Grey Wowk Spencer roars into the 20’s with exciting expansions

The law firm of Grey Wowk Spencer LLP announced today that the firm has made some huge steps to expansion, including the acquisition of a Calgary based firm and plans for an office in Edmonton.

Managing partner, Leighton Grey, released the following via email: 

1 January marks the dawn of an auspicious year for our firm, for many salient reasons.

Firstly, we are excited to announce the acquisition of Calgary Legal Advocates.  In the process, we have expanded the firm into Alberta’s largest market and brought one of the Province’s most experienced and respected conveyancing lawyers into the practice.  Brad Sinclair has been serving clients in Calgary since 1993.  He has served as an instructor with the Province’s Bar Admission Program, and is often called upon by the Law Society of Alberta to provide expert opinions in real estate conveyancing matters.  Brad is charged with the task of managing the Calgary office, along with serving as our new Real Estate Department Head.

The long term plan for the Calgary operation is to broaden its scope into areas such as corporate law, immigration, employment law, criminal law, child welfare, and civil litigation. We have also discovered an associate lawyer with strong ties to Cold Lake, who will likely join the Calgary office sometime in 2020.

Secondly, we are pleased to recognize the addition of two talented young legal minds to our firm.  Tamer Obediat completed his articles of clerkship with us in June of 2019 and has since joined our firm as an associate lawyer. Tamer’s practice is focused in the areas of criminal law, family law, child welfare, and civil litigation. Tamer has also been tasked with heading up our Edmonton expansion project, which will see us open an office there in 2021.

Moe Tanish joined us in November and is completing his articles of clerkship under the mentorship of Lawren Wowk, who becomes our Family Law Department Head.  Lawren has been a Partner since 2009.  He specializes in family law but also handles many contentious child welfare cases throughout North Eastern Alberta.  Lawren has become widely recognized as a leader in family law litigation, including custody disputes, child support, spousal support, matrimonial property divisions, and mobility applications.  In 2018, Lawren even successfully argued a case invoking The Hague Convention, which deals with international child mobility rights.

Hart Spencer became a full partner in 2018 and continues to forge his reputation as one of the Province’s top criminal lawyers.  In addition to conducting family law and child welfare files, Hart handles all manner of criminal cases, including major crimes such as robbery, drug trafficking, sexual assault, and homicides.  Hart is entering his 10th year of active practice and becomes our Criminal Law Department Head.

Leighton Grey, Q.C. is our managing partner and Heads our Civil Litigation Department. Although he continues to practice criminal law, Leighton has recently begun to focus upon civil litigation and Indian Residential School Class Action Claims.  In October of 2019, Leighton received the prestigious Gary J. Bigg Justice & Humanitarian Award, in recognition of more than two decades of advocacy on behalf of Indigenous litigants.  Leighton also spearheads our new client development project and will serve as a liaison between the Cold Lake and Calgary offices.

2020 also marks the 15th anniversary of the foundation of our firm in 2005.  Our story began in a small rented office set up for two lawyers and as many staff.  Today, we have grown to 7 lawyers and 15 staff in two cities, and are the leading firm in all of North Eastern Alberta. The Cold Lake office alone takes up 7500 square feet of space and is growing, along with a geographical client base spanning from Slave Lake up North, to Lloydminster in the East, to Jasper in the West, all the way down to Calgary in South.  We even serve clients in Western Saskatchewan and the Okanagan region of British Columbia, which might very well become sites for future office expansion.

We are so very grateful to the many communities that we serve and to all of our many loyal clients for the sustained growth of our firm, much of which has occurred over the past two years—despite a period of serious economic recession in our corner of the Province.  Like all Albertans, we look forward to the promise of brighter days ahead, when our Province is restored to its rightful place as Canada’s primary economic engine.

Finally, we would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a healthy and prosperous New Year as we enter the roaring 20’s!