Congratulations to Janet Russell, one of this year’s nominees for the Canadian Lawyer magazine’s 11th annual list of Top 25 Most Influential Lawyers in Canada. Janet is nominated in the Human Rights, Advocacy and Criminal category.
Last year, Janet represented the mother of a severely disabled adult child who was seeking child support from the child’s father. The Alberta Family Law Act defined “child” as a person aged 18 and under, or a person aged 22 and under but attending school full time. This was at odds with the Divorce Act, which considers someone to be a “child” if they are unable to withdraw from their parents’ charge for medical or other reasons. Russell successfully brought a s. 15 Charter challenge on the basis that the children of unmarried parents were not treated equally to children of formerly married parents for the purposes of ongoing child support. Ultimately, the matter came to the attention of the legislature, which amended the Family Law Act to align with the federal Divorce Act.
Online voting for the award is open until June 5th.