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Although Maggie Stewart just launched her own firm, Maggie Stewart Mundial Law, in April after working for Stewart McKelvey for almost a decade, she has been exercising her entrepreneurial spirit since 2001. That’s when she and her husband, Shahin Sayadi, opened Persian Bazaar, an Iranian food store on Gottingen Street.

At the back of Persian Bazaar the couple launched Onelight Theatre, of which Sayadi is artistic director and Stewart is managing director. Sayadi is an Iranian-born theatre writer, director, and designer; the couple met at a party during their undergrad at Dal, when Stewart was studying political science and Sayadi theatre, and married in 2001.

This July, the family – which now includes daughter Azat, 13, and son Zand, six – is moving to Burbank, California. There, Sayadi will develop new shows and Stewart will practice immigration law (“mundial” is Spanish for “world”). “Although Halifax has been our home for two decades, I’m from Vancouver and Shahin is from Iran, but he has family in L.A.,” says Stewart. “Last year we vacationed in Las Vegas, Disneyland, and the Grand Canyon, and we liked it — especially the ‘can-do’ spirit we encountered in California.”

After they returned home from their holiday, Stewart and Sayadi pondered how far they had come in 20 years, both personally and professionally, and the direction in which they wanted to go. While she enjoyed her work at as a senior associate at Stewart McKelvey, which provided her with great learning opportunities and the family with financial stability, Stewart feels that they are ready for something new in Calfornia. “I’ll always be a lawyer, and Shahin will always be a theatre artist, regardless of where we’re based,” she says. “We’ve spent the past year exploring our options, and we’re ready to try it.”

I’m exited about the open-ended potential for my career and my family’s future, and I’m looking forward to practicing immigration law and helping people achieve their goals in life.

Stewart will be a foreign legal consultant in California, which means she’ll be practicing Canadian law. She anticipates that her clients will be Americans who want to secure student, work, or permanent resident visas in Canada and overseas immigrants. “I’m exited about the open-ended potential for my career and my family’s future,” she says. “Shahin and I want to continue to build our work up and see where that takes us. And I’m looking forward to practicing immigration law and helping people achieve their goals in life.”

A “big nerd” who loved to study

With no lawyers in her family, Stewart didn’t plan to become one herself. “I was a big nerd who loved studying, and I knew I wanted more school after my undergrad,” she says. “I was interested in social justice and building a better world, so in my fourth year I took the Introduction to Law course with Professors Steve Coughlan and Dale Darling. It was a good litmus test – I enjoyed it and got an A.”

After earning her BA with a major in political science and international development studies in 2001, Stewart took a year off, which is when she got married and opened the store. She wrote the LSAT before she got pregnant. “Azat was born in August of 2002, when I was 24,” she says. “I started law school two weeks later and brought her to orientation activities.” It took her four-and-a-half years of part-time studies to earn her LLB in 2007.

Stewart enjoyed her time at law school, especially the classes taught by Professors Ronalda Murphy, Richard Devlin, and Archie Kaiser. She also valued the time she spent working at the Dalhousie Legal Aid Service. “It’s the best hands-on training for how to be an organized, responsible lawyer. It’s where I practiced getting on my feet in front of a judge and doing intake interviews with clients in a supportive environment where people want you to learn. And it serves the community – you deal with poverty law and social justice issues – which was an added draw.”

Lawyers are incredibly generous with each other – with their time, information, and skills. Law school opened my eyes to understanding that I was now part of that community.

Law school was Stewart’s inaugural introduction to lawyers and legal professionals, including the library staff and graduate students. “It’s a community that casts a wide net,” she says. “Everyone has different interests but a shared goal to serve the community through their work. Lawyers are incredibly generous with each other – with their time, information, and skills. Law school opened my eyes to understanding that I was now part of that community.”

As Stewart prepares to leave for California, she reflects on what lies ahead: “It’s not a leaving of a life but continuing on a journey that we started a long time ago as a family. It’s fun to have something fresh and new to turn our attention to. Professionally, it’s time for me to pursue a different avenue – maybe it’ll be immigration law for a while and then be something else after that. Law isn’t a one-size-fits-all thing for me. I do know that the best way to learn is by doing.”