're doing. But then when you have an award like this. It's validation of all those time and hard work that you put into all the activities that I'm involved in. So it's inspiring. It inspires me to want to do more, to want to give more of my time and resources.
Greg Greenberg 00:06:34 Thank you for talking to us today, David. And congratulations again on being named one of this year's Most Influential Lawyers.
David Sowemimo 00:06:40 Thanks Greg.
Greg Greenberg 00:06:42 And thanks to our audience for joining us today. Make sure you stay tuned for more award spotlights. I'm Greg Greenberg for Canadian Lawyer TV.