Having spent her more than 30-year career working with and for the Government of Alberta, Margaret Unsworth, QC, has seen the legal community grow and change. Now serving her third and final term as Bencher, Margaret has been able to combine her work in the public service with serving in the public interest at the Law Society, broadening her understanding of the practise of law – and the lawyers who practise in different circumstances.

Margaret serves as General Counsel for the Assistant Deputy Minister's Office for the Ministry of Justice and Solicitor General. As a legal advisor to the Government of Alberta, Margaret has provided legal advice to all government Ministries on a wide range of issues and has represented the Attorney General of Alberta at all levels of Alberta Courts with numerous appearances before the Supreme Court of Canada.

“I have always worked in government; the work can be highly specialized and, in some ways, disconnected from the general practise of law as experienced by most lawyers in Alberta,” says Margaret. “When I first ran as Bencher in 2014, I was looking for a way to reconnect with the profession and give back.”

Born and raised in Calgary, Jim Lutz, QC, grew up in the profession of law.

“My dad is a retired Queen’s Bench judge and my sister was a lawyer, now a mediator. I really never thought of anything else to do as my own career path,” he laughs.

Jim has stuck to the downtown core of Calgary for most of his personal and professional life, having been born about seven blocks from where he now works and about four blocks from where he now lives. Despite his strong local roots, he did venture outside of the province to pursue post-secondary education, completing his bachelor of arts at Mount Allison University in New Brunswick and his law degree at the University of Wales.

Jim returned to Alberta after his education and was called to the bar in 1992. He is a criminal defense lawyer at a small firm named Dartnell Lutz, a version of which he once articled for and has worked his way up to now be a name partner. Jim comes to the Bencher table for a second term having been initially elected in 2017.