Legal Help Guide Contributors
Courthouse Libraries BC is very grateful for the efforts of the many contributors to the third edition of Legal Help for British Columbians. With the third edition, we put the entire Guide on the Clicklaw Wiki and updated it with a team of lawyers and editors. The wiki version of the Guide will continue to be updated to reflect significant changes in the law.
Editorial Committee
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Cliff Thorstenson is a lawyer at the Nicola Valley Advocacy Centre in Merritt, British Columbia. A lawyer since 1987, Cliff practises mainly in the areas of aboriginal, criminal and poverty-related law. He has a wife and three adult children and has resided in the Nicola Valley for the past 25 years.
Cliff is the founding author of Legal Help for British Columbians, and has been instrumental in expanding the scope and reach of the Guide with each successive edition, including its transition into a Clicklaw Wikibook. |
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Drew Jackson is a lawyer and librarian in Vancouver, BC. He is passionate about making legal information more accessible and understandable. In various roles he has developed legal publications and programs for the public and the legal community. While working with Courthouse Libraries BC, he led the creation of Clicklaw Wikibooks. He works as Digital & Content Lead with People's Law School and on freelance projects that help people understand the law, such as Transitioning an Existing Society: A How-to Guide for Non-profits in BC and the consumer and debt section of Legal Help for British Columbians. |
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Janet Freeman is a past coordinator of Courthouse Libraries BC's LawMatters program, which assists BC public libraries in enhancing their legal information collections through financial assistance and training. She has worked in public libraries in Edmonton and Vancouver, as well as at Legal Services Society as a Legal Information Outreach Worker, Fieldworker and LawLine librarian. |
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Nathaniel Russell is Legal & Innovation Counsel and Privacy Officer for Courthouse Libraries BC. He is also project lead and general editor for JP Boyd on Family Law. He was called to the BC Bar in 2006 and is a 2005 graduate of Dalhousie Law School. Nate practiced family law and civil litigation, prior to joining Courthouse Libraries BC. Prior to law, Nate worked in communications for internet startups and CBC Television. He holds a diploma in digital and print publishing, and is a certified privacy professional with IAPP (CIPP/C). |
Contributors & Reviewers
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Rochelle Appleby is a lawyer who has worked primarily in the area of immigration and refugee law. She was a legal aid staff lawyer, managing lawyer of the Legal Services Society's Immigration and Refugee Law Clinic and a legal aid policy analyst. She also worked as a protection officer for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Rochelle currently focuses on legal policy development and the design and implementation of legal projects.
Rochelle wrote the immigration section of the wikibook Legal Help for British Columbians. |
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John Bilawich was appointed a Master of the Supreme Court of BC in 2020, prior to which he practiced litigation with the Vancouver, BC firm Holmes & Bilawich, and served as a member of the Board of Governors of the Trial Lawyers Association of BC and past Chair of the Civil Litigation - Vancouver Section of the Canadian Bar Association, BC Branch.
Before being appointed to the Bench, he helped review the section on civil litigation, titled Suing and Being Sued, of the wikibook Legal Help for British Columbians. |
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Devyn Cousineau helped review the human rights section of the wikibook Legal Help for British Columbians. She is a human rights lawyer, formerly with Community Legal Assistance Society, and as of April 15, 2015 with Koskie Glavin Gordon, a Vancouver-based labour law firm. After graduating from law school at the University of Victoria, she clerked at the BC Court of Appeal and Supreme Court of Canada. She currently practices human rights and poverty law.
Devyn |
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Nicky Dunlop has worked as a legal advocate at the Women's Contact Society in Williams Lake, with at risk youth at Covenant House, and with the Tenant Resource & Advisory Centre (TRAC). She is an online facilitator of PovNetU courses, and in her spare time she loves searching for a new mountain to ride down.
Nicky helped review the section on housing of the wikibook Legal Help for British Columbians. |
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David Eby is a lawyer, Member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, and former Executive Director of the BC Civil Liberties Association, one of Canada's most active human and democratic rights organizations. David was recognized with the BC Human Rights Coalition and UN Association of Canada’s Renate Shearer Award for his contributions to the human rights field locally and internationally.
David helped review the section on Complaints about Police and Other Authorities of the wikibook Legal Help for British Columbians. |
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Lisa Ferguson has worked for the Community Legal Assistance Society's Mental Health Law Program since 1991. Hired after graduating from Simon Fraser University with a degree in Criminology, Lisa's main area of responsibility is representing civilly committed individuals at Review Board hearings under the Mental Health Act.
Lisa helped review the mental health section of the wikibook Legal Help for British Columbians. |
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Jennifer Godwin-Ellis obtained her LL.B. from the University of Ottawa in 2008. While completing her articles with Legal Aid Ontario, Jennifer worked with a wide variety of social justice issues, particularly at the Refugee Law Office and while acting as criminal Duty Counsel. Jennifer has also volunteered with the BC Civil Liberties Association, providing legal research for such projects as the Olympic Legal Observer program and the Afghan Detainee Public Interest Hearings in Ottawa. Jennifer is currently an associate at Edelmann & Company, located in downtown Vancouver. She practices in the areas of refugee and immigration law as well as criminal defence.
Jennifer helped review the criminal law section of the wikibook Legal Help for British Columbians. |
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Annie Kaderly is a former reviewer of the family law section of the wikibook Legal Help for British Columbians. Annie is an associate with Aaron Gordon Daykin Nordlinger. Annie was called to the British Columbia Bar in 2006 and practices exclusively in the area of family law. Annie is the family law coordinator for the Access Pro Bono Society of British Columbia. |
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Chief Justice Leonard Marchand of the BC Court of Appeal helped review the section about abuse in Residential Schools in Legal Help for British Columbians for 2012, when he was still a practicing lawyer. In 2024, he was sworn in as the Chief Justice of British Columbia. He is a member of the Okanagan Indian Band and was a partner at Fulton & Company LLP in Kamloops, BC before being sworn in as a judge of the Provincial Court in September 2013. He represented residential school survivors from 1999 until being appointed to the Bench, and was a member of the Independent Assessment Process (IAP) Working Group that negotiated the final terms of the IAP and served on the IAP Oversight Committee from 2007 to 2010. As a lawyer, he practiced exclusively in the area of residential school claims. |
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Stan Rule practices in wills, estates, and estate litigation with the firm of Sabey Rule LLP in Kelowna, BC. He is active within the Canadian Bar Association, the Kelowna Estate Planning Society, the British Columbia Law Institute, and the Continuing Legal Education Society. Stan maintains an active blog on estates and trusts matters, Rule of Law.
Stan helped review the wills and estates section of the wikbook Legal Help for British Columbians. |
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The late Jim Sayre was a staff lawyer at the Community Legal Assistance Society (CLAS), where he did work on workers' compensation, Employment Insurance and other casework, law reform, and community education for over 25 years. Jim organized monthly meetings of advocates for injured workers and Employment Insurance claimants and facilitated PovNet's confidential email lists for WCB, EI, and employment law.
Jim helped review the employment law section of the wikibook Legal Help for British Columbians from 2012-2013. |
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Alison Ward is a lawyer at the Community Legal Assistance Society in Vancouver, where she runs a Law Foundation-funded program called the Community Advocate Support Line. She provides legal advice and support to community-based advocates in BC who assist clients with poverty law and family law problems. Alison was previously a staff lawyer at the Legal Services Society (1994 – 2010) where she practiced poverty law and family law.
Alison reviewed the wikibook Consumer and Debt Law and helped review the welfare and disability section of the wikibook Legal Help for British Columbians. |
Courthouse Libraries BC Team
Brenda Rose, Clicklaw Program Coordinator at Courthouse Libraries BC, provided editorial guidance and support for Legal Help for British Columbians.
Kat Siddle, Content Development Specialist at Courthouse Libraries BC, provided support for contributors in updating the wiki version of Legal Help for British Columbians. Mosa Wytenburg, Desy Wahyuni, Bronwyn Guiton, and Kerry Taillefer provided technical and editorial support.
Thanks also to Jay Istvanffy of Legal Services Society for editorial support.