Alistair Vigier is the CEO of ClearWay Law. Mr. Vigier was awarded the BC Business 30 under 30 award. He also received the Victoria Police Civic Service Award for stopping car theft.

He was born in Toronto and lived in Victoria and Vancouver for many years. Alistair now lives between Canada and China.

Alistair also writes for Canadian Lawyer, Law Times, Business In Vancouver and the Vancouver Sun. You can see his work by Googling him.

Who’s someone you admire, and why?

I have always looked up to Arnold Schwarzenegger as he is multi-talented. He was a successful bodybuilder, movie star, and politician. The only thing he ever failed at in his life was as a husband.

I look up to him because he has such a positive outlook on work. He decided he was going to be a bodybuilder, so he worked hard at it.

He then pivoted and went into the movie industry instead of just staying at the top of the bodybuilding industry.

Once he was done with athletics, probably because of his age, he moved on to be the governor of California.

What are your three pet peeves?

When people are late (basically means my time is less valuable than yours).
People that take advantage of situations (even though we all have done it at some point).
People that don’t take care of those that care for them.

What’s a typical day like for you?

It changes a lot! I travel between Victoria, Vancouver, Toronto, Shanghai, and Beijing. My typical day in each place is completely different. In Vancouver, I enjoy running up mountains. In Beijing, I enjoy eating yummy food all day!

Do you have any hidden talents?

I am both scared and love public speaking. I feel that if I trained myself and did it more often, I could be the next Tony Robbins! Helping people grow is one of my favourite things to do.

I work out twice a day and eat extremely healthily. I enjoy living a disciplined life, which helps with the stress that comes from dealing with lawyers all the time.

As the CEO of a Chinese technology company, I work 12 hours day six days a week and afternoons on Sundays. Three of the things I am constantly protecting are my time, energy, and health.

Like those going through a divorce, I need to take health seriously. Stress kills or at least, makes you look much older than you are. Divorce is ranked as one of the most stressful things that the average person goes through.

Alistair Vigier Is Pushing Legal Innovation

Burnout rates are high for those that work in the law industry, and I want to make a career in this. I am constantly looking for companies or products that can help me improve myself. Self-motivation only get’s someone so far! Sometimes you need some help.

I used to work for a law firm in Toronto.

One day I had just left an event where the president of Israel was speaking. A lawyer friend pointed out that a store sold bulletproof coffee. My friend had been talking about this special kind of coffee that gave him intense focus without the crash.

At first, I thought he was talking about Adderall (an amphetamine that students use for focus).

Bulletproof Coffee

I decided to enter the store in Yorkville and put in my order for the bulletproof coffee. I loved the environment of the store, and it reminded me of my community in Vancouver.

Organic and healthy living is much more popular on the west coast than on the east. It was refreshing to see a store that saw the future of the food industry (healthy living.)

Staying Healthy During a Divorce or Lawsuit

I loved the bulletproof coffee and found myself walking 10 minutes to the store to get it. There was an intense focus for hours, although I wasn’t sure how much was placebo and how much was due to the coffee. I didn’t really care. If I could do high-quality work for hours after drinking the coffee, count me in.

Naturally one needs other things besides coffee, so I decided to try the pumpkin protein cookie. It was one of the best things I have ever had. I have since found myself walking through the path to find their Bay Street location when I am meeting clients downtown.

Make sure you do a bunch of research on ways to reduce stress and eat healthily. Staying positive and healthy will greatly help you get through your divorce or legal issues.

About Expanding Into China

Alistair Vigier (韦理德) is the CEO of Clearway China. He is both Canadian and British. In Canada, he helps many people connect with the correct lawyer for legal issues.

These legal issues often involve divorce and lawsuits.

Alistair Vigier spends most of his time in Beijing and Shanghai. His favorite city in China to visit is the city of Chengdu. Most people think this is because of spicy food. This is not true.

It’s also not because of the pandas. It’s because of the New Century Global Center! In particular, Alistair likes the spa part of the Chengdu Intercontinental hotel.

You can see what Alistair Vigier wrote about Chinese culture below.

What Alistair Vigier Learned About Chinese Culture

I’ve been involved with the Chinese community in Canada for over eight years. When I first got involved, all I knew was that the Chinese loved Chow Mein, Wonton Soup, and sweet and sour beef.

Little did I know that these foods in Canada were targeting white people. That explains why at restaurants like “Mr. Wong’s” I never saw any Chinese.

Years later, I realized Chinese people were at places like seafood restaurants in Richmond, or traditional hot place restaurants serving things that were odd to me. This included eating blood, brains, and stinky tofu.

I had much to learn about Chinese culture.

Besides food, I really didn’t know anything about China itself.

The Chinese Love To Eat

I didn’t realize how little Canadians and Americans care about food until I made Chinese friends and business partners.

If eating food and late-night drinking was a sport at the Olympics, then China would win the gold medal every time.

The first thing that would be discussed in the morning was where we would meet to eat lunch. And during lunch, we would discuss where to meet after work for dinner and lunches.

On some days, I would get invited to two lunches in one day. I would have to bring casual clothes if I was meeting friends, and business clothes if I got invited to a business lunch or dinner.

I was quite surprised that Chinese businesspeople could drink bottles of wine at lunch, and then go back to work and be productive.

Some lawyers in Beijing that I know would even drink before going to court.

After drinking wine, I need to sleep. I have always preferred coffee and tea to wine.

Alistair Vigier’s Visit To China

After being in the Chinese community for so long, and constantly being told I need to visit China, I decided to go.

When I arrived in China, it was definitely one of the most exotic places I had ever been to. The smells were different, many people did not speak English, and the foods were certainly not wonton soup.

On my first day in China, I was treated to Peking duck. I didn’t understand why it wasn’t called Beijing Duck, but it was delicious! I felt that if more Westerners knew about Peking duck, they would love it!

My Chinese friends were surprised that I lved Malatang so much. Apparently, Malatang translates into “spicy hot pot.”

However, Malatang is not hot pot. The point of hot pot is to sit around with your friends, and everything goes into a pot, that is hot.

Malatang is more of a “Subway sandwich” type of deal. You go to the wall, and you pick whatever you want. Then they prepare it for you.

You do not share with others. If you don’t want pig blood in your food, you don’t have to grab it. As for me, I loved the purple yam balls. I had never seen that before in Canada.

Alistair Vigier Is Pushing For Co-Operation Between The Two Countries

One thing I found is how much I like the Chinese. It’s funny, I never met a single mean or racist Chinese person.

Nationalism is a common term that gets talked about in China in the western media. That led me to believe that a lot of Chinese people hate foreigners.

I am sure some do. There are always angry people that spend all their time reading the news on the internet. However, I never personally experienced it. Instead, in some remote cities (not Shanghai) locals asked to take pictures with me.

If the Chinese love coming to Canada, and if Canadians love going to China (mostly Shanghai), then there is no reason why the two countries shouldn’t get along.

Women I have dated, friends I have made, and business partners in the Chinese community have shared a lot of interesting thoughts on Chinese and western cultures.

This article explained my learning about Chinese culture. In a future article, I will cover what I heard Chinese people learned from Canadian culture when they moved here.

I hope to make this article part of a multi-article series that will talk about Canadian and Chinese culture and cooperation.

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Alistair Vigier: The Journey of changing law