This paper provides guidance and checklists to be used when:

1. determining what must be proven in matrimonial property and common law property cases,
2. determining what information to collect,
3. how to collect the information under the Rules of Court,
4. how to organize a file during the collection process, and
5. analyzing information and disclosure.

This paper was presented at the Family Law Boot Camp program which was held in Edmonton on October 13, 2010 and in Calgary on October 20, 2010.  

The paper provides a set of instructions on how to draft minutes. In doing that, it provides specific tips relating to the language that should be used, the proper organization of minutes, the recitals (which will serve to set the stage for how and when the settlement was arrived upon), and the substantive provisions. The paper also includes a set of templates of minutes relating to a multitude of actions. This paper was presented at the Family Law Beyond the Basics program which was held in Edmonton on March 1, 2011 and in Calgary on March 16, 2011.

This paper articulates the various circumstances under which you may be retained to draft a pre-nuptial or cohabitation agreement. The author discusses the importance of the steps leading up to drafting and offers practical suggestions for how to protect yourself and your client in these types of deals. Appended to the paper are helpful drafting tips prepared for a previous LESA program. This paper was drawn from materials presented at the Cohabitation and Pre-Nuptial Agreements program held in May 2012.

This paper presents a discussion of practice pointers and strategies that may be useful to effectively move family law litigation files to resolution, either as determined by the parties or by third parties (judges or arbitrators). The author stresses the importance that lawyers not litigate family law files unless no other option is available. This paper was presented at the 46th Annual Family Law Refresher in April of 2013.

This paper seeks to provide a general overview of the Matrimonial Property Act and its application to non-family law lawyers by addressing the Who, When, What, Where, Why, and How of the Act using case law and statutory references. This paper was presented at LESA's Matrimonial Property Law for Wills & Estates Practitioners program in February 2013.