We at LESA are so happy to welcome Professor Tamara Buckwold as our new Board Chair. Tamara has been a valued member of our Board of Directors since moving to Alberta in 2005, and in the capacity as chair, she will continue her role on the LESA Executive Committee and will provide leadership and direction to the Executive Director and the organization as a whole.
Tamara was born and raised in small-town Saskatchewan, and, like many small town kids, decided to move to the city to pursue further education. She started by taking general arts classes at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, and the dream of becoming a lawyer started to take shape around this time. “Like many kids, I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to do when I started university,” she says with a laugh. “But I did have this idea that studying law would lead to a career full of interesting opportunities, both personally, and on a bigger scale. I liked the idea of working to effect change, and I wanted to make a difference in people’s lives.”
And so, Tamara applied to the University of Saskatchewan, College of Law, and was accepted. Upon graduation, she worked in private practice, particularly in family law, where she did feel that she was making a meaningful difference in the lives of her clients.
Family circumstances, though, made practicing law with two small children a definite challenge. “This was in the early 80s,” she says, “and it was pretty hard to find any kind of work/life balance.”
So Tamara found herself accepting a role as a sessional instructor at the University of Saskatchewan. This job brought the satisfaction and intellectual challenge she was looking for, and more regular hours meant greater peace for her family. She pursued graduate studies at the U of S, and found that the academic world was just as interesting and meaningful as her own law practice. After graduating with her LL.M., Tamara joined the faculty at the University of Saskatchewan, College of Law, with her major academic interests being in commercial law in the area of creditor’s rights.
In 2005, Tamara moved to Edmonton and joined the Faculty of Law at the University of Alberta. It was around the same time that she jumped at the opportunity to be on the Board of Directors for LESA. “I had been on the Board of LESA’s counterpart in Saskatchewan for several years, and I loved my time there,” she says, “so I was happy to continue my work in continuing legal education with LESA.”
“I’ve always been interested in CLE,” she says, “and it’s closely related to the nature of my academic work. Not only that, it gives me better insight into the connection between what we do in the law school and what our students will do in their future careers. The presence of faculty members from both the U of A and the U of C on LESA’s board creates a valuable bridge between law school and the profession. It helps keep our work relevant, in both directions.”
As for her thoughts on becoming LESA’s new Board chair, she’s most honored to be working with LESA in this capacity. “I truly believe in the value of CLE, across the whole spectrum of a person’s career,” she says. “I believe lawyer competence in so very important, as is life-long learning. And getting involved with CLE organizations is a great way to establish and maintain connections with colleagues and friends in the legal community. I am truly honored to be working with an organization as strong as LESA, and I’m proud of its reputation. I look forward to serving in this way.”
