John-Paul E. Boyd, KC, AOCA MA LLB, is an accredited family law arbitrator, family law mediator and parenting coordinator, a member of the bars of Alberta and British Columbia, and counsel to the preeminent Calgary family law firm Wise Scheible Barkauskas.

John-Paul practiced family law in Vancouver for 14 years before taking a position as the executive director of the Canadian Research Institute for Law and the Family, at the University of Calgary, in 2013. He took his training as a mediator in 2005, as a parenting coordinator in 2006 and 2007, as an arbitrator in 2011 and as a collaborative practitioner in 2012. He returned to private practice, providing services throughout Alberta and British Columbia, in 2018 and was appointed Queen’s Counsel, now King’s Counsel, in 2019.

John-Paul is presently a member of the ADR Institute of Canada, the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts, and Family Mediation Canada. He is a former fellow of the International Academy of Family Lawyers.

John-Paul’s work at the research institute involved important and often ground-breaking studies on topics including the arbitration of family law disputes, children’s participation in justice processes, the cost and efficiency of dispute resolution processes, disclosure and enforcement remedies in family law disputes, the experiences of persons without counsel in the justice system, polyamory and polyamorous families, parenting apart and the effect of parental conflict on children, justice reform and access to family justice, alienation and estrangement, and parenting coordination. Those of the research institute’s publications which are available to the public can be found on the website of the University of Calgary Library.

Before starting work at the research institute, John-Paul was instrumental in founding the British Columbia Parenting Coordinators Roster Society, the British Columbia Hear the Child Society and a Vancouver-based society of family law arbitrators.

John-Paul regularly writes and lectures on family law topics for judges, law societies, bar associations, law students and the public. He has been a frequent speaker for the National Judicial Institute, the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts, the Canadian Bar Association, the National Family Law Program, the Continuing Legal Education Society of British Columbia, the Legal Education Society of Alberta and the Trial Lawyers Association of British Columbia, and has taught the upper-year family law course at the University of Calgary. He serves as a mentor for the Law Society of Alberta in the area of family law.

John-Paul worked with two senior family law lawyers, Lawrence Pinsky of Taylor McCaffrey in Winnipeg and Lorne Wolfson of Torkin Manes in Toronto, to develop and present the National Family Law Arbitration Course in 2021, the first professional education program in Canada to focus exclusively on the arbitration of family law disputes. The course is offered every one or two years and runs for six days spread over six weeks; the next course runs in February and March 2024. Advanced programs on special topics are offered irregularly; check the course NFLAC website for updates.

John-Paul is the founding author of the award-winning public legal education resource JP Boyd on Family Law, now in its third print edition, and its former companion blog, the first legal blog cited in a Canadian court judgment. His other written work has been published by organizations including the UBC Law Review, the International Family Law Journal, Canadian Family Law Quarterly, the Canadian Journal of Family Law, the International Journal of Law, Policy and the Family, the Journal of International Aging, Law and Policy, Justice Canada, the National Judicial Institute, the Nova Scotia Department of Justice, The Collaborative Review, The Advocate and the CBA’s National Magazine. A collection of John-Paul’s columns on family law reform, access to justice and alternative dispute resolution for the online legal magazine Slaw has been published by the Canadian Legal Information Institute.

John-Paul is a member of the advisory board of the Canadian Journal of Family Law and has served as an external article referee for the UBC Law Review, the Windsor Law Yearbook of Access to Justice, the Canadian Journal of Family Law, and the Alberta Law Review. He is a juror of the Walter Owen Book Prize, awarded by the Canadian Foundation for Legal Research, and the Allan Falconer Memorial Essay Contest, awarded by the Canadian Journal of Family Law.

John-Paul is consulted by law societies, law foundations, professional associations, courts, provincial governments and the federal government on family law matters, public legal education, dispute resolution, and legislative and procedural reform. He has served on the British Columbia Attorney General’s Family Relations Act Review Advisory Committee, Family Law Act Advisory Group, Arbitration Act Family Law Working Group and Family Law Act Modernization Project Advisory Committee, on the Provincial Court of British Columbia’s Family Law Rules Committee, on Justice Canada’s Advisory Group on Public Legal Education and Information for Bill C-78, on the Law Society of British Columbia’s Licensed Paralegal Task Force, and on numerous committees and working groups of the Canadian Bar Association. He has twice given evidence as an expert on family law to the Senate Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs.

John-Paul’s focus in family law disputes is on the big picture, and is informed by an interdisciplinary perspective and more than two decades of work in the area of family law. He prioritizes the interests of children, the future functioning of families living apart, and the ability of parents to work together after their legal issues have been resolved.

Media appearances

John-Paul Boyd has been interviewed for articles, editorials and documentaries published in local and national media, including The Walrus, The Globe and Mail, CBC News, Noovo Info, CTV News, the National Post, Global News, Maclean’s, the Calgary Herald, the Edmonton Journal, the Vancouver Sun, the Canadian Press, the Victoria Times Colonist, the Toronto Star, Citytv, the CBA’s National Magazine, The Lawyer’s Daily, Law Times, and Canadian Lawyer magazine. He frequently appears on radio and television on matters related to family justice. His most recent broadcast appearances include CBC Calgary’s The Homestretch, “The Big Sex Talk” on CBC Gem, the VeraCity documentary “Thoroughly Modern Families” on Citytv, CBC Calgary’s Eyeopener, Global National, 980 CKNW, CBC’s Alberta at Noon, NewsTalk 770, 660 NEWS, CBC’s Maritime Noon, The National, The Current and The 180, and TVO’s Word Bomb podcast, discussing issues such as parenting coordination, the amendment of the Divorce Act, polyamorous relationships, the out-of-court resolution of family law disputes, legislative reform, parenting apart, alienated and estranged children, and access to justice.

John-Paul was a family law columnist for the Centre for Public Legal Education Alberta’s LawNow Magazine for a number of years, and occasionally writes on family justice topics for the online legal magazine Slaw and The Lawyer’s Daily, published by LexisNexis.

awards & recognition

John-Paul Boyd was appointed Queen’s Counsel, now King’s Counsel, in 2019. He is a recipient of the CBA’s National Pro Bono Service Award, the UBC Law Alumni Association’s Outstanding Young Alumnus Award, the Distinguished Service Award presented by the Law Society of Alberta and the CBA Alberta, and the CBA British Columbia’s Pro Bono Award. He has received special recognition for his contributions to organizations including the British Columbia Law Institute, the Continuing Legal Education Society of British Columbia, the CBA British Columbia, and the British Columbia Parenting Coordinators Roster Society.

John-Paul has been recognized in the area of family law by Best Lawyers, a peer-reviewed legal directory, since 2010, and has been recommended by Doyle's Guide since 2020.

In a 2012 report of the British Columbia Public Legal Education and Information Working Group, John-Paul, then working as a lawyer in private practice, was named as one of the six major providers of public legal education on family law in British Columbia, along with the Legal Services Society, the CBA, the British Columbia Ministry of Justice and the University of Victoria Law Centre. John-Paul’s public legal education resource, JP Boyd on Family Law, was awarded a Clawbie in 2019 as one of the best online Canadian access to justice resources, and John-Paul was named a COVID-19 Access to Justice All-Star by the National Self-represented Litigants Project in 2020.

Endorsements & recommendations

Dr. Julien Payne, KC, a legal scholar, former professor of law at the University of Ottawa and author of the seminal text Payne on Divorce, commenting on some of John-Paul’s professional legal education work on the 2021 amendments to the Divorce Act, said:

You are clearly one of Canada’s leading experts on Canadian Family Law and more importantly you accept the responsibility that goes with that expertise.

Morag MacLeod, KC, a senior and nationally-respected family law lawyer, arbitrator and mediator based in Vancouver, British Columbia said that:

JP provides outstanding family law mediation and arbitration services in a cost effective way for families. I have included dispute resolution provisions appointing JP in a number of cases. You and your clients could not get a better provider of dispute resolution services than JP in my view. Check out his website for facts, resources, and information.

Robert Harvie, KC, a family law lawyer in Lethbridge, Alberta and former bencher of the Law Society of Alberta, commented on our Facebook page that:

I've known John-Paul for some time, and his background knowledge and personality, IMHO, is very conducive to work as an arbitrator and mediator!

barbara findlay, KC, a noted LGBTQ advocate and family law, immigration, wills and estates and human rights lawyer in Vancouver, British Columbia, said that:

JP has great skill and depth of experience.

Wayne Barkauskas, KC, a prominent family law lawyer, mediator and parenting coordinator based in Calgary, Alberta, said:

Best of the best! JP is nationally and internationally recognised.

Cyndy Morin, a family law lawyer and entrepreneur in Calgary, Alberta commented that:

Mr. Boyd is well versed in the law and has excellent Med/Arb skills. He is on our recommended professionals list at our firm, Resolve Legal Group. We always refers files to him because of the excellent feedback we’ve received from our clients about his services!

Al Soroka, a senior legal professional in British Columbia and former head librarian of the UBC Faculty of Law, commented that:

No doubt about it, this is the go-to lawyer on family and domestic matters. JP is a responsible, temperate and knowledgeable lawyer.

Angela Thiele, a well-known family law, employment law and wills and estates lawyer in Vancouver, British Columbia, described John-Paul as:

Best legal mind in the family law area in years.