Meet the Practice Advisors
The Practice Advisors offer a free and confidential service to help Alberta lawyers, legal support staff and articling students with legal, ethical and practice inquiries. They develop and deliver educational material, and support the work of the Law Society in recommending amendments to the Code of Conduct. They mediate inter-lawyer disputes and assist lawyers in accessing resources for practice-related stress issues.
Responding to approximately 5,000 inquiries a year, the Practice Advisors are an invaluable resource for the profession. We would like to introduce you, or re-introduce you, and provide a bit of background information about each of our advisors.
Jesse Mackenzie
Jesse Mackenzie joined the Practice Advisors in 2018. He was most recently a Claims Examiner with the Alberta Lawyers Insurance Association (ALIA) from 2015 to 2018. Jesse encountered many situations where lawyers would have benefited from speaking to a Practice Advisor, and looks forward to assisting lawyers to prevent complaints and claims.
After earning his BA from Carleton University and LLB from the University of Western Ontario, Jesse was called to the Bar in 2005. He has worked as a small firm practitioner, both in general practice and with a focus on real estate. He also has previous in-house experience, where he worked as counsel for a title insurance company.
Jesse’s insight from managing negligence and misappropriation claims, combined with his previous practice experience, makes him well-suited to this role.
Elizabeth Aspinall
Elizabeth Aspinall joined the Practice Advisors in 2016. She also acts as the Law Society’s Equity Ombudsperson, providing confidential advice, information and assistance to lawyers, articling students and support staff on issues of discrimination or harassment. She is also on the executive for the SOGIC CBA subsection. Elizabeth serves on the Federation of Law Societies of Canada’s Law Society Equity Network and is currently on the editorial board for CBA’s Law Matters magazine
Elizabeth graduated from University of Calgary’s Faculty of Law in 2001 and was called to the bar in 2002. She practiced at JSS Barristers for 14 years where she maintained a general litigation practice with an emphasis in the areas of privacy, professional negligence and regulation, estates and personal injury. She has appeared before administrative tribunals and at all levels of court in Alberta, as well as before the Supreme Court of Canada.
Prior to attending the University of Calgary’s Faculty of Law, Elizabeth earned her MA and BA in English Literature, as well as her BSc in General Biology.
Nancy Carruthers
Nancy Carruthers joined the Practice Advisors’ office in 2005.
From 2015 to 2017, she took on the role of Acting Tribunal Counsel, establishing the Law Society’s Tribunal Office and developing an education and training program for Law Society adjudicators.
In 2017, she became the Manager of Policy and Ethics. She continues to fulfil the role of a Practice Advisor, as well as managing the Practice Advisors and Policy Counsel. Nancy serves on the Federation of Law Societies of Canada’s Standing Committee on the Model Code.
Prior to joining the Law Society, Nancy articled and practised at Parlee McLaws for 15 years, focusing on insurance defence litigation. She graduated from the University of Saskatchewan College of Arts and Science with a BA (honours) in English and from the Faculty of Law with honours in 1990. She was called to the Alberta bar in 1991 and the Saskatchewan bar in 1997.
Allan Guty
Allan Guty joined the Practice Advisors’ office in 2019 after 19 years with Parlee McLaws LLP.
Allan was called to the Alberta Bar in 1995 when he joined the Walsh LLP firm. In 2000 he joined Parlee McLaws LLP where he practised commercial litigation focusing on the oil and gas industry. He became a partner in 2006 and chaired his firm’s Articling and Associates’ Committees for several years. Allan has also practised criminal, employment and corporate commercial law.
Allan is a graduate of McGill University with a BA in History in 1990 and the University of Saskatchewan Faculty of Law in 1994.
Contact Information and Related Programs
Practice Advisor phone inquiries are streamed to a central phone number:
Toll free: 1.866.440.4640 Local: 587.390.8462
The Practice Advisors also operate AdvisorLink where lawyers or students-at-law are provided with contact information for lawyers in the community who have agreed to volunteer as a resource to other Alberta lawyers. These lawyers are available to answer one-off inquiries on a wide range of practice areas.
The Office of the Practice Advisor also hosts SoloNet, an online community forum for sole and small firm practitioners.