Canadian Lawyer InHouse

In 1985, she entered private practice with the law fi rm Blackadder Lacavera Green Marion & Leon LLP (now Blackadder Leon Marion & Fazari LLP), where she concen- trated on family law, real estate, young of- fenders and prosecutions. The work on fam- ily law and youth would become useful later when she joined the school board. "I was the fi rst female lawyer in Welland, so when the Welland Law Association met, it had to relocate the meeting from the all- men's fl oor to the ground fl oor of the for- MAY 2017 44 INHOUSE P r o f e s s i o n a l P r o f i l e SECOND SNAPSHOT T H E L A W Y E R Brenda Stokes Verworn T H E C O M P A N Y City of Welland, Ont. • Called to the Ontario bar in April 1985 • First woman lawyer in Welland, Ont. • Holds a B.A. in political science from Brock University and a diploma in jour- nalism from Niagara College • Entered first in-house position as assistant regional solicitor for the Regional Municipality of Niagara in 1987 • Formed the In-House Niagara Corporate Counsel group • Served on the Ontario Bar Association Education Law Section executive in different roles as the chairwoman, vice chairwoman and newsletter editor for more than 20 years partners in the development of protocols with police services, Family and Children's Services and fi re departments. "These pro- tocols enabled us to co-ordinate services to support and serve students and their fami- lies in challenging situations, and also re- spect privacy and confi dentiality," she says. School boards are often reacting to the changing policies of provincial govern- ments — Stokes Verworn has been witness to many of them. "The new safe school legislation has created lots of changes to the student discipline process. At one time, there was one page in the Education Act dealing with suspensions and expulsions, but that has grown to at least 30 pages and a host of regulations, too," she says. School boards across Ontario have also been facing the challenges of centralized bargaining and declining enrolment and school accommodation reviews. The Ni- agara board has been very active in such reviews over the last decade in particular. Since 1998, the board has closed and sold 44 schools — including the high school Stokes Verworn once attended. That equates to 9,000 fewer students in the region. "The closure of your small neighbour- hood schools are very emotionally charged situations with parents and communities and we have successfully faced judicial re- view challenges in court on the basis that these decisions support the academic and programming needs of our students. I have been involved in the closure and sale of many schools and the purchase of lands and new builds for several schools," she says. In fact, much has changed since Stokes Verworn fi rst entered the legal profession and the world of in-house counsel. "When I left private practice, some of the law fi rms were almost discouraging me, say- ing 'don't do it.' Part of that feeling was due to fi nancial reasons — you don't make the same kind of money in-house. Another great misnomer is that if you go in-house you will have more regulated hours. I didn't fi nd that, mostly I suppose because I was a solo in-house and that's a challenge in itself," she says. Stokes Verworn graduated from Osgoode Hall Law School in 1983 at a time when women in law school made up about 15 per cent of the student body. mer Welland Club to accommodate a wom- an joining the group," she recalls. "It took a little longer before there were female robing rooms added to the local court facilities." Her arrival to the all-male legal commu- nity in Welland even prompted an article in the local newspaper. She articled with law fi rm Lampard El- lis & Walsh, working with Stuart Ellis, a well-respected municipal law lawyer. After articling in Niagara, she travelled to Europe where she completed a court internship at Gray's Inn in London. "The Inns of Court are steeped in his- tory," says Stokes Verworn. "We would have communal dinners and debates at the very dining table that King Henry the VIII used. Each morning, we would robe and at- tend chambers to pick up our court assign- ment that was rolled and tied with a pink ribbon and head off to the courts. I would accompany experienced barristers to the Old Bailey courthouse. The barristers were such intelligent, articulate and persuasive advocates for their clients. It was like a the- atre performance to watch, complete with the robes and horsehair wigs." In 1987, Stokes Verworn entered her fi rst in-house position as assistant regional solic- itor for the Regional Municipality of Niag- ara, which encompassed 12 municipalities. Her duties included: providing legal advice to every department, various committees and regional council; monitoring real estate and development fi les; labour matters with six unions; drafting and reviewing con- tracts, leases, agreements and estate matters for six senior citizen homes; advising social services and health services departments; conducting by-law prosecutions; attending before the Ontario Municipal Board and other tribunals; and attending as legal coun- sel at regional council meetings. Two years later, she moved to Oakville, Ont. to become a solicitor for the Regional Municipality of Halton, where she was a member of a team of four lawyers for the region that consisted of four municipalities. After marrying her husband Charles (an artist and designer), she returned to Niagara and became the deputy city solicitor for the City of Niagara Falls. In September 1991, she was appoint- ed the board lawyer for the Lincoln

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