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For Bourgeois, it seemed like a no-
brainer, offering a streamlined process
with less financial burden on couples
who, as Bourgeois puts it, take different
paths while maintaining love, respect
and care for each other.
But before she could start
practicing in this innovative way, she
had some hoops to jump through. The
Law Society of Alberta’s code precludes
lawyers from representing opposing
parties in active dispute. But not every
divorcing couple sees themselves as
opposing each other.
“This was a really big seismic shift
for the Law Society (of Alberta) to
conceptualize, the concept of one
lawyer being able to help both people,”
she explains.
It took two-and-a-half years for
her practice to be granted a special
18-month pilot, through the Law Society
of Alberta’s Innovation Sandbox, which
allows lawyers and businesses to
explore innovative ideas and services in
a regulated space. With funding from
Edmonton Community Foundation’s
Social Enterprise Fund (SEF), she
launched the pilot in January 2023.
This pilot phase allowed her to
direct time to research. Rather than
focusing solely on the day-to-day,
the SEF funding enabled One Family
Law to do its legal reform work and
research. The pilot was successful
and the Law Society extended One
Family Law permission to practice
on an ongoing basis. She hopes
this will allow more families across
the country to access this kind of
practice, as she works on expanding
One Family Law and preparing to train
other lawyers in the methodology —
she’s still the only lawyer practicing
law this way in North America.
Without funding from SEF,
Bourgeois wouldn’t be able to keep
the lights on, or research and develop
materials to expand this kind of practice
and help more families — and push for
wider reform.
“I don’t run a traditional law firm,”
she says. “It’s a legal reform project.”
That legal reform follows a shifting
culture around divorce.
Thirty-eight per cent of marriages
in Canada end in divorce. Rates peaked
after “no-fault” divorce became legal in
Canada in 1986 , a reform which meant
couples could divorce more easily.
“HEALTHIER FAMILIES
MAKE HEALTHIER KIDS,
AND THEN THEY GROW UP
TO BE HEALTHY HUMANS.”
— Melissa Bourgeois
Couples divorce for all kinds of
reasons beyond circumstances like
abuse and infidelity. Many divorces
today are amicable. Couples may grow
apart, but still have love for each other
and a desire to co-parent. Every time
Bourgeois does media, she says, One
Family Law gets more interest from
clients. There’s a huge demand for this
new way of doing things.
As Bourgeois sees in her practice,
many parents today have seen the
trauma that divorce inflicts on children
— and they want to minimize the
impacts of divorce on their families
and broader social circles. One Family
Law is not building cases as much as
helping families come up with a plan
for moving forward together, even as
their family is changing.
“The shift does come in the clients
themselves, acknowledging and
accepting (their) relationship has
changed,” Bourgeois says. “We can
still coexist peacefully, even if we
choose to untangle ourselves from a
legal perspective.”
By responding to clients’ changing
needs, One Family Law is shifting
the experience of divorce — not only
for the couple going through it, but
for their families, social circles and
everyone else who comes in contact
with the family. As Bourgeois says,
professionals can find themselves
in the crosshairs of an acrimonious
divorce where the two parties are
locked in battle.
“You’re still one family. It just looks
a little bit different.”
And rather than completing the
divorce process years and tens, even
hundreds, of thousands of dollars later,
exhausted and bitter, families “leave
our offices very grateful and thankful
and really empowered to move
forward together,” Bourgeois adds.
The traditional way of practicing family
law does not leave people empowered,
she adds.
That new approach has implications
for the future, too.
“Healthier families make healthier
kids, and then they grow up to be
healthy humans.”
One Family Law isn’t just
transforming divorce — they’re helping
build a kinder world.
“I just believe in the power of
kindness and love can really change
and transform.”
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