The government appointed three more provincial court judges and once again, a Chilliwack lawyer is among them.
Managing partner at Patten Thornton in Chilliwack, Kristen Mundstock was Judge Kristen Mundstock as of March 12.
Also appointed to the bench as of March 12 was Judge Jeremy Guild who works out of Burnaby and Vancouver, and as of March 27 Judge George Leven, a Prince George lawyer.
Mundstock will be assigned to the Fraser Region, and her appointment comes five months after another Chilliwack lawyer was named a judge.
Former Crown counsel Andrea Ormiston was among three judges named in October 2017 to serve in the Fraser Region to replace two transfers and one retirement.
• READ MORE: Chilliwack Crown counsel among three newly appointed judges
Mundstock received an LLB from Queen’s University in 1993 and joined the firm Patten, MacDonald and Crabtree as an articled student. In her work at Patten Thornton, she focused on many areas, including criminal law, estates, human rights law and more. Most recently, she has focused on family law and civil litigation.
She has held the positions of secretary and president with the Chilliwack & District Bar Association, and has worked and volunteered with numerous charities in her community.
While the three judges appointed in October were to specifically fill vacancies, the government of B.C. press release on the three most recent judges said the appointments were “to ensure the judiciary has the resources to continue to provide access to justice.”
Guild will be assigned to the Interior Region, and Leven to the Northern Region.
Quick Facts:
The process to appoint judges involves the following steps:
• Interested lawyers apply and the Judicial Council of B.C., a statutory body made up of the chief judge, an associate chief judge, other judges, lawyers and lay people, reviews the candidates.
• The council recommends potential judges to the Attorney General, with the final appointment made through a cabinet order-in-council.
• Although judges are located in a judicial region, many travel regularly throughout the province to meet changing demands.
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