Since Carolyn Bernardin began her career with LESA in 1990, there have been many changes in the organization. Carolyn has witnessed three changes in leadership and has seen many colleagues come and go. The one thing that has not changed over the years is LESA’s mission to provide high quality continuing legal education for Alberta’s lawyers, articling students, and their staff.
“LESA has both stayed the same and changed a great deal. We have always tried to give the profession the CLE that is timely and informative,” explains Carolyn. “We now do our planning much further ahead, so people know what programs will be held a year in advance. Plus we cover all six areas of substantive law and a number of skills seminars every year.”
After being hired for a year to assist with registration on a part-time basis, Carolyn became a full-time employee and held several positions in the organization – everything from reception and collections to registrations for CPLED (formerly BarAd) and Live Events.
“I’ve done publication orders and maintained subscriptions, gathered information to inform the Live Events team about hot topics for legal profession, and worked with educational resources to cross-market their products at seminars.”
Carolyn’s favourite role by far is her current one as an Information Specialist in which she is the go-to-person for all kinds of information – everything from CPLED registrations to seminar information and all the hard-to-answer questions.
After 23 years, it’s understandable that Carolyn would have a lot of LESA memories. The one that stands out in her mind, though, is when LESA completed the Rules of Court in 2010.
“It was a great sense of accomplishment to have a huge project like new rules – to work closely with other members of the staff and to do it well.”
Because of dedicated staff members like Carolyn Bernardin, LESA continues to set standards of excellence in the education of lawyers, articling students, and their staff.
Find out about more about LESA’s staff and mission as well as upcoming seminars at www.lesa.org.
