Experience

Athena advises owner-managed businesses, entrepreneurs, and agricultural clients on tax matters, corporate structuring, and business succession. Her practice focuses on helping clients navigate complex decisions involving the operation, commercialization, and transition of their businesses and assets.

Athena’s work centers on structuring and implementing tax-efficient solutions across the full lifecycle of a business. This includes tax planning for business acquisitions and dispositions, corporate reorganizations, and comprehensive estate and succession planning. She also advises on the design and implementation of corporate governance and ownership structures to ensure alignment between tax planning, legal obligations, and the practical realities of operating a business.

Athena has experience advising agricultural clients, family-run businesses, and other owner-operated enterprises across Alberta’s agricultural and industrial sectors. She brings a grounded understanding of the operational and financial realities these businesses face, bridging the gap between technical legal concepts and how decisions play out on the ground. This perspective is particularly valuable in industries where practical constraints, seasonal cycles, and day-to-day operations drive outcomes as much as the legal structure itself.

Athena is known for her direct and down-to-earth style. She values strong working relationships built on trust, clear communication, and collaboration across advisors and teams.

Outside of her practice, Athena enjoys fitness, travel, and working on her acreage.

Professional Activities

  • Member, Law Society of Alberta
  • Member, Canadian Tax Foundation
  • Former Chair, Canadian Bar Association (Alberta), Taxation Law (North)

Community

  • Volunteer, Big Brothers Big Sisters
  • Former Director, Leduc Curling Club Board of Directors
  • Former Volunteer, Pro Bono Students Canada (Tax Advocacy Project)
  • Volunteer, various other charities and organizations

Publications & Presentations

  • Presenter and Author, “Advising on Section 85 Rollovers: A Practical Approach for Lawyers”, Legal Education Society of Alberta, August 12, 2025
  • Co-Presenter, “2023 Economic & Fiscal Update”, Canadian Bar Association – Taxation Law (North), January 24, 2024
  • Co-Author, “The New Mandatory Disclosure Regime – Some Constitutional Considerations”, Federated Press Tax Litigation Journal, Vol XXVI, No. 3, November 2023
  • Co-Presenter, “Things That Go Bump in the Night and Taxes – Two Things That Keep You Awake at Night!”, STEP Canada (Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners) – Edmonton Branch, October 27, 2022
  • Co-Presenter, “Tax Tips and Traps for Wealth and Succession Planning”, Canadian Bar Association – Taxation Law (North), October 26, 2022