WHO WE ARE
Rigorous, Not Rigid
Our team has developed a broad skill set thanks to our work in a variety of sectors, including a wide range of Aboriginal Law and Indigenous rights matters, litigation work, Environmental and regulatory matters, international human rights, and services for social enterprises, non-profits, and charities. Sage Legal is the culmination of our team’s experience working alongside and in service of communities fighting for self-determination.
We are in the service industry working for clients whom we care deeply about. We value support over prestige, and we’re honoured and humbled to serve as part of our clients’ teams.
OUR APPROACH
Combining broad vision with practical tools
For clients, the legal work is often one piece of a long-term initiative or strategy. Project management-style thinking is necessary not only to help make progress in the work in front of us, but also to ensure that it is tied into and in alignment with the bigger community-based direction. We build project management principles and tools directly into our client-support systems.
Meet the Team
Our core team is small but mighty. Hailing from many different territories across BC, get to know the unique paths we’ve taken to get here.
Member of BC Bar
Becoming a lawyer, for me, has mainly been aimed at being a useful and helpful human, by advocating for and building better and beneficial legal structures. My outlook is a product of where I come from – born in a small town (Fort St. James), growing up in a slightly-bigger town (Fort St. John), and settling in a not-so-big city (Victoria). At each stage, I have been aware of how some of the systems we live in are good for some people, but exclude and limit others.
That’s been a central theme throughout my career, starting back at law school, where I devoted a significant portion of time working at Student Legal Services – a student-run legal clinic providing free legal services in Edmonton.
After completing my articles in 2011, I was selected to the CBA’s International Internship Program, and was posted in Nairobi, Kenya. I was fortunate to be hired on with a team of Kenyan lawyers working on ground-breaking legal files, assisting in international criminal justice cases (including at the International Criminal Court), helping with implementation of Kenya’s Constitution (which had just been promulgated in 2010), and working around the East African region to help build legal structures and policies to align domestic laws with international laws and norms.
Since then, I continued to focus on rights-based work, like access-to-justice and poverty law work, while also getting deeper experience in corporate and commercial law, all of which led me to being a part of Sage Legal when it was founded in 2017.
Now, I get to focus on building a law firm that is collaborative, supportive, and focuses on empowering our clients, now and in the future. And I get to do it with great people.
I joined Sage Legal in the height of the pandemic and was drawn to both its model—distributed, accessible, collaborative—and its area of focus—advancing and advocating for Indigenous rights. I joined fresh out of law school, after completing my articles at Calgary Legal Guidance, where I was part of a group of students and lawyers providing free legal services to low-income individuals in Calgary. Prior to articling, I did as much experiential learning as possible during law school. This included a semester with a student-run legal clinic providing free family law services to low-income individuals in Vancouver, a co-op placement with the BC Ministry of Attorney General focusing on development of human rights and family law legislation and policy, and a co-op placement with a boutique Aboriginal law firm working exclusively for Indigenous governments and organizations. These experiences drew me to Sage, and its values and approach felt like the perfect fit.
Member of BC Bar
My career path has been a bit like a winding stream that naturally funnelled into Sage Legal. As I finished law school, I knew that Aboriginal law and environmental law were where I wanted to be, but I wanted a broad skill-set so I could be as useful as I could once I got there. That meant I spent many years doing general commercial, employment, estate and professional regulatory litigation work. I then took time away from law to do interview based graduate research on British Columbia’s regulation of water in the fracking industry, which took me to Treaty 8 territory.
I’m currently focused on land stewardship initiatives, consultation matters and regulatory processes and hearings. I have the background to engage directly on the technical aspects related to major projects such as pipelines, mines and hydroelectric dams, which allows me to translate complex material into digestible information for our clients.
I joined Sage Legal because of three main things. One—the services that Sage provides have both depth and breadth. We take time to be able to fully support a client across complex issues. Two—working in this small team is fantastic from a personal satisfaction perspective. And three—the set of clients that Sage works for are excellent. Who wouldn’t want to be part of this team?
Iwas born and raised in Yukon on the territories of the Carcross/Tagish and the Kwanlin Dün First Nations. My upbringing in this region shaped a deep respect for Indigenous governance, land stewardship, and community-led decision-making, values that have continued throughout my life.
Before joining Sage, I worked with a self-governing First Nation on a strategic planning initiative designed to advance the Nation’s short- and long-term goals. During law school, I worked on various research projects focused on family law and access to justice, exploring how legal systems can better serve underrepresented groups. During my articles at the British Columbia Ministry of Attorney General, I gained experience across a range of areas including litigation, child protection, legislation, and policy development.
I was drawn to law as it offered a way to engage in purposeful work by advocating for communities and contributing to systemic change. Sage’s practice is a natural extension of that purpose, and I align strongly with Sage’s ethos of collaboration, cultural learning, and community engagement. My goal is to demystify the law and make it more accessible. I am committed to delivering legal services that are clear, approachable, and grounded in respect.
As soon as I was hired in 2022, I noticed how unique Sage Legal was for a law firm. Josh has created a firm where teamwork and collaboration are the core values. This was a new experience for me. For me the Sage identity comes from his leadership. The lawyers and clients we work with are exceptional, because Josh trusts them and truly values their insights and opinions.
My career began in software development and evolved into management consulting and project management focused on business solutions. I am passionate about leveraging technology to enhance client operations and empower end users. Throughout my work with Fortune 500 companies, provincial governments, small businesses, and non-profits, I prioritize user-centric design to ensure technology solutions genuinely benefits my clients. Working as an expert witness for plaintiffs against major software and consulting firms that did not fulfill their contractual obligations reinforced the importance of demystifying technical and consulting jargon for clients.
I joined Sage because of its client-first values, its focus on Indigenous rights, and its project management-style thinking. At Sage, I support the legal team’s excellent client service using agile project management tools, enabling them to focus on delivering expert legal advice. If clients need support managing legal agreements and their requirements alongside their daily operations, we share our knowledge of relevant tools and processes to enhance their capabilities as they navigate their unique circumstances.
