As my term on the CBA Alberta Branch Executive comes to an end, I am honoured to introduce you to the new CBA Alberta Branch President Jenny McMordie.
I have known Jenny for more than 15 years, and long before sitting on the CBA Executive together.
We have watched each other’s children grow up, have shared ups and downs in our practices, and have shared with each other some of our best and worst experiences over the last 15 years.
The real purpose of this article each year however is to introduce you to the person behind the face and title of CBA Alberta Branch President. This is difficult to do with somebody as multi-faceted as Ms. McMordie but I will make the attempt regardless.
Above all else, my experience is that Jenny’s family comes first. Whether this means frequent trips to hockey rinks for tournaments, games and practices, parties for the cast and teachers of various drama productions, supporting her husband’s successful music career by managing the home while he performs at “gigs” at all hours of the day and night, or so many other things that illustrate Jenny’s family focus.
Two great examples that I can think of immediately include the decision made by her family to move residences to a home that, while not as attractive as she and her husband wished, was located directly across the school for her children. Another example is the effort put in each year to construct a small ice rink in their back yard so that their son can practice his slap shot almost nightly.
In her professional life, Jenny again mixes her professional life with family. She practices civil litigation at Westend Legal Centre in a converted house on the outskirts of downtown Calgary. She and her mother own this firm together and have practiced together for many years. I worked with my father prior to my career as a lawyer and I can only imagine the unique complexities that come with the practice of law with your parent as a partner. I have no doubt that Jenny’s gentle caring demeanor is one critical component to the success of this arrangement. To simply state that Jenny has a gentle caring demeanor would be entirely misleading without more however. Jenny has drive and focus and once she determines (usually with great care) the proper path to accomplishing a goal, there is no hurdle that will stop her in her drive to succeed.
She has a unique ability to enlist others in her passionate drive towards goals and does so with a bright smile, such that people find it impossible to say no to her.
It would be fair to state that Jenny, as well as all of the members of the 2017/2018 Executive, are not only exceedingly smart, but they are wise. What I mean is that Jenny seems to understand that no matter how smart she is, it is important to seek the opinion of others, and listen to those opinions carefully and incorporate those opinions with your own before reaching any conclusion on any matter. Ego is “left at the door” and her actions always demonstrate that she believes the best solution is always a collaborative solution.
There are several things about Jenny that many people do not know, but that help give broader perspective to who she is and how well rounded her perspective on life is. Some of those things are as follows:
- She has a severe gluten intolerance and at times has been physically crippled by this affliction. As a result she is very careful about her diet.
- One of her family’s passions, is sailing. This is a very difficult passion to have while living in Calgary because the possibilities for sailing are extremely limited.
- Each summer without fail her family rents a sail boat and cruises off the coast of British Columbia. I know nothing about sailing, but understand that she and her husband’s qualifications and training are quite significant. I always shake my head when she describes living on a tiny vessel with the entire family in cramped space for several days at a time without mention of any catastrophic family conflict. Most of us could only wish.
- Jenny enjoys camping. Not the type of camping that involves a luxury motor home, or even the type of camping that involves driving into a camp site and pitching a tent. She enjoys strapping a back pack onto her back and hiking up a mountain with freeze dried food and only the bare necessities and hanging out in remote locations with only the birds and bugs as company.
- Jenny and her family are good friends with Raffi, the children’s singer and entertainer and you can often find him at their home having a sing along with their very musical family.
- Jenny has donated her time over the years to several other organizations including her local community board, “Cause Canada” an international relief and development agency working in West Africa and Central America, “Centre for Child Honouring”, and other causes.
- Jenny would never intentionally harm a fly. Literally. She is one of those people that would make every effort to catch any spider she locates within her home in a manner that would cause the least stress possible to the spider and then to release it outdoors to continue on with its life. This is not to say she is not tough. You should never try and stand in her way regarding her plan to save the spider. You will not succeed.
In closing I will simply state that I believe the CBA will be very well served by Jenny McMordie as CBA Alberta Branch President. There are many issues facing our profession at this time that will require the wisdom, compassion, and fortitude that Jenny brings to the table on behalf of CBA Alberta. I wish her and the rest of the 2017/2018 Executive all the best in their continuing efforts to serve the profession.