Jamie E. Pytel

First Year of Call

Areas of Practice
General Practice

Description
In 2017, Jamie co-founded Kingsgate Legal to pursue her keen interest in workplace culture, ethics and governance. She has a busy practice conducting high-level independent workplace investigations for private, public, provincial and federally regulated organizations into all types of issues (i.e. conflict of interest; harassment; violence; discrimination; breach of employment obligations; breach of regulatory requirements; professional standards breaches; etc.) She has nearly 30 years experience as a lawyer, including in private practice as a litigation lawyer and 10 years in the corporate setting (with her most recent role as General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of a major utility).

Jamie’s experience has proven invaluable to clients who find themselves either with a serious issue to investigate, or have a desire to refine their ethics policies, programs and procedures. Jamie and her team conduct wide-ranging, comprehensive workplace culture assessments for a variety of organizations. She also represents senior leaders and executives being investigated for alleged wrongdoing. She is committed to ensuring that anyone involved in an investigation is treated fairly, with respect and dignity.

In September 2018, Jamie was appointed The City of Edmonton’s first Integrity Commissioner. She is responsible for investigating Council Code of Conduct complaints made against Council Members, and for developing the Code and framework around the Code. Jamie conducts investigations for municipalities that do not have an Integrity Commissioner and gives advice on issues involving Codes of Conduct for elected officials. She is a member of a national organization of Integrity Commissioners, as well as the Integrity Network of Edmonton, and the International Association of Workplace Investigators.

Community Involvement Jamie is committed to giving back to the community. She is currently on the Board of Trustees of the Alberta Cancer Foundation and the United Way. She also sits as Chair and Ethicist of the Out of Country Health Services Appeal Panel for Alberta Health. She has sat on the National Board of the Canadian Hemophilia Society and held the President position of the Alberta Chapter. She was also a member of the Board of WinHouse and sat as President of that Board, along with numerous other volunteer endeavours.