I am a family lawyer and family mediator in Victoria, BC practicing exclusively in the area of family law. Through my practice as a family lawyer, I watched families go through separation and divorce and, in doing so, exhaust themselves emotionally and financially. The adversarial process can be very expensive and time consuming and it can destroy families because of increased animosity and stress.  I did not like the role I had as a lawyer because I often felt that I was perpetuating that animosity and furthering a destructive process.

 

The reality is that parents must continue to talk about their children’s medical appointments, attend soccer games, and sit beside one another years down the road at their child’s graduation ceremony.  Those without children may also be motivated to maintain an amicable relationship.  Any separation process should be able to fairly deal with the legal issues, but in a way that supports and empowers people to transition constructively into the post-separation plan they make for themselves.

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This is why after 10 years of practicing as a regular family lawyer, I quit my job at the downtown family law firm I was working for, and I started doing things a bit differently.  By shifting the focus of the separation away from it being a fight about the past and onto it being about a plan to move forward, as a family mediator, I feel like I am helping people through their separation in a positive way.

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I obtained a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Calgary in 2001 and a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Victoria in 2005. I have practiced family law exclusively since I was called to the British Columbia bar in 2006. I am member of the Law Society of British Columbia and an accredited Family Law Mediator through the Law Society of British Columbia. After hundreds of hours of training to help mediate in separation and divorce situations, I became a member of the Civil and Family Rosters of Mediate BC.  I have facilitated hundreds of mediations  and helped many families in British Columbia move forward without a legal battle.