Joanne Crook has been with Walsh LLP since 1992. With a rural work ethic deeply engrained, Joanne tried her hand at a few different careers after high school before deciding to go to University and pursue the law. With a clear goal to practice in the area of First Nations law, Joanne started her undergraduate degree in Native American studies at the University of Lethbridge and was then accepted into law school in Calgary.

Joanne came from a farming background, riding horses since before she could walk and has had a horse addiction since that time. She loves the mountains and the small community of Pincher Creek where she grew up but found that Calgary held the most opportunities to practice in her chosen area of law. She figured out a way to be able to continue with her lifelong passion of owning and riding horses when she purchased an acreage in Priddis with her husband. She commutes to downtown Calgary or even better, to southern Alberta to work in one of the Firm’s satellite office.

Walsh LLP became the Firm of choice for Joanne when she finished her articling in 1992 as it did a substantial amount of work with First Nations communities in southern Alberta. One of the former Partners of the Firm said that rather than Joanne interviewing at the Firm, she interviewed the Firm and was successful in convincing the Firm to hire her. She has spent her entire career with Walsh. Joanne considers herself very fortunate to have practiced almost exclusively with First Nations clients and has helped grow the Firm’s First Nations law group. She believes strongly that in order to practice in this area, it is not enough to just know the law but that it is imperative to understand it from the client’s perspective and to be just a technical advisor in helping to reach the goals that the client has set.