WK Family Lawyers LLP

If you are reader of the Family Court Review, or are considering becoming one, be sure to check out the new article published this month entitled "Consideration of culture in Canadian courtrooms: Before and after the Divorce Act Amendments" co-authored by Terry Singh, Traci Bannister and WK's own Marc Massie. The article explores the impact of the 2021 amendment to the Divorce Act which legislated that decision makers must, when determining the best interest of a child, consider "a child's linguistic, religious, cultural, and spiritual heritage and upbringing, including Indigenous heritage" (section 16(3)(f)). The article offers an interesting overview of the Court's evolving approach to the consideration of culture in family law matters, both prior to and since the recent amendments to the Divorce Act. Link below. Happy reading! https://lnkd.in/gQptEWGW

WK Family Lawyers is thrilled to announce that Jessica MacDonald has joined the partnership. Jessica has been an integral part of the WK team since she joined the firm in 2018. During her time at WK, while managing a busy practice, Jessica has also found time to be a great representative for the firm through efforts which have included speaking at the Alberta Refresher and the National Family Law Conference, authoring several family law papers, and even guest teaching the Family Law course at the University of Calgary. Please join us in congratulating Jessica on reaching yet another milestone in her already impressive career! We couldn't be more thrilled for Jessica to part of the team. #wkfamilylawyers #partnership #jessicamacdonald #congratulations

Wishing everybody out there a happy and healthy 2025! We have several pieces of good news to share to start off the year, the first of which is that we are proud to announce that WK Family Lawyers LLP has been recognized by Best Lawyers as one of the Best Law Firms in Calgary Family Law for 2025. We would like to thank Best Lawyers for this honour, as well as all of our dedicated and hardworking lawyers and staff who have helped to make this possible. #bestlawfirms #bestlawyers #2025 #familylaw #Calgary #wkfamilylawyers

Announcement from the Court: A new process has been approved for the submission of Consent Orders for matters that are proceeding under the Family Law Act or the Divorce Act. Links to (i) instructions on the processes, which differ depending on which Act the Consent Order is being filed under and (ii) the Request for Consent Order forms themselves which accompany the filing, can be found in the link below. These new process will be in place, and will be mandatory, commencing on January 1, 2025. Hopefully this helps to keep morning chambers from being bogged down with Consent Order granting requests. Let us know your thoughts... will this help? #albertacourts #courtofkingsbench #albertacourtofjustice #familylaw https://lnkd.in/gj2uvDin

Almost any family law practitioner will tell you that, as rewarding as the practice of family law can be, it can also leave many of its practitioners feeling drained. Throw into the mix that family law practitioners (believe it or not) have their own personal responsibilities outside of work, and the overall amount of pressure can leave some practitioners overwhelmed as they try to manage unhealthy amounts of stress. If any family law colleagues reading this are feeling some of these pressures we suggests you consider speaking with, and/or listening to, Olivia Vizachero. Olivia, who was formerly a practicing lawyer herself, now works as a certified life coach and shares her new found passion for helping lawyers develop better work/life skills through personal sessions as well as her podcast, The Less Stressed Lawyer. We were fortunate enough to have Olivia present at one of our recent lunch and learns and, all who attended agreed, they took a lot from the session. Thanks again Olivia for your time and for the great presentation! #oliviavinzchero #thelessstressedlawyer #wkfamilylawyers

Last Tuesday several of our lawyers had the amazing opportunity to attend the Inns of Court where they enjoyed a delicious dinner and listened to speeches from some of the most revered voices from Alberta's Courts, namely, Justices Antonio, Price, Kachur, Higa, and Mason. Thank you to Canadian Bar Association, the Petroleum Club and everyone involved for putting together such a great event! #canadianbarassociation #petroeumclub #innsofcourt #wkfamilylawyers

Wishing everyone a Happy Halloween from our very spirited WK Team! Clearly we are a very food motivated bunch! With the amazing creations of this team how can we not be?? Stay safe and have fun this evening!

Last Saturday our office woke up early and, at just after 8:30 in the morning, climbed all 802 steps of the Calgary Tower. Our climb was done in conjunction with, and in support of, the Immigrant Education Society's TIES Climb for New Beginning. Thank you so much to this great organization for putting on this event and be sure to check them out and all of the great services they offer: https://lnkd.in/dv3tKiVh Here are some photos of our climbers putting on their best faces before and after climbing 50+ flights of stairs at on a sunny Saturday morning :) #immigranteducationsociety #calgary #calgarytower

The Surgeon General for the US, Dr. Vivek Murthy, issued an interesting Advisory this year calling for urgent assistance to better support parents, caregivers and families. In issuing the Advisory, Dr. Murthy considered research which found that parents of children report high levels of stress at rates almost 1.5 times that of other adults. Even more staggering, research has also shown that 41% of parents report that, on most days, they feel so stressed they "cannot function". In short, the Advisory found that parents, as a group, report and experience mental and physical health challenges at such a high level that it has become a crisis. The Advisory suggests actions that can be taken by parents to address these concerns, as well as steps that we as a society can take to assist in alleviating the burden being experienced by parents. Link below. Happy reading. #parenting #surgeongeneral #familylaw https://lnkd.in/g3KKXMdv

From Helicopter, to Bulldozer, to Tiger, there have been a lot of different monikers for parenting styles in recent years. Now it appears a new term is on the scene: Lighthouse Parents. Are people seeing this referenced? Or is this too new a term to have made it into the vernacular? https://lnkd.in/gp8WPEnj