Wendy M. Phillips-Berard, BA, LLB is the owner of Good Law, a firm that services St. Albert and area with legal advice and services in real estate, collaborative divorce, family law, and estate planning and administration. Phillips-Berard joined Michael Good’s law practice in 2006, became a partner and co-owner in 2018, and the owner earlier this year.
Law may seem clinical, but at Good Law, the experience is completely unique.
“We sell our time, advice, knowledge, and our creativity to assist people making big life decisions and often at times when they are least ready to make them,” explains Phillips-Berard. “We have a strong team of lawyers and staff that help and support people looking for legal assistance. We’re ready to help.”
The journey to where she is today was not without twists, turns, and a few surprises. After excelling as a debate team member in school, she became interested in law. However, her early interactions with the field left her unable to see how a law degree could help people in the way she was seeking. So instead, Phillips-Berard pursued sociology.
As she saw how sociology touched on important aspects of life, death, and relationships, she realized that when initially looking at law, she was simply looking in the wrong direction. In working in the areas of family law, real estate, wills and estates, she could help people navigate the tough decisions they need to make. With an education in both sociology and law, Phillips-Berard is in a unique position to not just help her clients, but to also understand what they are going through.
“I grew up in a family that was community minded,” she adds. “It is important to help others and to help people find a voice. That is what drew me to law. I love helping people who are seeking information about their options to resolve a particular legal matter and want to be empowered to make good decisions for themselves and for their families. We support people wishing to avoid a court-imposed resolution – if at all possible – and help them make well-advised and practical plans for the future.”
She continues, “We want to help people navigate many of the big life changes they encounter at various stages of their lives by listening to their concerns, hopes, and fears and then providing accurate advice, assisting them to set reasonable expectations, and providing tools they can use to resolve their legal matter. We help people find ways to resolve conflict and to work together even when they didn’t think they could.
“We are approachable, we listen carefully to our clients and we work hard to present information, advice and options that can work for our clients. We don’t necessarily look at other law firms as our competitors but more as our colleagues in providing assistance. We are proud of the relationships we’ve created with many of the other legal professionals in and around St. Albert. It’s important to us that our clients feel comfortable in our office and in working with us; we try to put people at ease even when they have come in to discuss something very personal.”
With International Women’s Month underway, Phillips-Berard reflects on what that means to her.
“It’s hard to believe when I started practicing in St. Albert in 2001, I was the only female lawyer in St. Albert! Now, there is a welcoming world out there, a supportive network, and growing acceptance of women entrepreneurs. We are not all the way there yet, but we are so much further down the road. I am grateful to the strong and capable businesswomen who have been mentors to me as I’ve made my journey through practicing law and business. As a mother of two daughters, I know how important it is to be supportive of other women in business, and not just in law.”
Phillips-Berard wants to encourage women to feel confident in entering business and to feel excited about sharing their unique skills and services to our community. Her advice to other women entrepreneurs and to clients is the same, “Take your time to gather the information you need to feel empowered to make good decisions about what is important to you. ”
