Representing Children: Essential Skills for Child Lawyers

Register by email: Here

Lunch will be provided along with light snacks and beverages.

Who Should Attend:

• Lawyers interested in accepting appointments as a child lawyer are strongly encouraged to attend
• Lawyers practicing in family law, child protection, and related areas
• Any lawyer who may work with children as part of their practice

Program Overview:
Please join Andrea Doyle, Senior Advisory Counsel, Family and Immigration Law at Legal Aid Alberta, for a full-day workshop on the representation of children. Participants will explore key legal principles, procedural considerations, and advocacy skills, including:

• Representation of children 101 – Topics include the legal basis for representing children, when courts should appoint a child lawyer, review of important cases, and representation standards and competencies.
• The role of child lawyer – Topics include how to work with collateral professionals, obtaining child welfare disclosure, and best practices.

The afternoon session focuses on practical skills, including:

• Interviewing child clients – Skills addressed include building rapport, assessing capacity, effective techniques, sample questions, and a demonstration of interviewing children (subject to availability of a youth to roleplay).
• Sharing children’s views and preferences with the court – Topics include how to present the children’s evidence and judicial interviews.

Panel Discussion:
The day will conclude with a panel featuring Justice Karen Wenkebach (Supreme Court of Yukon), Judge David Christie (Territorial Court of Yukon), and experienced child lawyer Kathy Kinchen. The panel will address a variety of topics, including judicial expectations of children’s counsel, common challenges with the role, and practical guidance from the bench.

Andrea Doyle Bio:

Andrea Doyle is Legal Aid Alberta’s Senior Advisory Counsel for Family and Immigration.

Andrea graduated UNB Law in 1991, articled at a large Bay Street law firm and then clerked at the Federal Court of Appeal in Ottawa. She was called to the Ontario bar in 1994 and practiced with the law firm of Doyle, Speirs, in Ajax, Ontario, from 1994 to 2007.

After relocating to Alberta in 2007, Andrea joined Legal Aid Alberta’s Family Law Office as staff counsel representing children in high-conflict family law matters as well as parents in child welfare matters and all other family cases. From October 2010 to May 2019, Ms. Doyle was the Assistant Senior Counsel and then Senior Counsel of the Family Law Office responsibility for the Edmonton office leading, managing, and mentoring the Family staff lawyers.

In May 2019, she moved into her current role at Legal Aid Alberta as Senior Advisory Counsel for Family and Immigration. In this role, Andrea is responsible for Legal Aid Alberta’s Articling and Student Programs, liaising with various levels of the Court on policy and program delivery including issues that relate to the representation of children in high-conflict parenting matters, Emergency Protection Order Program, and representation of victims of family violence.

One of Andrea’s passions is representing children. From 2000 until 2007, she was a member of the Children’s Rights Panel with the Office of the Children’s Lawyer in Ontario. In Alberta, she represents children and mentors other lawyers in child representation work. In April 2022, Andrea established and now oversees Legal Aid Alberta’s Child Representation Panel to ensure child clients receive the highest quality of representation from counsel who have training and experience in this specialized area of practice.