In the Community
Conkie & Company believes in the importance, whenever possible, of devoting its legal experience and resources to significant community issues that require attention. We have chosen to build flexibility into our practice to allow our lawyers to attend to social justice issues. In this way, we are giving back to the community that has allowed us to grow and prosper.

Senior lawyer Jennifer Conkie has participated in numerous volunteer activities and pro bono lawyering over the years. She is an active member of the Canadian Bar Association's BC Branch. Currently, she is Chair of the Women's Legal Forum for a two-year term. Previous to that, she was a member the CBA's Equality and Women's Advisory Committees. She was Co-Chair of the Gender Issues subsection for two years in the mid-1990s.

In recent years, she moderated a roundtable discussion for a Provincial Council meeting of the Branch on anti-terrorism legislation and chaired the planning committee and acted as M.C. of the President's Forum, Creating Success: A Symposium for Women in Law held in Vancouver in June 2001.

Other CBA sponsored events she has participated in include a roundtable discussion, The Role of Lawyers in the Community, with Mike Harcourt, Stephen Owen and Province editor Joey Thompson, published in Bar Talk (2000) and seminars on "How to Build a Successful Law Practice."

Because of her passionate commitment to furthering equality for all Canadians, and her keen interest in discrimination and human rights issues, Jennifer has volunteered for close to 20 years at the Board, Executive and committee level with the Legal Action Education Fund (LEAF), a national non-profit organization that participates in test cases on discrimination and equality issues. Jennifer has been a frequent public speaker on diversity and equality issues and the role of women in the legal profession.

Jennifer Conkie at Supreme Court of Canada, January 2000

She was West Coast LEAF's keynote speaker at their AGM in June 2000 and the keynote speaker at the Victoria Person's Day Breakfast in October 2000.

In 2000, Jennifer was counsel for LEAF as an intervener in the Blencoe sexual harrassment case before the Supreme Court of Canada. The following year, she acted on behalf of the British Columbia Human Rights Commission as an intervener in the Dutton sexual harrassment case.

Other volunteer activities include:

Member, UBC Law Alumni Association Executive Board
Member, Sarah McLachlan Music Outreach Advisory Committee
Public speaking engagements on behalf of LEAF, CBA, Homeowner Protection Office and various radio and television programs
Mentor, UBC Law School, Feminist Legal Institute Mentorship; YWCA, Mentorship Program
Guest Instructor for seminars at UBC Law School and courses in the Professional Legal Training Course


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