South Easthope farm girl returns home to practise law in New Hamburg

Rachel Law and William Lowes enjoy working in downtown New Hamburg and spending time with friends, neighbours and clients in the community. Gary West photo

By Gary West

A young woman raised on a farm in South Easthope Township has returned to the area to begin her legal career in downtown New Hamburg.

Rachel V. Law (Ropp), lawyer and notary, recently joined longtime lawyer William Timothy Lowes at their office located at 67 Huron St. in New Hamburg. In a recent interview, Law said becoming a lawyer was not always part of her plans while growing up and attending Sprucedale Public School in Shakespeare and later Waterloo-Oxford District Secondary School near Baden.

“I primarily focused on math and science courses and had little interest in reading or writing-intensive subjects,” she said.

However, during Grade 12, Law enrolled in a law class because it fit her timetable, a decision she says ultimately changed her future.

“I was captivated by the interplay of law and policy and their real-world impact,” she said. “That class planted the first seed.”

After high school, Law attended the University of Guelph, where she earned a bachelor of science in agriculture honours degree along with a minor in criminal justice and public policy.

During her second year at university, a law-related humanities elective reignited her interest in the subject.

By the beginning of her third year, she had decided to pursue a career in law.

Following graduation from Guelph, Law entered the juris doctor program at Western University in London.

While studying law, she developed a growing interest in the relationship between law and agriculture.

One of her favourite courses focused on food law, where she completed a major research paper examining what lessons the Canadian judicial system could learn from American courts regarding the impact of glyphosate use on individuals and the environment.

Her professor later encouraged her to present the paper at the Canadian Association of Food Law and Policy Conference, where she received the 2024 Gowling WLG-Joel Taller Prize for Emerging Voices in Food Law.

Law said she is excited to combine her passion for agriculture with her legal career.

“Having grown up with a strong connection to farming and agriculture, … I feel I can connect with many of my rural clients,” she said.

She added helping farm families with succession planning is one of the most rewarding parts of her work.

“Becoming a lawyer has allowed me to merge two meaningful fields in a way that enables me to serve the agricultural community through informed, practical and impactful legal solutions,” she said.

Law’s parents, Dennis and Heather Ropp, continue to farm east of Sebastopol on Perth Line 29. The family also recently opened Sprucewood Tack Shop in Tavistock after relocating the business from the family farm to Woodstock Street South.

Rachel Law and her husband, Philip Law, also raise beef cattle on the Ropp family farm.

The couple recently purchased a home in Tavistock, just around the corner from her grandparents, Lloyd and Loreen Ropp.

Rachel Law said she is grateful to continue living and working in the same community where she was raised while remaining closely connected to agriculture and family farming.