A local law firm is celebrating its newly renovated space, taking a historic town building into the future in a way that will continue to serve the community and beyond.
Douglas Judson and Peter Howie, the partners at the helm of JudsonHowie LLP., held a private open house event on Friday, September 12, 2025, at their office location on Reid Avenue. The office is the former location of Greens Funeral Home, and the open house event allowed invitees the opportunity to see the myriad improvements and changes made to the space, while also recognizing the history of the building and its former role.
Judson and Howie acquired the building for their firm in July of 2023, and what followed was months of renovation and repair work to make the building more suitable to their needs and update some things that had both feet firmly in the past.
“Green Funeral Home closed in mid-2023 and we acquired the building in July of that year,” Judson said.
“We have slowly been picking away at renovations since then. It’s actually been this summer that we finally finished renovating the main floor where the chapel and the consult offices were, and we’ve moved most of our practice up here. The building itself is in good condition, but it was a product of its time. It had entirely electric heat. We’ve had to do a lot of very unsexy, practical renovations like put in furnaces and HVAC and redo the shingles, things of that nature.”
Judson said the work done to the interior has been to bring the aesthetic out of the past and to make the feel more modern and open. Judson said they also worked to make sure the artwork and other pieces on display highlight the variety of landscape, culture and history in the region.
“You’ll see that throughout the office we’ve chosen art that is either local or regional artists, or that reflects things in the region,” Judson said.
“There are paintings that are abstractions of agriculture, there’s woodland paintings from Indigenous artists, and there’s also some lake scenery. We’re trying to make the space really reflect the clientele that we have in the region.”
Along with open windows and comfortable furniture, the changes made to the former funeral home are aimed at making the space feel inviting for those clients who need to access the legal services provided by the firm. Making significant renovations also serves to set the firm up for future growth and expansion, and to help provide valuable experience to law students who come to learn at JudsonHowie – and sometimes stay on afterwards.
“The building is an important part of the growth of the firm, because what a lot of people don’t realize about the bulding is that it comes with a residence attached to it that historically was the funeral directors home,” Howie said.
“That allows us to have a space that we can house lawyers that want to join our firm ,that are moving to the Rainy River District, because as everyone knows, it’s really hard to find housing for people who move here, even temporarily, so that’s been a big draw for us, in terms of recruiting students and associates to come practice law in Fort Frances.”
JudsonHowie LLP has already seen several law students come through their doors, and former students Jeffrey Marchuk and Cassandra Spade have stayed on to become full employees. Judson said the district provides plenty of opportunity for both law students and legal professionals as the local court system is busy, and the proximity to the Bora Laskin Faculty of Law at Lakehead University makes Fort Frances a prime location to practice.
“Frankly, there’s a tonne of work here,” Judson said.
“Our court is busy. A lot of clients continue to be served by lawyers who are outside of the district, simply because there’s not enough capacity locally. So we’re happy to continue to grow by mentoring new people and brining them in and providing them with what we think is a pretty meaningful opportunity, just because it is hyper-local and we have a very well-run court for the most part.”
While the upper floor is mostly contained to the JudsonHowie offices, there is also a carved out office space facing First Street that Judson and Howie said will be available for rent for someone looking for a smaller office space in town. The firm will also have a conference room available to rent for those who need a smaller to medium-sized space, according to Howie, and Judson noted that the way law is changing means there could be more opportunities to use their new spaces creatively.
“I think a lot of the justice system itself is reforming to provide more creative ways to address criminal justice issues and restorative approaches to justice,” Judson said.
“We have a lot of interest in our staff, particularly Cassandra, who’s just joining us, in being part of that, and seeing if we can offer programming through our space, through some of our justice partners in the community, and I think that there’s an opportunity there to make the building work in that way.”
Judson and Howie both noted that the character and history of the building is what initially appealed to them as they sought to expand the space for their firm, and being able to turn a place so closely tied to a somewhat morbid industry into a bright and modern law firm has made for an interesting experience.
“You know, it’s been fun, actually, the project, the project’s been fun because people have curiosity about the building,” Judson said.
“There’s something, there’s some mystique, because people come here and they’re familiar with it, but mostly from the public facing part. So they want to ask about what’s behind the scenes, what did we find? The reality is not much. Most of the useful equipment was taken to the former owner’s other locations. But there have been a few little treasures that have found new homes, and a few more still to go. But we’re really happy with the building and pleased with all the work that our contractors have done. It really speaks to the professionals in our trades locally.”
“I think we were really lucky that we were able to hire local contractors, local trades persons, and they’ve all really come through for us,” Howie added.
“We feel very fortunate in that respect.”
