As promised earlier this month, we are back with more to celebrate! International Women’s Day may have come and gone already this year, but there are always more amazing volunteers for LESA to recognize, and Tara Edwards is another. Together with Ashley Stasiewich, Tara will be presenting at Effective Legal Support: Law Office Fundamentals in May. As you’ll see from the interview below, Tara, with her focus on mentorship and collaboration, also exemplifies the “Give to Gain” theme for International Women’s Day 2026. It’s a privilege to work with such dedicated volunteers. Thanks Tara, for all the ways you are giving back to others and to the profession as a whole!

Read on to learn more about Tara, her advice for paralegals, and what you can expect to gain from LESA’s upcoming program.

Tell us a little bit about yourself: your background, experience, and education.

I am originally from Toronto, Ontario (born and raised in Scarborough). I graduated with a Diploma in Human Resources at Centennial College but was unable to secure a job in the field without having had prior HR experience. On the advice of a friend, I returned to Centennial College and graduated with a diploma in legal office administration in 2006. After graduation, I worked in labour and employment law firms and at the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario. I later returned to Centennial in 2012 and started the Paralegal Post-Graduate program but left before finishing my practicum because I re-located to Alberta and have worked in Alberta since 2014. In Alberta, I have worked in areas of labour and employment, collections/civil enforcement, Indigenous and Corporate, and now commercial litigation. I am CORES Levels I and II certified. In September 2025, I graduated with a Paralegal Professional Diploma at Robertson College. In my current role, I support the firm by being a hands-on, present paralegal. This includes taking initiative, meeting with clients, and drafting documents where needed and other behind-the-scenes areas. I have a vast 20-year experience, and I see my role more as paralegal/legal operations now. I also have a podcast called Sister-in-Law: the Paralegal Journey on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music, which talks about the paralegal journey from different points of view.

What inspired you to the legal profession?

Truth be told I had always said that I wanted to be a lawyer.  My grandfather also told me that I should be a lawyer more times than I can count. However, life does life sometimes, and, while I tried to move in a different direction, my career has brought me back to the legal side.  I have been blessed enough to utilize my human resources education and training at different times in my legal career. Do I sometimes think that I should go to law school? Perhaps, but I am happy where my career has taken me. All my experiences have helped to shape my career, who I am, and how I approach things. What keeps me inspired is the learning aspect of my career. I love to learn new things and develop new skills.  I like using my skills to apply what I am learning. I enjoy looking at the issues and trying to figure them out in my own head, how they would work, and why or why not. I love being able to speak with the lawyers I am working for to ask them questions about a subject matter and understand the whys behind what we do and what the lawyer does as well. I also enjoy helping clients and walking with them on their legal journey.  Even in areas where it may not necessarily look like you are helping, there is a level of dignity and respect for each person that the profession can bring, and I appreciate that.

Why do you volunteer for organizations such as LESA?

I volunteered for LESA on the advice of Ashley, my co-presenter for Effective Legal Support: Law Office Fundamentals. I was asking Ashley some deep-dive questions, and she asked if I would be interested in co-presenting with her. I thought this was a perfect opportunity to connect with newer-ish legal assistants, expand my own training and development, and help legal assistants to carve out their own path. I also have a great mentor and teacher back in Ontario that I still connect with. They are both such great friends now. I have had such great mentors over the years who have come and gone. While I do not volunteer elsewhere in an official capacity, my unofficial volunteer experience has been mentoring new legal assistants, inside and outside various firm settings, including Ontario paralegals and legal assistants who I meet on LinkedIn asking what it is like to relocate. I have been able to mentor for the past 10 years and I believe mentorship is the best volunteer experience that can be had.  As someone who has benefitted from LESA courses, I also believe that LESA gives the opportunity for mentorship through its programs.  I am also extremely grateful that Ashley has given me the opportunity to present with her.

What do you like most about volunteering?

Well, like I said above, I haven’t really volunteered before but I do love mentoring. I am also open to the idea of volunteering, if the opportunity and time permits.  As a mentor, I don’t paint a pretty bed of roses when I mentor, I can be tough but I am also honest about what it means to be an assistant working in the legal field. I have heard from previous mentees that while I am tough, they appreciated the honest feedback.   My own mentor had tough conversations with me and while I didn’t always like them, I was very thankful for them, which is why I model my mentorship after her.

What I like most about mentoring is seeing someone’s career and personal growth evolve, the questions that they ask, when they grasp a concept or idea or the task at hand, helping them solve their own career challenges, and watching their career victories. It really is an amazing thing to see.

What would you say to a new paralegal if they asked you for career advice?

This is a good question (I feel like you took it from my podcast—LOL). The advice that I would give to new paralegals is:

1. Do not be afraid to learn and to take initiative. You can teach people technical skills anytime, but soft skills, like initiative, are not always seen on the job. Part of human capital isn’t just the smarts that you have but also HOW you apply those smarts and the initiative you take to do so.
2. Network as much as you can, not only with other paralegals or legal assistants but also with the people in your accounting department, lawyers (junior and senior), your office/human resources manager, recruiters, software salespeople, etc. Know and understand the areas outside of your scope of work. If there’s a senior paralegal you admire, knock on that person’s door and ask if you can sit with them.
3. Find yourself a mentor who will help you solve problems, tell you when you are wrong, and help you with troubleshooting solutions.
4. Find an area of law that you are interested in and get to know it well. Learning a new area can be a good career move, but being a subject matter expert is important in this field.
5. Never stop learning. As someone who has now had to learn legal support within two provinces, learning never stops in this field and neither should you. You can take courses through LESA, find someone who is doing what you are doing and ask them but do not be afraid to check out things on your own. No one is in charge of your career like you are.
6. Evaluate yearly what you want your career to look like and where you are when it comes to achieving that goal. Remember that each task you learn, each thing that you do, each certification that you get are all stepping stones for you to reach your career goal.
7. Evaluate the Firm that you work at. Does the firm support your values and does it support your learning, if not – it may be time to look elsewhere.
8. But most importantly, understand where you fit within the legal triangle of things—because you do fit in it.

What challenges, if any, exist for legal support staff when building a precedent bank? Navigating CanLII? Building connections in the profession?

I would say these are the challenges:

Precedent Banks

1. Not understanding that everything you draft (or that your lawyer gives you for correcting) is a precedent. Hang on to it all.
2. Not updating your precedents to keep them current.
3. Not understanding to how use a precedent to help you in your job duties and not understanding when and how to use them. A lawyer once said to me, “Why re-create the wheel and he was absolutely right.

Navigating CanLII

1. Not signing up for CanLII’s free newsletter. I did this myself last year, and it’s a wealth of information and knowledge. Sign up!
2. Not using the blue side-bar lines on CanLII to understand the case a bit better.
3. Not using the thought bubbles on CanLII to look at citing documents or not copying the link or citation of that case.

Building Connections in the Profession

1. Thinking that you need to be a particular person or have seniority to network in the profession. Every person that you encounter builds your network. So just got out there and say hi.
2. Not staying in touch with your teachers. They have been or are still in the profession. Why aren’t you staying in touch?
3. Thinking that recruiters are not useful. Even if you don’t want to use them to help you job search, you should still connect with them so that you know what is out there, what employers are looking for, etc. Recruiters are a tool, even if you are not looking at the moment.

Who should attend this program and what take aways can they expect from attending?

I think anyone who has been a legal assistant or paralegal just starting out in their legal support journey or anyone who has never had the opportunity to really understand the fundamentals of the law office. What you’ll gain is a different lens for viewing a law firm and your role within it because the law office is more than just walking in, working for lawyers, doing tasks and leaving for the day.  The law office can be such a complex work situation and it’s important to understand all aspects of it.

___________________

For more information about this program, visit the Effective Legal Support: Law Office Fundamentals registration page.