Justine Abtosway

Senior Associate

Calgary
[email protected]
403.232.9482

Justine provides timely, thorough and effective advice and representation to provincially and federally regulated employers in all areas of labour and employment law, including:

  • Labour relations, union organizing, certification, collective bargaining, grievances, mediation and arbitration proceedings;
  • Human rights, accommodation and pay equity compliance and litigation;
  • Occupational health and safety compliance and litigation;
  • Employment litigation, including wrongful, constructive, unjust and group dismissal disputes;
  • Workplace agreements, policy, and procedure review, drafting and implementation;
  • Workplace hiring, performance management, disability management, discipline, and dismissal issues and litigation;
  • Workplace investigations, including workplace harassment and violence;
  • Workplace restructuring and business transaction issues;
  • Workers’ compensation compliance and litigation;
  • Privacy compliance and litigation.

Justine has assisted employers with matters before all three levels of court in Alberta, the Supreme Court of Canada, the Alberta Labour Relations Board and other administrative tribunals, commissions and boards, and in mediation and arbitration proceedings.

Justine acts for employers in a wide variety of industries including aviation, transportation, energy, health care and related health services, education, manufacturing, construction, information technology, banking, financial and professional services. She also acts for government entities and First Nations.

Experience

  • Represented First Nation employer in application for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada.
  • Provided labour and employment advice in relation to $180M transaction.
  • Represented government employer in complex labour arbitration matter, which resolved.

Beyond Our Walls

Professional Involvement

  • Member, Law Society of Alberta
  • Member, Calgary Bar Association
  • Member, Canadian Association of Counsel to Employers
  • Member, Canadian Bar Association

Community Involvement

  • Volunteer, Pro Bono Law Alberta
  • Past Member, Mooting and Debating Committee, University of Calgary, Faculty of Law

Awards & Recognition

  • Recognized in the 2025 (and since 2023) edition of The Best Lawyers in Canada® as “Ones to Watch” (Labour and Employment Law)

Bar Admission & Education

  • Alberta, 2016
  • JD, University of Calgary, 2015
  • MA, Dalhousie University, 2011
  • BA (Honours), St. Francis Xavier University, 2010