VANCOUVER FAMILY LAW and Lawyer KATHLEEN WALKER
Kathleen Walker, Vancouver family lawyer, is a former family and child counsellor who counselled parents through Simon Fraser University's Psychology Department program "Information Children". Kathleen Walker then worked with disturbed children and their families in School District 43 in Coquitlam. In the years just before she commenced her law studies she was a Psychologist Assistant with the Province of British Columbia in New Westminster assisting multi-handicapped adults. While working on her postgraduate studies in educational psychology Kathleen Walker successfully completed a practicum as a Family Court Counsellor/Mediator with the Attorney General of British Columbia.
Kathleen Walker graduated from the University of British Columbia Law School in May 1991 having succeeded in that program as a divorced parent supporting and caring for two young children. While attending Law School she was an editor of the Canadian Journal of Family Law.
Kathleen Walker articled with and worked as a criminal prosecutor with the Federal Government. The concept of 'articulable cause' raised by her in her first Supreme Court trial of a cocaine trafficking charge, R. v. Yet Wai Daniel Lee, has been cited many times with approval. It has been cited by the Court of Appeal of Alberta, and subsequently, the British Columbia Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Newfoundland in defining the Charter concept of arbitrary detention.
In May 1994 Kathleen Walker made the transition to the field of Vancouver family law with the Law Firm of Connell Lightbody. She was the head of the Vancouver family law department litigating complex, multi-faceted family law cases before she left to start her own firm. Anderson v. Sullivan is one of the Vancouver family law cases Ms. Walker successfully argued at the British Columbia Court of Appeal. That case dealt with an interjurisdictional child custody dispute. She also successfully appealed a decision in Grierson v. Watters with regards to parental choice of treating physicians.
In July 1998, Kathleen Walker created the British Columbia legal corporation, "Kathleen H. Walker Law Corporation," with a focus on using her background in family counselling, together with the courtroom skills honed as a federal prosecutor, to advance her clients' cases. In January 2004 Ms. Walker successfully settled an important trust administration negligence case against the British Columbia Provincial government. Her client received a high scale of costs against the government at the Supreme Court level and the highest scale of costs at the Court of Appeal level as part of the settlement. The trial of that case was reported and Vancouver family lawyer, Ms. Walker, was profiled in the March 28, 2003 edition of the national law newspaper, the Lawyers Weekly.
Community Service by Vancouver Family Law
Baby Jane Doe Trust Fund
In January 2005 Kathleen Walker established the Baby Jane Doe Trust Fund for a newborn baby girl who had been abandoned at a bus stop in Vancouver, British Columbia. The trust fund has received hundreds of gifts and cards for Baby Jane Doe and thousands of dollars in donations for her educational trust fund which is being held in trust by three British Columbia lawyers appointed by Kathleen Walker for the Baby Jane Doe trust fund. To learn more about the Baby Jane Doe Trust fund see:
http://www.canadiancrc.com/Newspaper_Articles/The_Province_Last_chance_for_Baby_Jane_19DEC04.aspx
Cordon's Law
In April 2008 Kathleen Walker organized a rally "No More Excuses: Protect B.C. Kids Now" on the steps of the British Columbia legislature in Victoria, British Columbia, to bring attention to failure of the legal system to protect children from family violence. This rally was organized in the wake of the brutal slayings of four British Columbia children in two families in seven months. The parents who are alleged to have killed these children were under orders restraining contact with a family member at the time of the killings.
This rally and the issue of the need for the legal system to better protect children from family violence received worldwide media coverage. Kathleen Walker has drafted and is in the process of attempting to bring into force, "Cordon's Law" a system for the more effective drafting and enforcement of orders restraining contact with children by those at risk for doing them harm. Cordon's Law has received hundreds of names on a petition in its support and also has received worldwide interest and media coverage. To learn more about Cordon's Law see:
http://www.topix.net/content/cp/2008/04/family-lawyer-proposes-cordons-law-in-memory-of-murdered-merritt-children
Donations to Charitable Groups
Vancouver Family Law does not charge fees for initial consultations, instead we require the potential client to make a donation to a charity we support. At various times out preferred charity has been the Baby Jane Doe Trust Fund and Medicins Sans Frontieres. Currently we are supporting Amnesty International Canada. Vancouver Family Law has encouraged and continues to encourage lawyers to require charitable donations in lieu of initial consultation fees.
