Presented by Dr. Mary Korpach, Stephanie Ashton, Magal Huberman & Bonnie Lepin

Thursday 9 March 2023 
9:00 - 11:30 am (2.5 CPD, Family Law ADR Family Violence & ADR Maintenance Credits)

About the Course:
As we near the end of the series on family violence, this session is devoted to expert evidence in these complex family law cases. We will discuss section 211 reports and also canvass other expert evidence that may be relevant to your case. This webinar complements the previous session on evidentiary issues in family violence cases, but it can be taken as a stand-alone webinar, as well.

About the Speakers:
Dr. Mary Korpach, Registered Psychologist, Vancouver

Dr. Mary Korpach is a registered psychologist who received her training in the United States, and has been practicing in British Columbia since 1993. She has been assessing and treating children, adults, and families since 1986, and has been qualified as an expert witness in British Columbia in custody and access issues, parental capacity assessments, parental alienation, interviewing children, child and family matters, intimate partner violence, child abuse issues, sexual abuse, clinical and forensic psychology, developmental disabilities, substance abuse, and professional issues relating to the practice of psychology. The majority of her practice involves preparing psycholegal reports including Section 211 assessments, Views of the Child reports, and expert reports in civil matters, as well as Hear the Child reports. Dr. Korpach has also consulted with the child maltreatment clinic at Surrey Memorial Hospital since 1996, provides regulatory and practice supervision, and is an adjunct faculty member at Simon Fraser University.

Stephanie Ashton, RCMP (retired),  Kamloops
Stephanie Ashton (Sgt Ret. B.S.G  M.A. PhD. Trainee) served 24 years with the RCMP in various sections. Her work and research focused on vulnerable person’s crimes, particularly Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence. She has served on several BC government working groups as the police liaison and assisted in creation of training and policy for Trauma Informed Practice, Intimate Partner Violence, Sexualized Violence, Homicide Review, and Mental Health. Stephanie sat on the RCMP National Sexual Assault Advisory Committee and was instrumental in rewriting Violence in Relationships and Sexual Violence policy while in in the role of Provincial Coordinator. She has been deemed a Subject Matter expert on Violence in Relationships by the National RCMP and was invited to represent the force to train police in Brazil in 2019. She also assisted with several research projects while working as a team leader in National Recruiting. Stephanie is currently completing her PhD in Kinesiology at the University of British Columbia Okanagan where her research is focused on training of police to identify Brain Injury at the acute stage when responding to Intimate Partner Violence reports. She is currently working with the BC RCMP to conduct a database review of all intimate partner violence cases in BC to better understand the scope of the issue. Stephanie is also creating a virtual reality training tool for police first responders to bring awareness regarding serious IPV signs and symptoms.

Magal Huberman, Access Pro Bono, Vancouver
Magal received her J.D. from UBC in 2007 and was called to the BC bar in 2008. She practiced family law until the summer of 2020 and then enrolled in the LLM Research program at UBC's Allard School of Law. Magal graduated from the LLM program in May 2022 and she currently works at Access Pro Bono, as one of the supervising lawyers at the Everyone Legal Clinic and as the project manager of the Virtual Family Mediation Program. Among her volunteer activities, she co-chairs (with Shannon Aldinger), the family law committee of TLABC. 

Bonnie Lepin, Bonnie T. Lepin Law Corp, Vancouver
Bonnie graduated from UBC Law School and was called to the bar in 1988. After articling at Bull Houser and Tupper, she worked at Clark Wilson. In 1993, Bonnie started Bonnie T. Lepin Law Corporation. From 1993 – 1994, she taught Legal Research and Writing at UBC Law School. For the first two decades of her career, she primarily did defence work for ICBC, but always maintained a plaintiff’s practice. Since 2010, she has had a plaintiff’s only practice. As both a former member of the Women’s Forum of the CBA, and as a TLABC member, she has mentored young women lawyers. Bonnie served as a member of the TLABC executive and then the TLABC board from 2012 to 2017. She wants to be known for her compassion and strong advocacy for her clients and her passion for justice. Bonnie was plaintiff’s counsel on Schuetze v. Pyper, 2021 BCSC 2209, a civil case decided by Justice Fleming which dealt with the claim of the intentional tort of battery and resulted in an award to Ms. Schuetze of just under $800,000. (There is a separate family law trial underway; Ms. Schuetze has different counsel for that matter.) 

Cost:
TLABC Member: $99/Registrant
Non-Member: $199/Registrant
Bundle and SAVE - email TLABC or call 604-696-6521 to register for multiple sessions and save up to 40%!

Explore the full series here.

Disclaimer:
This presentation and any accompanying materials are intended for the sole use of the registrant. It is not permitted to reproduce and/or share in any format without the express written permission of Trial Lawyers Association of BC. By registering, you agree with the aforementioned terms and conditions.