Catherine Christensen (Lawyer, Call Sign: Empress)
Catherine Christensen is the owner and founder of Valour Law. When she studied military law in law school, the Lt Colonel who taught the course encouraged her to work with military members and veterans since she “got it” even as a civilian.
She brings a wealth of life experience to her law practice that gives her an insight into the realties and solutions twisted up in any legal issue. Catherine’s biggest joy from being a lawyer is getting closure for her clients so they can move on with their life. She gives clients the options to get to their “clean break” and she makes a complicated situation less complicated for everyone involved.
Her clients appreciate her open mind, quick wit and no-nonsense, non-judgmental approach. Catherine is known as a strong advocate for her clients in Court and up the Chain of Command when it is needed to defend a soldier. Her military clients love that she understands their lingo—from the recce to the intel to knowing that situational awareness is messed up without situational understanding when planning the best tactics to use in the situation.
Catherine has represented members of all the branches of the Canadian military. She has dealt with the issues of the troops in the ranks and people in the officer corp. She is vocal advocate who can be found on several podcasts and attending in-person events as a speaker.
She has gone as high as the Court of Appeal to fight for a soldier dad. She also deals with VAC to assist veterans with their disability claims. One client thought he had a knee claim and after a review—he actually had 8 claims related to his service. Catherine passionately goes for what a military member wants should they be badly hurt or killed — documents properly done are essential in a military career and the one page garbage handed out in deployment briefings doesn’t cut it..
Catherine is an active supporter of the military community. Valour Law often donates items for fundraising auctions as well as the whole team attending charity events to support such causes as the PPCLI Foundation, Heroes Hockey Challenge and the Yellow Ribbon Gala. She has been a House Ambassador for Valour Place, a “home away from home” for military families needing medical care.
When not practicing law, Catherine likes to travel and read trashy novels. She also likes to follow the latest archaeology news from around the world. She lives in the Lac Ste Anne County with her grown up son and her Bernese Mountain Dog, Miles (yeah, he hangs out at the office a lot of days to share his sweet personality with our clients).
Nette–Senior Paralegal
Nette came to St. Albert in July 2015. Worked her way from service crew to managerial position at McDonald’s in about a year. Won awards too. Which doesn’t surprise us as she is great at managing the lawyers (okay, so we can cause chaos with our demands) in our office.
Nette completed the Legal Assistant Program in 2018 to make a better life for her and her kids. She started with us as a student and then held the fort upon graduation as lockdown hit and the lawyers worked from home.
When we let her get away from the office, she has 3 wonderful kids and loves hanging out with them. She loves being in the kitchen cooking for them. Nette can also be found volunteering at local city events as well as running marathons.
Maggie–Paralegal
Maggie is the daughter of a Patricia and keeps everyone in line–like a good RSM will do. She is very talented with the latests procedural challenges thrown at the team by the ABKB.
Maggie is engaged and we are looking forward to her future adventures.