About our mediators

Rebecca Stanley

Rebecca’s calm, strength and wisdom provide her clients with a solid anchor in the sometimes stormy seas of separation and divorce. Her focus is on empowering people as they navigate the unique stresses (and opportunities) that accompany these significant life transitions. Rebecca feels fortunate to be part of the Connect team, a collective of legal professionals and staff who understand that it is a privilege to support families through times of challenge and transformation.

Rebecca brings a rich background to her family law and mediation practice, having previously worked with families as a UBC chaplain and pastor. As well, her undergraduate and graduate studies included courses in marriage and family counselling, which taught her to attune to the emotional aspects of separation and divorce as well as the legal ones. While not a therapist, Rebecca works with families holistically, listening to their stories and connecting them with professional and community resources when needed.

During her legal training, Rebecca completed various court-intensive work experiences, serving as a Judicial Extern to Vancouver’s Provincial Court judiciary while in law school and as a BC Supreme Court law clerk following graduation. Her law clerk role in particular, where she assisted six judges and oversaw family law projects for the whole court, provided her with invaluable insight into the court process and the rare opportunity to learn at the feet of judges. This experience together with her training in collaborative law and mediation enable Rebecca to provide her clients with the full array of dispute resolution options to resolve their family law issues.

As a practitioner, her sole focus has been family law. Before joining Connect, Rebecca articled at Alexander Holburn LLP in Vancouver, then relocated with her family to Abbotsford where she ran a busy family law practice at RDM Lawyers. She has been working with Connect Family Law since August 2017 primarily from our Vancouver office, then our Surrey office and now expanding her mediation and legal services into the Abbotsford and Chilliwack communities.

In her work as a Certified Family Mediator, Rebecca enjoys creating a safe and private environment for separating couples to problem-solve together. She believes strongly that, even in the face of the deep challenges of separation and divorce, people can still “be their best selves” and forge a way forward. Rebecca comes to this work with previous experience mediating in the small claims arena and extensive training in family mediation, which included learning how to work with high conflict individuals, assess for family violence, and include the voice of children in the process.

Rebecca is an active member and leader in the following professional groups: the Collaborative Roster Society, Collaborative Divorce Vancouver (CDV), Collaborative Association of the Lower Mainland (CALM), Collaborative Professionals of Canada (CPC), the International Academy of Collaborative Professionals (IACP) and the BC Hear the Child Society Roster.

Rebecca is a fourth generation Vancouverite and loved bringing up her kids in the city. She and her husband recently moved out to the Cultus Lake area to enjoy the beauty of BC, hiking with their dogs and creating a peaceful setting in the midst of challenging careers. Rebecca loves cheering on her three young adult children as they forge their own paths. She serves as a board member of non-profit organization that is working to build a new student residence, Menno Hall, on the UBC campus.

In her own words: Rebecca likes to help families find peace as they move through the difficult process of divorce and separation.

Geeta Gill

One of Geeta’s strengths is her ability to connect with people and convey her genuine compassion for each client and their families. This comes from her personal and professional experience, bolstered by her degrees in law and psychology from the University of British Columbia.

Geeta was drawn to family law because of its interaction among people, family and relationships. With more than 15 years of legal experience, Geeta has dealt with all aspects of family law, exclusively focusing on family law for more than a decade.

Each client has unique circumstances and Geeta provides practical solutions to meet their individual needs. Whenever possible, Geeta prefers to take a collaborative approach, focusing on options such as out-of-court negotiations and mediation to minimize conflict, cost and stress for her clients. Geeta is trained as a collaborative family law lawyer and mediator.

However, sometimes going to court is unavoidable and in those situations she will use her knowledge and experience to guide clients through the process.

Geeta has been interested in law since she was a child, and to this day enjoys being involved in and contributing to the legal community. She is a member of the Canadian Bar Association – Family Law Subsection, where she was the co-chair for two years. Geeta is also a member of the B.C. Parenting Coordinators Roster Society and recently completed a two-year term on its board of directors. In addition, Geeta is a previous author of updates for the Continuing Legal Education Society of B.C.’s Family Law Practice Manual and has been a member of the Practice Manual’s editorial board.

She has also been a speaker at meetings of the Canadian Bar Association and CLE courses.

Interests outside of her practice include a love of travelling and exploring new places and people, running and yoga, spending time with family and friends and, after a hard day, unwinding with a glass of wine and a good book.