Criminal lawyer Alfred Kaiser has been a mainstay in the Williams Lake courthouse since 1997.
He said he enjoys being in the courtroom, cross-examining people and doing trials.
"As with any job, there are aspects of the job I really enjoy and there are parts of it I don't like. Some cases have a whole bunch of paper work, which I don't really like."
Engaging with people is also something he appreciates about his work.
"There are a lot of good people in this community that help out in the criminal justice system," he said. "A lot of my clients are not bad people. They are people who have had struggles in life and sometimes addiction issues. I do enjoy helping them. I think that keeps me going."
Canada's court system can be foreign for some people and TV does not help because it mostly presents the American court system not the Canadian, he said.
While both systems operate on common law, he explained there are many aspects that are quite different.
"In Canada the Crown swears a charge against somebody and the Crown decides whether there will be a charge or not or whether there is sufficient evidence."
The Williams Lake courthouse is one of the best he has worked in, he said.
"I think we all work to try and realize we have to come here every day and do our job, and there's no need for it to be unpleasant. I work toward trying to keep an environment where you have good relations with people whether they are on the opposing side, Crown or colleagues."
Kaiser was born in Selkirk, Man.
His father was a plumber and the family lived in several different communities in Manitoba and Alberta while he was a child.
"I think he had anxious feet and wanted to go from place to place," he said of his father.
After graduating from high school in Manitou, Man., a town of 1,000 people at the time, he worked a variety of jobs such as construction, moving furniture, operating a scraper and then for Manitoba Hydro where he became a power electrician.
Wanting to do more with his life, he decided to go to the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg when he was 25 years of age.
His younger brother Richard Kaiser was also in university at the time and the Kaiser brothers met some students in the cafeteria who were pursuing law and both of them decided to give it a try.
They wrote the LSAT (Law School Admission Test), did really well, and ended up studying law at the University of Manitoba.
Today Richard is a lawyer based out of Kamloops, who sometimes has cases in Williams Lake.
In June 23, 1994, Alfred was called to the Manitoba Bar which meant he was qualified to argue in court on behalf of another party.
He moved to B.C. shortly after that and articled all over the province. On Sept. 1, 1995, he was called to the bar in B.C. while working in Kamloops.
Work with Legal Aid saw him get a "fair amount of" cases in Williams Lake because at the time there were not enough lawyers in Williams Lake.
By 1997, he was becoming weary of all the travelling so he and his wife Sara moved to the Williams Lake where he continued to take Legal Aid cases and private cases, which he still does today.
He said he is basically the only criminal lawyer in Williams Lake presently with the balance coming from Prince George, Kamloops and some from the Lower Mainland.
The Kaisers have one son Thomas, 20, who is working toward a university degree in engineering.
For a decade they travelled with Thomas to motocross competitions where he won a lot of trophies.
"He was quite good at it and we had a lot of fun," Alfred said. "I really enjoyed those years."
Alfred and Sara play golf, love to explore the Cariboo by bicycle or motorbike. In his spare time he also forges knives and swords.
"I like to pound steel if I need stress release," he said, chuckling.
To keep his work-life balance Alfred books every August off, something he has done for many years.
"I take it off to rejuvenate," he said. "You are no use to anybody if you are overworked."
