Capacity bolstered in Edmonton, Calgary Criminal Division/Calgary Region, and the Northern Region
The Alberta government has announced the appointment of new applications judge Marie Strauss to the Court of King’s Bench of Alberta, as well as the appointments of Jean-Pascal Siewe, Christian Banks, and Timothy Burnham to the Alberta Court of Justice as justices.
Strauss commences in her new role on October 13, operating from Edmonton. Siewe has been assigned to the Calgary Criminal/Calgary Region and begins sitting on September 29.
Banks and Burnham have been assigned to the Northern Region. Banks steps into his new role on October 26 while Burnham begins sitting on December 1.
Marie Strauss
Strauss is assistant deputy minister of Alberta Justice’s Legal Services Division. She has supervised the provision of civil law legal and strategic advice to the government since January 2025.
She was the division’s executive director over 2018-2025; previously, she was the Court of Queen’s Bench Administration’s executive director from 2016 to 2018. Moreover, she once served as legal services division director at Alberta Justice.
Strauss was the University of Alberta’s senior legal counsel over 2011-2014. Prior to this, she was a commercial litigator with Bishop and McKenzie LLP (2002-2011).
“The Court of King’s Bench is pleased to welcome Marie Strauss to the Court. Ms. Strauss has demonstrated her dedication to public service, having served in several roles in the Ministry of Justice over the years. Her deep experience as a practitioner and legal advisor will equip her well in her new role with the Court,” said Kent H. Davidson, chief justice of the Court of King’s Bench of Alberta, in a statement.
Jean-Pascal Siewe
Siewe began working with the Court of King’s Bench of Alberta as a bilingual resolution counsel in 2021. He has heard family law matters in a mediated setting and prepared orders and rulings in English and French.
Prior to this, he ran a practice concentrating on family, immigration, real estate, criminal, and civil law. He studied at the College of Law and BPP Law School in London.
In 2011, Siewe obtained his National Committee on Accreditation certification from the Federation of the Law Societies of Canada.
Christian Banks
Banks is a managing lawyer at Grande Prairie-based Banks Gubbins Tomlinson Law Offices. He has spent over 28 years as a criminal trial lawyer.
He took a seat on the Legal Aid Alberta Appeals Committee in 2020 and has remained there since. He joined the Law Society of Alberta Mentor Program in 2015.
Banks got his bachelor of laws with honours from the University of Ottawa.
Timothy Burnham
Burnham is a partner at Burnham Law Group, where he’s been since 2006. He has worked in family law, mediation, civil litigation, corporate law, real estate, and estate planning.
He was an Alberta Justice Resolution Services mediator over 2008-2017. He received his bachelor of laws from the University of Alberta.
“Marie Strauss, KC, Jean-Pascal Siewe, Christian Banks and Timothy Burnham each bring extensive legal experience, sound judgment and a strong commitment to public service. Their diverse backgrounds and expertise will serve Albertans well in these important roles. I congratulate each of them and wish them every success,” said Mickey Amery, Alberta’s justice minister and attorney general.
