Faces of Service
1 December 2025
Institutions built on a foundation of tradition and legacy must by necessity undertake regular strategic planning. Something about the modern world — its speed, its volatility, the way it demands constant re‑evaluation — can make an institution turn inward. A strategic plan is supposed to be the answer, but too often it becomes a bureaucratic artifact.
As the Faculty of Law began its strategic planning, it was important to strike a balance between tradition and innovation. As we reflected on the kind of institution we are and want to be, we found ourselves returning to the concept of service. So instead of listing our goals, we thought we’d show you what they look like in action. Here are five members of our community whose work already embodies what our upcoming strategic plan is designed to achieve. Their stories are a reminder that an institution’s strength isn’t found in its mission statement, but in the daily choices of the people who call it home.
Illustrations by Kagan McLeod
Featuring:
In Service of Reconciliation
Bench-side Builder
With files from Isabela Varela
Justice Cheryl Arcand-Kootenay’s work is a blueprint for mentorship.
Among the achievements of Justice Cheryl Arcand-Kootenay, ’92 LLB, what she values most is lifting others up, especially Indigenous youth and law students. She has seen how important it is for young Indigenous people to see role models who share their background and struggles.
After receiving a bachelor of arts followed by a law degree, Arcand-Kootenay established her own law firm, specializing in child welfare and Indigenous justice. In 2018, she became the first Cree woman from Treaty 6 to be appointed to the provincial court, where she was a “tri-hat” judge presiding over criminal, family and civil matters. In 2021 she became the first treaty person from an Alberta First Nation to be appointed to the Court of King’s Bench.
Growing up in Edmonton instead of her home community of Kipohtakaw (Alexander) First Nation shaped her perspective and gave her a mix of experiences, building a better understanding of city life and Indigenous traditions. Her family moved to Edmonton when she was six so she and her four siblings could complete their education. “I’m the youngest, and we moved back to my home community right after I graduated high school,” she says. “It was so meaningful to return to my roots, and reconnect with my Indigenous identity.”
In conversation, she returns often to the value of remembering where she came from, and that it’s important to her to give back, to help future generations dream big and feel like they belong.
The Aboriginal Students’ Association at the U of A played a huge part for her in embracing who she is. Arcand-Kootenay’s story is a celebration of her journey, and her personal stories blend with bigger themes: cultural pride, strength and making a difference in the world.
Arcand-Kootenay’s love for mentoring comes from experience; she knows it matters to have someone to look up to who understands where you’re coming from. To help Indigenous youth and law students build confidence and find their place, she has been returning to the faculty since 2018 at least three times a year, meeting with students and offering them opportunities to shadow her in court. She recently arranged a tour for students of the Edmonton Remand Center and the Edmonton Institution and she’s planning more.
No matter what she’s achieved, Arcand-Kootenay stays humble. Whether she’s in court, teaching or in the community, she approaches her work with compassion and a dedication to reconciliation.
Arcand-Kootenay’s path is marked by a commitment to her roots. Despite obstacles she faced as an Indigenous woman juggling a post-secondary education, family and community, Arcand-Kootenay remains steadfast in her goals, drawing strength from her family and roots. She says the support she found at home and within the university community were instrumental in overcoming adversity. Her story is a testament to resilience, cultural pride and the enduring impact of mentorship.
“When I look back, it’s important that I’ve stayed true to myself and given back to the community,” she says. Arcand-Kootenay could inspire anyone navigating adversity. “I often reflect on how these dual urban and Indigenous influences in my upbringing helped me navigate my identity and informed my advocacy and mentorship,” she says. Her dedication to justice, education and cultural pride have left a mark on her community. “I hope my journey inspires others to honour their backgrounds, help others and strive for positive change.”
In Service of Research
Forward Focus
By Madisen Gee
Rebeca Macias Gimenez is thinking about the future.
Legal research often feels abstract, even to other legal practitioners, but that intangibility might be one of its more important characteristics. For Rebeca Macias Gimenez, an assistant professor in the Faculty of Law, legal research is about seeing how the law can make a difference in the community it’s looking to serve.
“As legal researchers,” Gimenez says, “we’re thinking of what is possible — ways for laws to change and evolve.”
Gimenez is working on several research projects. One is about Indigenous jurisdiction using the “ways of life” clause in treaties 6, 7 and 8. The clause says governments must uphold the ways of life of Indigenous Peoples when using land and resources, including consideration when issuing permits and approvals for projects.
Blueberry River First Nations in B.C. — the first and so far only group to take this approach — was successful in using the ways of life clause to defend their treaty rights. Gimenez and her team will use their research to make recommendations to the provincial government about recognizing Indigenous decision-making authority over traditional territories.
Gimenez received a 2024 Insight Grant for this project from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council with co-applicant Deborah Curran of the University of Victoria Environmental Law Centre.
The Insight Grant application was supported by the Faculty of Law and the College of Social Sciences and Humanities, which hosted a week-long workshop in which interdisciplinary applicants learned about the grant process and reviewed each other’s applications. Within the faculty, Gimenez received feedback from her peers, including Vice-Dean Joanna Harrington, who had experience with the program. Gimenez says the feedback was invaluable in the application process.
Gimenez is also working on community and land-based research, looking at the legal orders of Indigenous Peoples in northeast B.C., specifically the Dunne-Za and Cree. She spends summers interviewing and learning about their legal orders. This ethnographic research takes time and depends on the relationships she has built over the years. It will culminate in a community report published with Elder Dean Dokkie.
Her research has also taken her around the globe. She’s working with scholars from across Latin America and Canada, looking at the disproportionate negative effects of climate change on marginalized communities. Her research stretches to include “non-human beings” kin to communities, such as river systems.
Teaching is an important part of the research process for Gimenez. She has hired research assistants in the past, and this summer worked with two students, Saloni Sharma and Rae Wilson. Her hope is that she can help instil a sense of curiosity and imagination in the next generation of legal researchers.
“I think our role in researching and teaching is showing students ‘you’re part of this process of transformation and being imaginative,’ ” she says. “I want them to be innovative and I want their voices to come out in the project.”
In Service of the Community
Reciprocal Lawyer
By Madisen Gee
How giving back makes Norm Assiff a better advocate.
Norm Assiff, ’98 LLB, was in attendance for the call to bar of one of his many articling students when a judge said something that reminded him of who he wanted to be in the world. “She said, ‘Being a lawyer is more than a piece of paper. People listen to what you say. Make sure you give back to the community, but not just for them. It’s for your sake too.’”
The words weren’t directed to him, but they have stayed with Assiff, and philanthropy and the spirit of reciprocity have continued to guide him. Outside of the legal profession, Assiff works with several charitable organizations, including the Mustard Seed and Edmonton’s Foodbank. He cites his wife, Mahassen Kadri, who runs a not-for-profit organization, as a major inspiration for his philanthropy. “My work in the community has made me grow as a person and it’s made me grow as a lawyer,” says Assiff. “The benefit of working with charitable organizations is a two-way street and you get a lot more back when you give.”
Assiff never knows who will walk through his door needing help. Assiff Law focuses on personal injury litigation, representing those who have been injured in motor vehicle collisions. He has represented friends, former teachers, religious leaders and others. Being connected to the community through volunteer work helps Assiff better understand his clients and their needs.
“Ten minutes ago, my brother’s customer of 20 years came by to get something notarized,” says Assiff. “That’s what we do here. We are part of the community. We’re connected to the community.”
But there are a lot of misconceptions about the role of plaintiff counsel, says Assiff. It’s harmful to the profession when popular culture labels personal injury lawyers as “ambulance chasers.” Injuries such as whiplash and concussion have the potential to wreak decades-long harm on sufferers. Assiff often has clients tell him, “I used to think that these people were just making it up until it happened to me.”
His legal practice has made Assif a big believer in experiential learning, and he says that early exposure to clients helps students get a better sense of the challenges they face. It inspired him to become a donor to the Dean’s Law Fund, supporting experiential learning. (In recognition, the Faculty of Law unveiled the Assiff Law Room.)
Mostly, though, Assiff prides himself on his advocacy for victims. He serves on the board of the Alberta Civil Trial Lawyers Association, where he has been a member for almost three decades. He has won the President’s Award, which the association gives to a member of the Alberta Bar Association for contribution to the profession and community and stalwart dedication to civil justice in Alberta. “Without groups like the Alberta Civil Trial Lawyers Association, victims wouldn’t have a voice. There’s just one person against a government or against an institution or against a corporation.”
In Service of the Profession
Beyond Big Law
By Carmen Rojas
Chris Samuel steps up to lead and serve Alberta’s legal profession.
Chris Samuel didn’t set out to pursue an unconventional legal career.
Like many law students, Samuel didn’t have a clear idea of what he wanted to do upon graduation. In his 1L year at the University of New Brunswick, he followed the crowd and applied for jobs at “Big Law” firms. “We just didn’t hear much about alternative career paths at the time,” he says. Through his own research, he found a 1L summer position with the federal Department of Justice. It set him on a different trajectory.
He completed his articles with the department and began working as a Crown prosecutor with the Public Prosecution Service of Canada. After eight years in the role, he made what turned out to be his best mistakes: applying for an early promotion. Two to four years shy of the usual timeline for this type of advancement, his “very optimistic application” wasn’t successful.
“But that freed me up to take on my current role as legal writing and research director for the U of A Faculty of Law,” says Samuel, whose job includes overseeing the faculty’s highly successful competitive mooting program. “I think in law school there is a feeling that every application process is high stakes and make-or-break, but patience and an open mind will almost always result in unforeseen opportunities opening up.”
When it comes to serving his profession, Samuel can trace his ongoing involvement with the Canadian Bar Association back 20 years to his law school days. “As a student, I saw value in connecting with senior lawyers and members of the judiciary,” he says. “When I started practising in criminal law, the CBA was invaluable for connecting me with lawyers from different practice areas.”
Now, as the new president of the CBA Alberta branch, Samuel is the official spokesperson for the organization, which represents more than 5,500 lawyers, law students and judges. He also chairs both the executive committee and the board of directors, where high-level strategic decisions are made about the organization’s priorities and direction.
“The role of president is multi-faceted and engages different aspects of my skill set,” he says. “I switch between public speaking, chairing meetings and even occasionally getting to stretch my persuasive writing muscles! What I love most about the role is that every day brings a different challenge.”
Samuel also believes his involvement with the CBA has helped him become a better legal research and writing instructor. Exposure to a wide variety of legal problems and practice areas has broadened his ability to teach about various aspects of legal practice.
Between his roles with the Faculty of Law and the CBA, Samuel has found “tremendous satisfaction” in his career, maintaining a solid work-life balance along the way. In fact, if you were to catch him on a TED Talk stage 10 years from now, he might be reflecting on his unconventional path with a talk entitled: “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing: How I carved out a satisfying legal career while never missing an opportunity to chaperone my kids’ school field trips.”
In Service of Students
The Power of ‘Parking Nihilism’
By Madisen Gee
How looking beyond herself defined Neha Sree Tadepalli’s law school journey.
When you look at the accomplishments of Neha Sree Tadepalli, ’25 JD — just the ones during law school — it’s hard to believe she compiled such a list in only three years. During her time as a student, Tadepalli volunteered extensively, led fundraising efforts for humanitarian crises, served as chair of the Women’s Law Forum and was president and treasurer of Law Students for Human Rights, where she led more than 15 community-focused programs. After second year, she worked as a summer student with the government of British Columbia’s legal services branch. Tadepalli was also extensively involved with Student Legal Services and the Law Students’ Legal Advice Program.
Prior to pursuing law, Tadepalli received her master of arts in human rights studies from Columbia University. Her research focused on interviewing people who had been arrested in U.S.-based protests, and how those experiences had affected their lives. Her research opened her eyes to the barriers that existed in the justice system and informed her career choice.
There is a responsibility that comes with studying and practising law, Tadepalli says. “From the very beginning, as law students, we are primed to understand that we could do a lot more with our degrees than just learn the law and practise the law.” But doing more and making change can be arduous. One phrase that has kept Tadepalli motivated came to her from professor Tamara Pearl. “‘Park your nihilism,’ she would say,” Tadepalli recalls. In other words, when situations feel as if they’re too big, if enough people work together, they can always accomplish something.
That outlook has guided Tadepalli’s leadership, letting her create an atmosphere where students are able to advocate for the causes they believe in, and where they feel supported. “That’s how cultivation happens, when communities are inclusive and welcoming and ready to help you accomplish what you want,” she says. “If you don’t see the initiative that you’re looking for, you have the means and ability to create it.”
Tadepalli says that the faculty supports its student body. She recalls a time when a grant for a conference she was helping to organize on international humanitarian affairs and artificial intelligence fell through just days before the event. The team reached out to the dean’s office, and the school was able to help with funding. “It was so responsive. It felt really accessible.”
After crossing the stage this spring, Tadepalli decided to spend the summer taking a break before beginning articling in August. “I’m really good at taking on very complicated baking projects and halfway succeeding at them,” she says with a laugh.
The recipient of the Cecilia Johnstone Award for Community Service, Tadepalli also volunteered with an ad hoc organization helping elderly people who with government paperwork. “The word was put out about a need in the community and it was like a drop-in style grassroots event,” she explains. The experience was a rewarding one that has reinvigorated her love for helping people. “This is why I’m here. I want to help eradicate barriers before they become an issue.”