A local lawyer has been elected as the 2020-2021 president of the Manitoba Bar Association (MBA).

Carli Owens is an associate with Christianson TDS here in Portage la Prairie. She joined the MBA Council in 2008, serving as director of membership for a couple of years before becoming vice president, and then being elected as president this year. She shares her reaction.

"It's funny, because I went to school at Arthur Meighen High School and I took a law class that was taught by Larry Smith in 1999," recounts Owens, "and I never would have thought that years later; here I am, the president of the Manitoba Bar Association. So it's pretty neat."

Owens says you truly never know what might spark your interest and where life might take you. She illustrates how things came full circle for her.

"A family friend, Barney Christianson, who I now work for, was always somebody I admired while growing up. And then, as I said, taking that law class held by Larry Smith in high school. Then, when I went to Acadia University, there was a professor by the name of Linda Lusby who was a lawyer and she was a very neat lady and did a lot of work on the regulation of GMOs," explains Owens. "After undergraduate, I decided that I wanted to pursue a career in law and off I went to Dalhousie University and then came back to be a local prosecutor. I did that for 10 years and then now I work for Barney Christianson. So it's sort of a full circle, as they say."

As MBA president, Owens advocates for the interests of the association's members, chairs meetings for the MBA's executive committee, acts as a spokesperson for the local branch and assists in the presentation of information to governments and other regulatory bodies. During her term, Owens says she intends to continue the work of past presidents and maintain the reputation of the organization. She says she also hopes to bring a rural perspective to the table, particularly regarding the issues of access to justice and the utilization of technology in the justice system.

Owens is the first rural lawyer to take on the role of president since 2013, when Justice Scott Abel occupied the position. She says she's pleased to be bringing another rural perspective to the role.

The Manitoba Bar Association is the local branch of the Canadian Bar Association, representing approximately 36,000 lawyers, judges, law and articling students, and law professors. It counts over 1,600 members.