Three alumni named to the Court of Queen’s Bench

Three alumni of the University of Alberta Faculty of Law were appointed justices of the Court of Queen’s Bench of Alberta on June 3.

Denise J. Kiss, ’91 LLB, and Thomas Rothwell, QC, ’97 LLB, were each appointed to the court in Edmonton, while Sherry L. Kachur, QC, ’91 LLB, was appointed in Calgary.

Denise Kiss

Kiss, formerly counsel at Bruyer Mackay Family Law in Edmonton, has practised family law for more than 27 years. Her extensive litigation experience includes appearing before all three levels of court and at the Supreme Court of the Northwest Territories.

She was an early advocate of alternative dispute resolution processes and had a particular interest in assisting clients with custody and parenting disputes. She has volunteered as a mediator with the Edmonton Community Mediation Services, the Provincial Court of Alberta Civil Division and with the Child Support Resolution Program through Alberta Justice.

Kiss was a panel member for the Alberta Citizen’s Appeal Panel, served on the Law Society of Alberta Conduct Committee and on the Appeal Committee for the Legal Aid Society of Alberta. She was also involved with the Independent Legal Advice Program for Survivors of Sexual Violence offered through the Elizabeth Fry Society of Alberta.

Thomas Rothwell, QC

Before his appointment to the court, Rothwell was the assistant deputy minister of the Legal Services Division at the Ministry of Justice and Solicitor General of Alberta in Edmonton. He led a team of approximately 225 lawyers and was responsible for overseeing the delivery of legal and strategic advice on myriad matters to the government of Alberta.

Prior to that, he worked with Alberta Justice and practised in the areas of Aboriginal, constitutional and health law. He was with the Edmonton firm Reynolds, Mirth, Richards and Farmer LLP from 1998 to 2004. He was appointed Queen’s Counsel in March 2020.

Justice Rothwell has also co-taught constitutional litigation at UAlberta Law for the past seven years and was a co-awarded the 2019 Pringle/Royal Teaching Excellence Award honouring sessional instructors. He served on the board of the Alberta Law Foundation and currently sits on the board of the Centre for Constitutional Studies at the University of Alberta.

Sherry Kachur, QC

Kachur, a partner and co-founder of WK Family Lawyers in Calgary, first articled and was called to the bar in British Columbia and then returned to Alberta to continue her practice.

For most of her career, she has practised primarily in the area of family law. She sat as the decision maker in numerous arbitral proceedings. She is a past president of the Calgary Bar Association and was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 2012.

Access to justice, particularly in family matters, has been an important thread in her career. She has been a volunteer at the Calgary Women’s Centre and has served as a dispute resolution officer.

Kachur has also been an instructor at the Alberta Bar Admission course and numerous Legal Education Society of Alberta events, and has presented at the Federation of Law Societies’ National Family Law Program, Canadian Bar Association events and the Canadain Institute of Chartered Accountants Investigative and Forensic Accounting Conference.