Shauna Taylor
Shauna Taylor has been a legal assistant since 2009. Prior to working in law she worked in another industry for 15 years and decided she needed a change. She went back to school in 2008 and was hired by the law firm Peterson Shields. She has worked for a few different firms prior to landing at West legal in 2019. She has experience with Corporate Law, Wills & Estates, and Real Estate. She is part of West Legal’s super duper Real Estate team and loves helping people purchase and sell their homes. It is always something new and challenging. Shauna lives with her Fiancée (Trevor) and their dog Daisy. She is from Taber, Alberta and completed her post-secondary education at Dalhousie University in Halifax where she earned a bachelor’s degree in political science. She has lived in Calgary since 1996 and loves it here – the City is amazing and there is always so much to do.
Shauna loves to read and has actually “killed” 4 kindles before she got the app for her iPad. She enjoys photography and hanging out with her friends and family. Shauna enjoys trying new restaurants and listening to music from the 70s, 80s, and 90s. She is not a big sports fan but her fiancée is the biggest Chicago Bears fan so she feels compelled to cheer for the New Orleans Saints!
Stacey Thomas
Stacey Thomas started her career in law in September 1989 as a typist. She learned about many areas of law but found real estate the most rewarding. By 1991 she was working exclusively in the area of real estate and hasn’t looked back. Throughout her career, Stacey has practiced in areas of new home construction, as well as hotel and condominium development. She has seen market fluctuations come and go. She is also fortunate to work in an industry that allows her to learn something new every day.
Wendy Cunningham
Wendy took her legal assistant training at Red Deer College and started working in Calgary in 1986 at a law firm downtown. She started as a receptionist but quickly worked her way up the ladder to real estate assistant. She’s worked in a few firms over the years, dealing with builder/developer, commercial and residential real estate.
In her spare time, she likes to garden, create garden art, travel and walk her cat in the neighbourhood (much to the surprise of many passersby).
In early 2022 she was happy to bring her years of experience to the real estate team at West Legal.
James Derowin
James has worked in the Legal Profession since 2014, primarily in the areas of Corporate Law and Wills and Estates. Since joining West Legal in 2020 he has also expanded into Real Estate/ Private Lending. For fun outside of the office, he enjoys spending time with family and friends, reading a great book, and enjoying great music.
James enjoys many types of sports but mostly football (both NFL (Go Seahawks) and CFL (Go Stamps)), along with Hockey (both NHL (Go Flames) and WHL (Go Hitmen)).
James has been on various Boards of Directors over the years and enjoys volunteering with organizations that he has an interest in, both political and non-political.
Alyssa Perron
Alyssa has been with the West Legal team since 2018 and currently works as a legal assistant, and office administrator. Alyssa holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Calgary, and a Master of Science from Trinity Laban Conservatoire in London, UK. Outside of the office, she owns and operates a local dance studio with her partners, and works as a dance educator and choreographer. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time in nature with her boyfriend, and their dog, Sage.
Jodi DeFraine
Jodi started her journey as a family law legal assistant around 7 years ago, moving her way up from a receptionist position at a small start-up firm. All of her experience has been gained hands-on in the office, which has allowed her to gain a very diverse and well-rounded understanding of the law and procedures related to divorces, property division, child custody and parenting issues, child support and spousal support matters. It’s not always easy and happy in family law but she feels so lucky every day knowing that she is helping and supporting clients in any way she can as they are going through, oftentimes, the hardest situations they will ever go through in their lifetime.
As a born and raised Calgarian, when Jodi is not in the office you can usually find her exploring, camping, and hiking in Calgary’s backyard, also known as the Canadian Rocky Mountains, hanging out in the city checking out our awesome Calgary music and art scene, or going for a walk on the Bow River Pathway to watch the birds.
Kelsey Tohill
Kelsey is a professional and organized receptionist having graduated from Bow Valley College in 2014. Since that time, Kelsey has acquired 6+ years of experience in a variety of law fields before joining the West Legal team in 2021. When she is not working, she is running after her son and fosters rescue dogs in her home. In her limited free time, she can be found in her craft room surrounded by paper.
Rossana Morigeau
Rossana is a Wills & Estates paralegal with corporate experience. After graduating from SAIT in 2002, she began working at Gowlings as a Legal Assistant in Commercial Corporate and Oil & Gas. In 2006, after beginning a family and moving to Okotoks, she worked in Wills & Estates and maintaining private corporation Minute Books. Now at West Legal, her work is focused on estate administration.Outside of the office, Rossana enjoys gardening and hiking with her four children & husband.