About Us

Cori L. McGuire Law Corporation

Welcome to KelownaLawyer.com, the legal practice of Cori L. McGuire, Lawyer and Parenting Coordinator. With over 28 years of family law legal experience, the practice is dedicated to helping families resolve parenting disputes with clarity, structure, and child‑focused decision‑making.

Based in Kelowna and remotely serving clients across British Columbia, the practice focuses primarily on rolling single issue arbitration and parenting coordination, supported by a deep foundation in family law, mediation, arbitration, collaborative law, and dispute resolution.

Meet Cori L. McGuire, Lawyer & Parenting Coordinator

Cori L. McGuire has been a member of the British Columbia legal community since being called to the Bar in 1998. Practice experience spans litigation, mediation, arbitration, collaborative law, and—since 2008—specialized parenting coordination work with high‑conflict families.

Cori was among the first Legal Aid Duty Counsel in British Columbia to provide free family law services in courthouses, contributing to early access‑to‑justice initiatives for separating and divorcing families.

Professional leadership includes long‑standing involvement with the Parenting Coordinator Roster Society including various executive roles, and the Canadian Bar Association, including service as Past Chair of the Okanagan Family Law Section, Past Chair National Family Law Section and the National Child and Youth Law Section.

Professional Expertise & Credentials

Cori’s work is grounded in advanced training and accreditation across multiple family justice roles:

• Family Law Arbitrator Accredited by the Law Society of British Columbia (2013)
• Parenting Coordinator Practising since 2008, assisting parents to implement parenting agreements and court orders and to resolve ongoing parenting disputes
• Family Law Mediator Practising since 2003, with a focus on collaborative and consensual dispute resolution
• Child Advocate Representing the best interests of young children, and acting as a traditional advocate for older children with views, since 1998
• Child Interviewer and S.211 Assessor Conducting specialized child interviews for court processes to ensure children’s voices are appropriately heard
• Collaborative Lawyer since 2003, trained in interest‑based negotiation and non‑adversarial dispute resolution
  
  While these qualifications inform the work, the role of Parenting Coordinator in any specific case is strictly facilitative and limited to the authority conferred by the applicable court order or agreement.

Leadership, Teaching & Policy Work

Cori has contributed extensively to legal education, professional training, and policy development at the provincial and national levels.

In 2002, Cori served as an organizer of the pilot “Hear the Child” training in Kelowna, supporting early professional education on incorporating children’s voices appropriately within family justice processes.

Teaching and speaking roles have included guest lectures for West Coast LEAF and UBC Okanagan, as well as presenting and moderating continuing legal education programs across Canada through the Canadian Bar Association.

Policy work has included assisting with the drafting of CBA submissions and policy papers on family law reform, including the BC Family Law Act, family violence reforms, and children’s participation in justice processes. Cori has also published legal papers in the family law field.

Lived Experience and Perspective

In addition to professional training and experience, Cori brings a grounded personal perspective to the work. Cori is a parent of four grown children and a stepchild, and survived personally experienced the challenges of high‑conflict co‑parenting nearly two decades ago.

Lived experience informs a deep understanding of how parenting conflict affects children, parents, and family systems over time. The insight gained from navigating those challenges is carried forward with a trauma informed and neuroscience approach to parenting coordination work, alongside legal authority, professional boundaries, and a disciplined implementation‑focused approach.

Academic Background

• Bachelor of Laws (LLB) University of Western Ontario / University of British Columbia
• Master of Arts (Sociology) McMaster University
• Post‑Baccalaureate Diploma (Criminology) Simon Fraser University
• Bachelor of Arts University of Saskatchewan

Community Involvement

Community engagement is an important part of the practice. Cori is an active volunteer with the BC Parenting Coordinator Roster Society, Autism charities, and a facilitator of free public legal education.
 
As part of that commitment to public legal education, Cori maintains parentingcoordinatorBC.online — a free resource website with over 80 articles explaining parenting coordination, the family law process, and what families can expect when navigating parenting disputes in British Columbia. The site is open to anyone seeking plain‑language information about parenting coordination.

Contact

If you are seeking a legal professional who combines decades of experience with a trauma‑informed, person‑centred, and implementation‑focused approach, this practice is here to help.

Cori L. McGuire Law Corporation —Serving clients throughout British Columbia