Charmaine Panko, K.C.

Charmaine’s path to law began while she and her husband were raising four young children. When she learned she had been accepted to the University of Saskatchewan College of Law, she can no longer remember whether the news came just before or just after she discovered she was pregnant with their fifth child. Either way, law school began in the middle of family life — not apart from it.

At the time, family law was the one area Charmaine had no desire to practise. But life has a way of revealing purpose. By the time she graduated, she and her husband had eight children, and Charmaine had developed a deep passion for helping families navigate one of the most difficult transitions they may ever face: separation and divorce.

Through her own experience as a mother, and through her work with families in crisis, Charmaine came to understand how profoundly the legal process can affect parents, children, and the future of an entire family. She saw that when separation is handled through conflict and escalation, the process itself can become another source of harm. She believed families needed a different path.

In 2015, Charmaine founded Panko Collaborative Law & Mediation alongside her eldest daughter. By then, she was a mother of eleven. The firm was built on a mission to transform the way families experience separation and divorce through collaborative law, mediation, and interest-based resolution.

What began in a coworking space on Wall Street grew into a firm with its own office on 4th Avenue, then a larger space on Broadway, and eventually a home in Saskatoon’s historic CPR Station. As the firm grew, Charmaine’s children grew too. Several joined the work alongside their eldest sister, becoming part of a family business shaped by shared purpose, service, and a belief in doing law differently.

Today, Charmaine is recognized as a leader in non-adversarial family law in Saskatchewan. Under her leadership, the firm has grown into a team of lawyers, mediators, and support professionals known for their compassionate, practical, and child-focused approach to separation, divorce, parenting, and co-parenting matters.

Her influence extends beyond her own practice. Charmaine teaches Dispute Resolution in Family Law at the University of Saskatchewan College of Law and trains lawyers, mediators, and other professionals through CommonSense Mediation Academy. The passion that first took hold in her own work has now been ignited in four of her children and across the entire Common Sense Law team.

As an entrepreneur, Charmaine has built more than a business. She has built a model for practising law with compassion, clarity, and courage. Her leadership reflects a deep commitment to children’s wellbeing, respectful communication, client empowerment, and healthier family outcomes.