Patricia M. Hebert, Q.C.

First Year of Call
1995

Areas of Practice
Family Law

Description
Patricia Hébert is a family lawyer in private practice in Edmonton. Since her admission to the Alberta bar in 1995, she has practiced solely family law with a focus on children. After working with Alberta Justice and the Family Law Office of Legal Aid, she is now in practice with the firm Gordon Zwaenepoel.
In her practice, Ms. Hébert has represented children extensively in high conflict custody cases, abductions and child protection matters. She assists parents in mediation settings, Collaborative Family Law and in litigation.
She has published and presented locally and nationally on issues relating to parenting disputes, alienation, and children’s participation in family cases. Ms. Hébert has been a sessional instructor at the University of Alberta, Faculty of Law since 2007.
She is a long term board member and past Chair of the board of directors of the Kids Kottage Foundation, which provides emergency respite care to children while providing outreach to their families to address the challenges they face. She pioneered a program to provide respite care for children affected by FASD in partnership in the community. In her term as chair, she has worked to provide for the financial stability of the Kottage while protecting its core program and outreach services.
Ms. Hébert was a steering committee member for the founding of the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts Alberta Chapter, in support of developing evidence-based interdisciplinary best practices for professionals in family disputes. She is very active with the Canadian Bar Association, as a past chair of the Family Section of the Alberta Branch, past Chair of the Family Law Section, past Chair of the National Legal Aid Liaison Committee, and a member of the National Access to Justice Committee which published the Reaching Equal Justice Report.
She is the CBA’s representative to the Supreme Court’s Action Committee on Civil and Family Justice. She currently focusses her practice on mediation and collaborative family law, and representation of children in high conflict cases.