The importance of friendship and allyship within the legal profession, though often unspoken, cannot be underestimated. In an inherently competitive industry where winning clients and exceeding billing targets are the norm, we often discount the impact that others around us have on shaping our lives and notably, our careers. The formation of friendships and alliances within the legal profession can therefore be seen as a framework of support through various stages of our careers. Those relationships provide a foundation for success and longevity, help us to accept imperfection in ourselves and others, and help to stifle the Imposter Complex and the defeating mindset it entails.   

Please join us for a presentation and Q&A session featuring the Honourable Jane Dardi and the Honourable Sandra K. Ballance, who are both mediators and retired Supreme Court of British Columbia judges, as we explore the importance of friendship and allyship within the legal profession, embracing imperfection, and defeating the Imposter Complex. Paula Price, lawyer coach, and Abby Pang, family lawyer, will moderate the discussion.

For those attending in-person, please join us for some light appetizers and mingling starting at 5:00pm.

For those attending remotely, please join us for the presentation portion of our event starting at 5:30pm.

If you have specific questions or issues that you would like to see discussed during the event, please feel welcome to write to us ahead of time! Please email your questions to Paula Price at pprice@uplevellawyercoaching.com and Arielle Lavender at alavender@rbs.ca.

We look forward to seeing you!

Note: Space is limited to 36 in-person participants. Light appetizers will be served. You are welcome to bring a bottle of wine to share.

Speaker Bios

The Honourable Jane Dardi and the Honourable Sandra K. Balance - Upon graduation from UBC law school in 1984, Ms. Ballance initially practised trust and estate planning, but soon expanded her practice to encompass trust, estate and fiduciary litigation.  For many of those years, she was fortunate to work with specialists in trust law, including Professor Donovan Waters, Q.C., the pre-eminent trust scholar in Canada and author of the seminal text on the subject, Law of Trusts in Canada.

After her call to the British Columbia Bar in 1983, Ms. Dardi’s practice involved a broad spectrum of civil litigation matters until 1990 when she focussed on trust, estate and fiduciary litigation.  Prior to her appointment to the Court, Ms. Dardi was recognized as a Leading Practitioner – Estate Litigation in Vancouver in the Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory.

In 2000, Ms. Ballance and Ms. Dardi, along with a handful of their colleagues, founded the Vancouver law firm of Legacy Tax + Trust Lawyers.   Since Legacy’s inception, four women partners have been appointed to the BC Supreme Court and Legacy has been recognized by Canadian Lawyer as one of the “Top Five” trust and estate law boutiques in Canada.  Throughout their careers as lawyers, Ms. Ballance and Ms. Dardi each served as the Chair of the Wills & Trusts Section of the Canadian Bar Association and were active members of several other law-related organizations and special committees.  They advised on law reform proposals and regularly contributed to ongoing estate and trust law publications.

Ms. Ballance was appointed to the Supreme Court of British Columbia (Vancouver) in 2002, where she was later joined by Ms. Dardi who was appointed in 2008.  Ms. Ballance and Ms. Dardi are now both retired from the Bench and work in association as mediators concentrating exclusively on estate and trust disputes and litigation involving other types of fiduciary obligations.  

Throughout their careers first as lawyers, then as judges and now as mediators, Ms. Ballance and Ms. Dardi have authored numerous legal papers and have lectured extensively on advocacy, mediation and wills, trust and estate law topics to a wide audience, including law students, law clerks, lawyers, and other professionals.  Ms. Ballance completed the Harvard mediation training course at the Harvard School of Law in 2018

Abby Pang - Abby is a family law lawyer in Vancouver. She advocates for families and children in divorce proceedings and is an experienced trial lawyer. She has been practicing law for over 10 years and recently started her own practice earlier this year. She has represented clients in Provincial Court, Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal. She understands the importance of mentorship and allyship and volunteers regularly for the Canadian Bar Association Women Lawyers Forum. She mentors young lawyers in various legal mentorship programs. She loves blogging about important issues in family law. To learn more about her practice, visit www.illumalaw.com. 

Paula Price - Paula is a certified executive coach and non-practising lawyer who helps lawyers excel in practice through coaching, speaking and virtual training. Paula provides her coaching clients with structure, accountability and feedback to help them achieve their goals and overcome challenges in their practice. Her main areas of coaching include time management, work life balance, strategic professional growth, communication, relationship building, career transitions, returning to work after parental leave and outplacement. For practical strategies to help you build a practice you love, tune into Paula’s weekly podcast, The Joyful Practice for Women Lawyers. Learn more about how to work with Paula at Uplevel Lawyer Coaching.