A Drumheller area woman is making her dreams of becoming a lawyer a reality.
Emily Bertsch, daughter of Brent and Jennifer Bertsch, spent the summer as a summer student at Valley Law Chambers, working with local lawyer Andre Wilkins, and is heading back overseas to study.
Bertsch graduated from DVSS and completed her degree in International Relations at the University of Calgary. She was studying at the height of COVID and was not able to fulfill her plan of studying overseas. Upon completion, she successfully applied to study law at the University of Leeds.
“So I thought I might as well do it for Law School considering that the legal systems are very similar, so it is easy to come back to Canada when I am done,” she tells the Mail.
Over the summer, she jumped at the chance to come home and landed at Valley Law Chambers.
“Andre was great to work with. I got to sit in on everything, and he is setting me up with another lawyer to do duty council this week. I actually get to go to the courthouse and learn a little more about that, as well,” said Bertsch.
Wilkins said Bertsch approached him for the position for the summer, and she has excelled.
“I have nothing but excellent praises for her commitment and enthusiasm,” he said.
Bertsch has been planning to study law since the beginning of high school.
She will soon be heading back to the University of Leeds to complete the second year of her program. In order to practice in Canada, she will either have to complete her master's or she can do a challenge exam.
This will allow her to article. She would like to come home to practice.
“At first, I was interested in criminal law. I was really interested in the injustices of the system…do what I can to make the system better,” she explains “When I actually began to study, it developed into taking far more interest in contract and the civil side of litigation. I also enjoy solicitor work,” she said.
