Called to Bar: 2010
Laura prizes clear strategy, confident decision-making, and tactics that focus on the best possible return on investment for clients.
Since joining JSS Barristers, Laura has developed a burgeoning appellate practice. She has appeared before all levels of court in Alberta, before the Federal Court of Appeal, the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal, and the Supreme Court of Canada. Laura also has extensive experience with applications for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada and in appealing decisions of masters. She has also consulted in a behind the scenes co-counsel role in a successful appeal before the British Columbia Court of Appeal.
She is lead counsel in Auer v Auer, 2022 ABCA 375, scheduled to be heard before the Supreme Court of Canada on April 25, 2024. This decision will settle the long-debated test for judicial review of subordinate legislation. Laura is also counsel on a matter representing the Canadian Coalition for Firearm Rights and other applicants in a high-profile judicial review application challenging the federal gun ban that was enacted by order-in-council in May of 2020. Laura has also been involved in complex commercial litigation and arbitration. She is often involved in factually- and document-intensive disputes involving at least tens of millions of dollars. Laura has experience in court, including long trials, and in domestic and international arbitrations.
In the complex disputes she often works on, Laura is called upon to analyze novel legal issues and distil them into persuasive, comprehensible arguments that the deciding tribunal can get behind. She also has extensive experience project managing these large files to ensure efficiency and good return on investment for the client.
Before joining JSS, Laura articled with the Court of Appeal in Edmonton and with Justice Rosalie Silberman Abella at the Supreme Court of Canada in Ottawa. During her clerkships, Laura had a bird’s eye view of the inner workings of the country’s highest court and honed her analytical skills, her legal research and writing, and her oral advocacy.
Laura has varied interests outside the practice of law. She volunteered for the Rocky Mountain Civil Liberties Association as a panelist during public consultations regarding Alberta’s Bill 10 and Bill 202 dealing with proposed amendments to human rights legislation. She chaired the firm’s diversity and inclusion committee. She also enjoys being active and spending time with her family and volunteering as a coach with the Calgary AA Ringette Association.
