I’m pretty dang excited to be featured in CBA National’s article“The Promise and Pitfalls of a Niche Practice”. As The Fertility Lawyer, I’m in the company of David Shellnutt, The Biking Lawyer, and Marc Goldgrub, who works in green economy and psychedelics law.
A biking lawyer, a psychedelics lawyer, and a fertility lawyer walk into an article… I’m delighted to be among such cool groundbreakers.
The article got me contemplating my path here. Early in my career, I helped develop BC’s Family Law Act, including the rules about parentage through assisted reproduction. I didn’t know then that fertility law would become such a big part of my practice. I just knew I cared about making the law work for the families who would actually need it.
Now I get to help people make those families: queer couples, people facing infertility, solo parents by choice, poly families, and many others. Sometimes that means working through complicated questions about donors, surrogacy, parentage, and agreements. Always, it means listening to what this particular family hopes to build.
“You get to do happy law.”
As I told CBA National, “you get to do happy law.” That doesn’t mean the work is always simple. It means I get to be there for a hopeful, deeply personal part of people’s lives. How lucky am I?
Be the change.
The article also reflects something I value about running my own practice: Building a practice around what I love has also given me room to keep pushing for change when the law hasn’t caught up with the families I meet. That part of the work matters just as much to me. The law needs to keep pace with the many ways people build families, and I love being part of that conversation.
Thank you to Julie Stauffer and the Canadian Bar Association for telling our stories, and to David and Marc for being such excellent company.
