About Debbie Jones
Debbie is a high energy, results-focused Senior Human Resources Professional and Associate Certified Coach (International Coach Federation - ICF) with over 30 years of experience. She has a Bachelors Degree in Psychology and Sociology, as well as an Honours Degree in Psychology. Debbie is trained in Mental First Aid, has Coach training from The Co-Active Training Institute, and Chartered Profession In Human Resources (CPHR) designation "the gold standard of HR professionals".
About Anita Atwal
Anita Kaur Atwal is an experienced labour, employment and human rights lawyer, who now practices exclusively in the area of workplace investigations, mediations and equity and inclusion. In her work, she supports institutional and public sector clients with their HR related legal needs.
Anita is also a Chartered Professional in Human Resources (CPHR) and recently finished serving as the Interim Director of Human Rights at Simon Fraser University. She now serves as a Special Advisor to SFU’s Vice President, People Equity and Inclusion.
Anita is active in the legal community and is a teaching lawyer with the Everyone Legal Clinic, an Access Pro Bono initiative, which provides low cost and fixed-fee legal services to communities throughout British Columbia. She teaches employment and human rights law.
Anita also serves on the Board of the Canadian Bar Association of BC (CBABC) Workplace Investigations Subsection and is a member of the CBABC Employment Law and Human Rights Subsection. She also serves as the Director of the South Asian Bar Association of B.C.
In addition, Anita serves on the Board of Directors of British Columbia Infrastructure Benefits (BCIB), a Provincial Crown Corporation responsible for providing qualified skilled trades for the construction of public infrastructure projects. Anita chairs the Human Resources and Governance Committee of BCIB.
About Preston Parsons
Preston is a Partner at Overholt Law LLP with over 12 years of practice experience in the firm’s core areas of labour relations law, employment law, civil litigation, privacy law, and human rights law. Preston takes great care in advising all clients, including both employers and employees, with an emphasis on taking proactive steps to avoid problems and disputes from arising wherever possible.
During his career, Preston has appeared at the BC Court of Appeal, Supreme Court and Provincial Court for litigation, advocacy, and mediations. He has also appeared at the BC Labour Relations Board, BC Human Rights Tribunal, Social Security Tribunal (General and Appeal Divisions), in federal and provincial labour arbitration proceedings, and in both domestic and international commercial arbitrations. He has summered, articled, and practiced in downtown Vancouver since 2009, first at a large regional firm and later at a boutique class action and aviation litigation firm. Preston joined Carman Overholt, K.C. and Jennifer Kwok at Overholt Law LLP’s predecessor firm, in January 2013.
Outside of the courtroom, Preston assists clients with privacy and pension inquiries, workplace investigations, drafting employment contracts, and advising on the enforceability of restrictive covenants including non-competition clauses. Preston also advises and represents various professionals regarding investigations and disciplinary proceedings before their professional associations or regulatory bodies.
