Janette is an experienced trial lawyer, and has appeared frequently before both the Provincial and the Supreme Court of British Columbia, the BC Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Canada.

Janette brings with her over 25 years of legal experience, and a passion for family law.  As a law student she was the Editor of the Canadian Journal of Family Law, and after her call to the bar began focusing her practice on family law.  She worked for a number of years as in-house counsel for Abbotsford Community Legal Services, and then went into private practice, where she continued to assist clients with family-related issues.

At Waterstone, Janette will continue to assist clients in all aspects of family law, including divorce, breakdown of marriage and common-law relationships, custody, access or support of a child, spousal support (alimony), adoption and agreements in anticipation of a marriage or cohabitation.

David looks forward to joining the board in the new year, and to working as part of this non-profit society as they continue in their mission:

To support and promote diligence and excellence in advocacy and jurisprudence on behalf of consumers in British Columbia. Together, we strive to: protect the rights of individuals, preserve the jury system, enhance trial practice, ensure access to the courts, advance the interests of innocent parties, and maintain judicial integrity and independence.

For more information on the Trial Lawyers Association of British Columbia, we invite you to visit their web site at www.tlabc.org

In this year’s election, there are 21 candidates competing for the six available seats on Chilliwack’s City Council.  The Mayor, Sharon Gaetz, has already been acclaimed into her second term.

The candidates for Chilliwack City Council include:

- Sue Attrill (incumbent)
- Michael Britton
- Andrew Brown
- Ron Browne
- Phill Bruce
- Ian B. Carmichael
- Brenda Currie
- Char Eros
- Garth Glassel
- Gerry Goosen
- Dick Harrington
- Ken Huttema (incumbent)
- Gord Kornelsen
- Jason Lum
- Stewart McLean (incumbent)
- Roger Myers
- Mitchell Nosko
- Ken Popove
- Chuck Stam (incumbent)
- Rob Stemalschuk
- Ron Wedel

We are particularly pleased to announce that Magda has accepted a position of Associate lawyer with our firm.  Magda will begin this new role upon her call to the bar at the beginning of September 2011.

Magda will be based out of our Langley office, and will be assisting clients in the areas of Corporate/Commercial Law, Real Estate Development and Wills & Estate Planning.

Magda can be reached by telephone at 604.533.2300 ext 107 or by email at mgrala@waterstonelaw.com

Chilliwack Hospice has been in operation since 1986 and is a registered non profit charitable society. The Hospice Society is a partner in delivering the services of the Chilliwack Hospice Palliative Care Program.

Hospice is a philosophy of holistic care providing comfort care to meet the physical, social, emotional and spiritual needs of dying people and their families. Hospice care is all about treating terminally ill people as living human beings so they can live until their last moment with caring and respect.

Waterstone Law Group is proud to support the Chilliwack Hospice Society and their great work in our community.

The Chilliwack Mt. Cheam Rotary Club was formed in 1989, and is proud to have established and continue to support the Chilliwack Children’s Foundation, bringing assistance to needy youth in Chilliwack. More information about the club can be found by following the link above.

Michael was born in New Westminster, B.C. and raised in Abbotsford.  He completed his Bachelor of Arts with Honors from the University of British Columbia in 2005, majoring in both Philosophy and Sociology.  Michael spent the next two years working at a background and reference checking company as a Client Coordinator before heading off to the University of Manitoba for law school.

Outside of the office, Michael takes pleasure in spending as much time as possible with family and friends in the great outdoors.  Michael enjoys camping and barbecuing, in addition to participating in various team activities such as baseball, soccer and volleyball.  Michael is also an avid Vancouver Canucks fan.

We are delighted to have Michael as part of our team, and look forward to working with him.

Waterstone was particularly pleased to see that our donation of two tickets to Game Two of the Stanley Cup Finals (GO CANUCKS!) raised $2,600.

A huge thank you to the Chilliwack community for continuing to generously support such a worthwhile cause.

Chelsey was raised on a dairy farm in Agassiz, BC.  She obtained her Associate of Arts degree from the University College of the Fraser Valley before heading off to Simon Fraser University for her Bachelor of Arts degree and finally the University of Saskatchewan for law school.

Chelsey is happy to be back in the Fraser Valley where she belongs, far away from cold prairie winters and argumentative and defensive Saskatchewan Roughrider fans.  She is looking forward to re-establishing her roots here in the Valley and getting involved in our local communities.

When not at the office or defending the BC Lions, Chelsey enjoys playing and watching almost any kind of sport.  She can also often be found curled up with a cup of tea and a good book or an old black and white movie.

Waterstone is happy to have Chelsey on board!

image courtesy of Daryl's Photographic Art

Our belated congratulations to Ola Kabiak, who beat out 61 other Grade 4 to 8 students to win the 2011 ChillSpell spelling tournament at the Chilliwack Cultural Centre on January 25, 2011.  Ola, a Grade 7 student from St. Mary’s, won the competition in nine rounds.

Our congratulations also go out to Ola’s fellow participants who bravely stood before the judges and over 360 spectators in their bid to win this annual spelling bee.

A special thank you to Central Elementary School Principal, Scott Wallace, for coordinating this great event, as well as to Mayor Sharon Gaetz, Chilliwack school board trustee, Heather Maahs, and retired assistant superintendent, Michael Audet, who joined our own Edward Kaye on the judging panel.

For more photographs and details about this event, we encourage you to visit The Chilliwack Times.