People's champions

Meet the lawyers, notaries, employees, board members, and others who have helped to make People’s Law School the best starting point for free legal information in British Columbia.

"People’s Law was one of the first organizations to make legal information available in different languages in its publications. By doing so, it helped countless new immigrants to navigate through residential tenancy disputes, employment standards enforcement, resolve complaints with credit card issuers, and deal with wills and estate planning issues in a way that they could easily understand and process in their own language and at their own pace."

– Anna Fung, KC, Former board chair @ People's Law

"You do a wonderful job of providing folks with legal information to help them understand and cope. This can be how to avoid legal problems, and what to do and where to go once they are facing one. Volunteering for People’s Law — reviewing the pages on wills and estates — has been especially rewarding. Getting tricky content down to plain language that folks can understand was a joy. It’s a pleasure to work with such intelligent and committed people."

– Kevin Smith, Retired lawyer and longtime contributor

Cari Borenko

Since 2006, Cari has been the regional lead of the Advance Care Planning (ACP) program at Fraser Health Authority in British Columbia. She is the author of chapters in multiple works on advance care planning, is a Clinical Instructor at UBC Department of Medicine, and is an appointed member of ACP-international and National ACP Task Group. Her unwavering upstream ACP vision has helped support and influence the implementation of ACP programs provincially, nationally and internationally. Cari is proud to be leading a trail-blazing ACP team with a focus on systems-level implementation.

David Watts

David Watts is a notary public in Vancouver. In his notary practice, he helps clients prepare wills and personal planning documents, buy and sell real estate, and notarize documents. He has been a director of the Society of Notaries Public of BC since 2011. He is a past director of People’s Law School and continues to be a speaker on wills and other topics.

Drew Jackson

Drew is a lawyer and librarian. He has worked for 20+ years in providing education and information on the law. As digital & content lead with People's Law School, he spearheads the development of information for the public on everyday legal problems. He is keenly interested in making legal information easier to understand, and in applying technology to help people learn. Contact Drew by email.

Patricia Byrne

Patricia is a lawyer with 25+ years of experience in senior roles in public and professional legal education in Toronto and Vancouver. Prior to these roles, Patricia was a practicing business lawyer. As executive director of People’s Law School, Patricia's priority is to use her legal and business management skills to guide the society toward fulfilling its mission and long-term strategic goals.

Hassan El Masri

Hassan El Masri is a notary public practicing in Vancouver with W. Masri Notary Corporation, with a focus on real estate transactions, mortgages, and estate planning. He holds a Masters of Arts in Applied Legal Studies (MAALS) from Simon Fraser University. Hassan has been a board member of People’s Law School since 2013, and is currently board chair.

Sara Forte

Sara Forte is an employment lawyer and founder of Forte Law – Employment Law Solutions. Her practice is focused on solving work-related legal problems, from hiring to firing and everything in between. She grew up in Langley, BC. After attending law school in Ontario, then working and living outside Surrey for a few years, her valley girl roots brought her back home to South Surrey to raise her family and run her law practice.

Mark Kalinowski

Mark is a financial educator with the Credit Counselling Society with previous experience helping individuals solve their money problems as an accredited credit counsellor. Mark has also worked with banks and has completed various financial courses including the Life Licensing Exam, Insolvency Counsellor Qualifying Course, Canadian Securities, and Investment Funds in Canada Course.

Aaron Guillen

Aaron Guillen is the Media and Communications Specialist with the Better Business Bureau. On behalf of BBB, he presents to different community groups, including high school students, college classes, Rotary groups, RCMP & police, and senior groups using data collected from BBB branches across North America.

Catalina Rodriguez

Catalina has been practicing employment and labour law in BC since 2006. She has worked in private practice with a large national firm representing companies, and with a small firm representing mostly employees. Prior to joining Forte Law, where she is currently an employment lawyer and workplace investigator, Catalina was head of employee relations for the Canada operations of a global bank. All of these experiences have given Catalina a broad range of perspectives on workplace issues. She also currently facilitates seminars on workplace harassment through StandUp teams. Catalina brings a coaching, trauma-informed, and mindful lens to the practice of law.