(All Years) - Professional Development Session - Careers for the Public Benefit - Public Service and Advocacy Roles
Alumni Career Events General Guest Speakers
Why did you decide to become a lawyer? Come hear from lawyers in the public sector talk about the work that they do – work that is interesting, engaging, personally meaningful, and focused on helping others.
Do you know what the statistics for practising Public Interest Lawyers are in Saskatchewan?
As of Dec. 31, 2025, there were 2,231 active members of the Law Society of Saskatchewan. Of those, here is a breakdown of who worked directly in the public sector:
- 4.3% Legal Aid
- 8.0% Provincial Government
- 5.3% Provincial Prosecutions
- 2.2% Federal Government
- 1.9% Provincial Crown Corporation
- 0.7% Federal Prosecutions
22% work in the Public Sector. If you add in other categories like "unclassified/other, university, and courts - that number goes up to 29%. It just depends on how broadly you define the public sector. Regardless, the opposite stat tells us that 60% of the active members are in private practice (1339) and in-house corporate counsel positions 10% (215 members). We also have in addition to these previous categories Approved Pro Bono organizations 0.5% (12 members) and Contract (solo practitioner firms that work only on contract for another organization) 0.5% (11 members).
Please join us on Wed. March 4th and hear directly from those that have legal careers that benefit the Public – in either Public Service or Advocacy Roles.
- Tyla Olenchuk, Associate Regional Crown Prosecutor, Public Prosecutions, Ministry of Justice and Attorney General, Saskatoon
- Amanda Neudorf, Counsel, Department of Justice Canada, Saskatoon
- Kristie Anne Kirwan, Legal Counsel & Review Officer, Saskatchewan Real Estate Commission, Saskatoon
- Catriona Kaiser-Derrick, Lawyer, CLASSIC Inc., Saskatoon
- Cindy Yelland, City Solicitor, City of Saskatoon
- Joanne Khan, Lawyer, Practice Management Counsel, Legal Aid Saskatchewan, Saskatoon
- Alyson (Aly) Bear, Legal Counsel, Whitecap Dakota Nation
- Sharmi Jaggi, Deputy Director of Legal Affairs, Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission, Saskatoon
- Tamara Harasen, Instructor, Legal Paraprofessional Program, Saskatchewan Indian Institute of Technologies(SIIT)
- Ashley Smith, Saskatoon Police Service, Saskatoon
In the audience, and on hand for questions will also be:
- Amy Bjarnason, Articling Student (2025-2026), Legal Aid Saskatchewan
- Farrah Linklater, Lawyer, CLASSIC
- Madalyn Kaminsky, Human Resources Consultant, Corporate Services, Saskatoon Police Service
Law Students, please sign up for this event in CareerLink, College of Law, Law Events and PD Sessions, so that we can gage both food and space.
This session is brought to you in partnership with the Indigenous Law Centre and Career Development. Soup and Bannock will be served.