Education
2011 - Admitted to the British Columbia Bar
2010 - Bachelor of Laws (L.L.B.), University of Victoria
2006 - Bachelor of Arts (B.A.), Concordia University
Jennifer (she/her) practices exclusively as a family law lawyer. She has represented clients in all areas of family law, such as parenting, child mobility or relocation, property and debt division, pension division, and spousal support. She has appeared in British Columbia Provincial Court, Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal. Jennifer is skilled in both litigation and alternative dispute resolution processes, having assisted clients in trial, mediation, collaborative law practice, and negotiation.
Languages: English and French
A Note From Jennifer -
I didn’t plan on becoming a family lawyer. When I first started working as a lawyer, I wanted courtroom experience because I liked the skills that I would develop by being in a courtroom: thinking on your feet, advocating for your client, countering arguments, etc. As family law is one of the areas of law that can take place in court, I stumbled into it (after having practiced some criminal defence law) and have never left.
I have been a family lawyer since 2011 and I now firmly believe that the courtroom should only ever be the last resort method to resolve a family law file.
Our court system was designed to resolve conflicts between people by having an impartial third party (a judge) examine the situation and make a binding decision that affects everyone involved. This system can work very well when the conflict in question involves a homeowner having a dispute with their contractor over home renovations, or a big corporation breaking its contract with another big corporation, or an insurance company defending an insurance claim.
Contrary to what TV and movies may have you believe, the court system does not work nearly as well when dealing with conflicts between husband and wife, romantic partners, or even worse, between parents.
Family law, perhaps more so than any other area of law, is highly personal and emotional. I do not believe such personal and emotional issues, that deeply and significantly affect your life, should be decided by a stranger in a courtroom, where you have zero control over the outcome. Rather, I believe in giving you back control over your own fate, and that of your loved ones, by resolving your family law case through negotiation and the various methods of resolution that occur outside a courtroom.
I believe in a no-nonsense approach where I will tell you frankly what I think your best options are, and I will also identify the weaknesses in your case. I charge an hourly rate, but I believe your time is money as well. My goal is to assist you to a resolution of your case that protects your interests but is also time- and cost-efficient as well.