Meet the Students
Our 2024/25 Articling Students Are
Edmonton Articling Students
Calgary Articling Students
Predrag (Peter) Tomic
Peter's story is one of western migration and self-discovery with style.
Peter knew that he wanted to be part of a well-established, successful and people-oriented law firm. What he could not have foretold was that he would find Field Law, migrate across the country and become a successful wills and estates litigator!
His story starts out in Eastern Canada - McMaster University actually, where Peter studied Communications and Psychology to complete his BA with Honours in 2006. Moving in a slightly north-westerly direction, he attended University of Ottawa and completed his law degree. Faced with the situation in Ontario where there were too many articling students for the number of available articling positions, a family member suggested that he might want to consider going much further west.
Hunting around for a suitable western firm, he sent out a number of applications for articling positions. Field Law, for that particular year had already extended offers to their slate of articling students. As fate would have it though, a position opened up and Predrag was a top candidate. Being so far away, the firm elected to interview him by telephone and he impressed the hiring committee so much they extended an offer that he quickly accepted.
Most people coming out of law school have no idea what area of law they want to pursue a practice in. Field Law offers rotations through most of their major practices and matches each student up with a mentor. Peter's initial thinking was that business law might be his area, or immigration, or litigation. - or something else. He completed his articles and got called to the bar and shortly after Field Law offered him permanent employment and an associate lawyer position then a partner position.
As partner with Field Law, Peter is familiar with hard work. What made Peter stand apart was his early recognition that the business of providing legal services was changing rapidly and that it is extremely important to develop internal and external relationships, develop business and use multiple digital communication platforms. Peter was part of the Business Law Group in Calgary and spent many hours reading the CMO's business development and marketing books, and becoming best friends with LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and his own website biography.
But Peter was still unhappy and took a moment of personal introspection to consider whether the practice he was pursuing would engage him productively through time so that he could give his best work to his clients. He realized that he wasn't doing what he really loved and took steps to transition his practice to one he now owns: wills and estates with a focus on complex estate and trust litigation, estate planning and probate matters.
Peter's collaborative nature, curiosity and openness to experimentation in business development and fashion make him a force. He has added Instagram to his communications arsenal and now blogs. Clients appreciate his role as a compassionate, trusted advisor while they are facing difficult and highly-emotional circumstances and when clients need advice or services outside his skill set, Peter connects them with other professionals within his extensive network.
Finding your path to success is not always a direct one and with your work ethic and support from Field Law, you will have a mutually rewarding career.
Danielle Bourgeois
Danielle Bourgeois’ story is anything but one-dimensional. As a Partner with Field Law, she is familiar with hard work and dedication in her professional endeavours. However, Danielle’s commitment extends far beyond the courtroom.
As a student at the University of Alberta career day in 2009, Danielle was instantly drawn to the Field Law booth. She was struck by how friendly and encouraging the Field Law representatives were. She felt an instant connection and comfort, and knew that Field was a place where she could make a life—not just a living.
After receiving an offer from Field Law for an articling student position, Danielle accepted. After being called to the Bar, she felt it was very important to avoid specializing in a certain area of law too soon—she needed to have the ability to experience both litigation and corporate/commercial work to determine which path her law career should take. Field Law gave her the opportunity to experience many different areas of the law and determine exactly where she wanted to go. To date, Danielle has been able to work closely with nearly every partner at her office.
In conjunction with building her law career, Danielle has also been writing a story of success in the sports world. As part of the University of Alberta Pandas hockey team, she had four national championships under her belt by the time she’d graduated.
Thanks to the flexibility afforded to her by Field Law, Danielle has been able to further pursue her passion in this arena as a coach for the Pandas for four years. She presently coaches with MacEwan University Griffins. In her spare time, Danielle also plays hockey, runs marathons and is training for IRONMAN Canada.
Since day one, Danielle has appreciated the opportunities that came with working at Field Law—not only to build her career, but also to maintain and expand the other community and leadership roles that she values.
Though there’s always work to be done, Field Law has shown Danielle that working as many hours as possible isn’t what matters; your true success is measured by your real contributions to the Firm and the community. Her story continues to develop—and every chapter is more exciting than the last.
Danielle is a Partner with Field Law, maintaining a practice in both general litigation and insurance.
