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Finding Professional Help The following links and contact information will direct you to the websites of lawyers and law firms who practice family law and divorce law in British Columbia, mediators' organizations, firms that provide research assistance, and psychologists who prepare custody and access reports. The following lists are not comprehensive listings of all lawyers and other professionals involved in family law in BC, they're just the ones I could find. If you have a website or information which you'd like included, please contact the author.
Click here to go back to the Main Directory. Lawyers' Websites & Listings For information about how to find and hire a lawyer, see the chapter The Legal System > Lawyers & Litigants. Websites The following are links to websites maintained by family law lawyers, mediators and law firms in British Columbia. It is not complete; any omissions are unintentional. As well, many lawyers and law firms do not have a presence on the web. If you know of a lawyer, mediator or law firm which has been overlooked, please contact the author through the Feedback section. Please note that the author is not affiliated with any of the lawyers, mediators or law firms whose websites are linked to below, except for the law firm Aaron Gordon & Daykin. The author does not endorse any of these lawyers, law firms or their websites, nor is the author responsible for the content of those websites. Vancouver and Lower Mainland
Victoria
The Interior and Coast
The Island north of Victoria
Listings and Search Services The following are links to various listings services and search engines which will allow you to find a lawyer by name, or by your area and the nature of your problem. The author makes no guarantees about the accuracy or currency of the listings maintained by these organizations.
Back to the top of the page. Mediator, Arbitrator & Parenting Coordinator Listings The best way to find a mediator, arbitrator or parenting coordinator is the same way you find a lawyer, by word of mouth and the recommendations of people who have used the mediator's services. Unlike the membership roster maintained by the Law Society, however, there is no comprehensive list of all the mediators, arbitrators and parenting coordinators in the province, nor is there any regulatory body that says who can and who can't call themselves a mediator, arbitrator or parenting coordinator. Since pretty much anybody can hang out a shingle advertising themselves as such, you should always check for professional affiliations and accreditations. Mediators & Mediation Services Lawyers who practice mediation in family disputes must be qualified by the Law Society of British Columbia as Family Law Mediators, which means they have received supplemental training in mediation and have been practicing law full-time for at least three years. Lawyers who are also Family Law Mediators, like the author, will usually advertise themselves as both a lawyer and a mediator. Organizations and Information Websites The BC Mediator Roster Society maintains a list of their members. Note that not all Family Law Mediators are members of the society. Visit their website to find a member of the society near you. The BC Mediator Roster Society site also offers information about mediators and the mediation process. The following are some other helpful sources of information about mediation, the mediation process and finding a mediator:
Free Mediation Services The Ministry of the Attorney General has partnered with the BC Dispute Resolution Practicum Society to set up a program called the Family Mediation Practicum Project. The program offers free mediation for some kinds of family law disputes by people who are training to become mediators. The program can be reached online or at 604-516-0788. As well, the Boys' and Girls' Clubs of Greater Vancouver offer free mediation for couples trying to sort out issues relating to the care and control of children through Mr. Ross Collver, a former judge. This service is only available at the Fraserview Club, at 7595 Victoria Drive in Vancouver. To make an appointment with Mr. Collver, call 604-321-5621. UBC's CoRe Clinic offers dispute resolution services by students studying conflict resolution and may also be able to help. Email them at coreclinic@hotmail.com. Collaborative Law Lawyers & Clinical Counsellors Lawyers who practice collaborative law, a specialized model of the mediation process, will also be Family Law Mediators and have additional training in collaborative law. They will usually advertise themselves as both a lawyer and a mediator, and expressly state that they practice collaborative law or describe themselves as "collaborative law lawyers." For links to collaborative law professionals and collaborative law associations, visit the websites of these organizations:
Most of these sites also provide information about collaborative law and how it could work in your case. Arbitrators & Parenting Coordinators Arbitration is an alternative dispute resolution process that is underused in this process. Many lawyers are of the view that the Commercial Arbitration Act forbids the arbitration of family law disputes when in fact it doesn't. Parenting coordination is a child-centered dispute resolution in which the parents hire a parenting coordinator to help them resolve day-to-day disputes about parenting issues as they arise, usually after a trial or a separation agreement about the children has been completed. Parenting coordinators try to resolve each dispute by negotiating an agreement as a mediator. Where agreement cannot be reached, the parenting coordinator will impose a resolution on the parties as an arbitrator. Parenting coordination is new to British Columbia, and a group of family law lawyers and mental health professionals are currently assembling a roster of trained parenting coordinators. More information about arbitration and parenting coordination can be found in the Alternatives to Court section of this website. The following are some other helpful sources of information about arbitration and parenting coordination:
Back to the top of the page. Pro Bono Organizations There are precious few lawyers' organizations that focus on providing free ("pro bono") legal services. The primary groups in British Columbia are:
The Salvation Army and the Access Justice Society provide clinic-based help, free half-hour meetings with a lawyer who will give advice, provide help filling out forms and so forth. These lawyers may provide additional services, including representation in court, but the extent and nature of any additional services are left up to the individual lawyers. Pro Bono Law of British Columbia maintains lists of lawyers, including an appeals roster and a family law roster, who work in different areas of the law and are willing to provide more extended help than clinic volunteer lawyers. PBLBC attempts to hook people in need of help up with the lawyers who are willing to provide it. PBLBC does not and cannot guarantee that a free lawyer will be provided, but they try their best. Back to the top of the page. Custody & Access Assessment Psychologists Custody and access assessments, also called "section 15 reports," are reports prepared by a psychiatrist or psychologist to help the court determine what the best arrangements are for the care and control of the children. Not all family law disputes involving children require a custody and access report, but they can be useful where the parents' views on how much time they should each have with the children or where the child should live most of the time differ significantly. Custody and access reports are discussed in more detail in the chapter Children > Custody. There are many people who advertise that they prepare custody and access reports, and no qualifications are required to prepare a custody and access report; pretty much anybody can, and you don't need to have any special trainng to do so. That being said, it is always best to have a custody and access report prepared by someone with the training, skills and expertise to do so, and that usually means hiring a psychiatrist or psychologist. The following list sets out the names and telephone numbers of psychologists who are members of the Psychological Association of British Columbia who prepare these sorts of reports. It is not a complete list. It is partly drawn from the list available from the Supreme Court of British Columbia, usually in the courtrooms reserved for Judicial Case Conferences. Please note that the author is not affiliated with any of the psychologists listed below, nor does the author does not endorse any of these psychologists in particular. If you know of a psychologist who has been overlooked, please contact the author through the Feedback section. Vancouver and Lower Mainland
Victoria
The Interior
The Island north of Victoria
The BC Psychological Association offers a general referral service for psychologists throughout British Columbia. They can be contacted at 604-730-0522. Back to the top of the page. Site Navigation
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