WLF Gala 2023 Program

Awards Gala 2023 Thursday, April 13, 2023 Fairmont Waterfront Hotel

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Thank you to our generous sponsors Gold Sponsor

Bronze Sponsors

Program 6:30pm

Opening Remarks

6:45pm

Presentation: Rising Star Award

6:55pm

Dinner Served

7:30pm

Presentation: Debra Van Ginkel, Q.C. Mentoring Award

7:35pm

Presentation: Award of Excellence

8:00pm

Keynote: The Hon. Niki Sharma, K.C., Attorney General of BC

8:30pm

Closing Remarks

Keynote Address The Hon. Niki Sharma, K.C., Attorney General of BC The Hon. Niki Sharma, K.C. was elected MLA for Vancouver-Hastings in 2020.

Niki is a lawyer whose practice is focused on representing Indigenous people, including residential school survivors. Niki has worked throughout BC as an advocate on climate policy and reconciliation. She has also been recognized for her work on combatting racism.

Niki was elected to the Board of Vancity Credit Union, where she served as Vice-Chair and chaired the Climate Justice Working Group. She also served as Chair of the Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation. In these roles, she worked to improve her community and make life better for people and our planet.

In 2017, Niki worked as a Senior Ministerial Assistant helping to deliver more childcare spaces for BC families.

Niki was raised in Sparwood, B.C. A mother of two, she has lived in East Vancouver for over 15 years and has deep connections in the community.

Awards WLF Rising Star Award The Rising Star Award celebrates the accomplishments of a woman lawyer who has achieved tremendous professional success over the course of ten years of practice or less, and who has contributed to improving the legal community in British Columbia as a whole.

Winner: Julia K. Lockhart Nathanson, Schachter & Thompson LLP Julia Lockhart is a partner at Nathanson, Schachter and Thompson LLP where she practices commercial litigation and administrative law. Julia has a particular interest in the law of contractual good faith, developed when acting for the successful respondents in the leading Supreme Court of Canada case, Wastech Services Ltd. v. Greater Vancouver Sewerage and Drainage District. Julia regularly acts for the Law Society of British Columbia in matters of profession discipline and investigations.

In addition to her commercial practice, Julia is devoted to supporting and developing the next generation of lawyers, mentoring associates at her firm, and advocating for all lawyers with parenting obligations. Outside her firm, Julia coaches the UBC Law Laskin moot team, is an active volunteer with Access Pro Bono, and has been a CLE BC contributor since 2016. Julia graduated from the University of Toronto Faculty of Law in 2012 as gold medallist before clerking for Justice Marshall Rothstein at the Supreme Court of Canada.

Awards WLF Debra Van Ginkel, QC Mentoring Award The Debra Van Ginkel, QC Mentoring Award seeks to keep her vision alive by recognizing in other mentors the qualities and commitment she demonstrated throughout her life and her legal career.

Winner: Cheryl D’Sa Narwal Litigation LLP Cheryl D’Sa is the managing partner of Narwal Litigation. The firm is primarily devoted to criminal litigation, securities litigation and professional regulation.

Cheryl has been an elected bencher of the Law Society of British Columbia since May 2020, as well as one of two bencher representatives on the Board of CLEBC. She is also the Chair of the LSBC’s EDI Committee, and a member of the Credentials Committee and Mental Health Task Force.

Cheryl is a Past President of the Vancouver Bar Association and recipient of Business in Vancouver’s Top 40 under 40 award.

In 2021, she was awarded an Excellence Award in the category of Female Trailblazer of the Year by Canadian Lawyer Magazine’s Canadian Law Awards.

Awards WLF Award of Excellence The Award of Excellence recognizes an exceptional woman who has taken risks, fostered change and ultimately opened doors for women lawyers. With this award, we are not only celebrating the woman’s distinguished career achievements, but her outstanding contributions to women in the legal profession as a change agent, leader and mentor.

Winner: Myrna McCallum Solo Practitioner Myrna McCallum is the founding lawyer of Miyo Pimatisiwin Legal Services. She is a Métis mother and grandmother from the village of Green Lake in northern Saskatchewan. She is also a registered Treaty Indian at Waterhen Lake First Nation in Treaty 6 territory. Her Cree grandmother was Agnes Fiddler of Waterhen Lake First Nation and her Métis grandfather was Joe McCallum of Green Lake. Her mother was Judy McCallum also of Green Lake. Myrna was raised in the Michif and Cree languages. In honour of her kokom and Cree roots, Myrna sometimes identifies as Métis-Cree. Myrna is a former student of Lebret IRS but she does not identify as a survivor.

Myrna is the host of "The Trauma-Informed Lawyer" podcast which provides education on trauma-informed lawyering, cultural humility, vicarious trauma, vicarious resilience, and Indigenous intergenerational trauma. Myrna serves as a subject matter expert, educator and consultant on trauma-informed lawyering, adjudications, and policy development for several organizations.

Thank you To the following WLF members for their hard work and commitment to this evening’s success: J. Cherisse Friesen, Chair Sara Li, Vice-Chair Mentoring Committee Winkie Chan, Chair Awards Gala Planning Committee Co-Chairs: Kareen Zimmer and Bronwen Black Members: Dana Turner-Ryan, Daria Batkin, Lana Li, Nicole Lacis, Stephanie Markovich, Wendy Lee, Rachel Schechter and Melanie Magnusson.