Our Chief Operations Officer, Demi had the pleasure of sitting down with Samuel Rezazadeh, lawyer and mediator, to chat about his journey to joining our team and about how he views the practice of law.
Sam has been with our office since spring of 2025. The position we offered gave him the flexibility to continue his studies, as he pursues his Master’s degree at the College of Law.
When Sam started at our office, he had been taking mediation training with CommonSense Mediation Academy. Through his time at our office and his continued passion for Alternative Dispute Resolution, Sam has achieved his recognition by the Minister to be on the list of approved family mediators in Saskatchewan.
Sam is a bright shining light at our office, and you can always count on him to make you laugh or to assist you in finding the answer you are seeking.
Let’s dive into the interview!
Interviewer: Tell me a little bit about your educational background.
Sam: I have been in school all my life. I am finishing my Master of Law at the College of Law at the University of Saskatchewan and before that I studied my Juris Doctor at the College of Law here and previous to that, I was involved in the Department of Linguistics and English so I am not stranger to reading 400 pages per week!
Interviewer: What interested you in the practice of family law?
Sam: Family law for me, has a personal quality and it is near and dear to my heart. I am originally from Iran, and I have seen the struggles that a lot of people go through when family law matters happen. I have had a lot of people around me that have gone through that [family law matters]. When I moved to Canada in 2016, I saw that it doesn’t matter where you are in the world, when people are going through family law matters, they need support and help. When I started in practicing different areas of the law, family law was the one that kind of resonated with me a little bit more than the others because we are helping people on the most personal level.
Interviewer: Very serious question now. Batman or Superman, and why?
Sam: Oh, that’s a tough one! I would say Superman because he is from another universe and I am from another part of the world.
Interviewer: What experience did you have with alternative dispute resolution before joining Panko Collaborative Law?
Sam: Actually, I did not have any experience particularly practicing that, but I attended the workshops and courses that Panko Collaborative Law was providing through the CommonSense Mediation Academy, and that was when the world of alternative dispute resolution became this goal for me and I realized that actually there are a lot of better ways to handle disputes other than the court. Of course, there is always a time and place for the court, but I am a fan of giving alternative dispute resolution a chance first.
Interviewer: What’s a common myth people have about family law?
Sam: People around me, they think it’s all about divorces and fights about kids or the toaster or division of property. But that is not true. That is only a portion of family law. Family law encompasses the whole life cycle of a relationship from the start to the finish or even in the middle. I think that people get together to form a union and form a family, and they might not know that there are some legalities and rules around that. That joining your households together or creating a family creates legal, moral and ethical obligations between the two people. It is interesting that family law and our lawmakers and our courts through various years and history of time, they have created some substance about our relationships towards each other. And that is something very exciting because they both have that legal element to it and that agency to it as well that they come together. I don’t think any other area of the law has this similar quality that is deeply personal and also it is regulated at the same time.
Interviewer: If you could be any animal, which animal would you be?
Sam: I would love to be a cat. Just laying under the sun, purring all day.
Interviewer: What’s the most important skill for a family law lawyer to have?
Sam: Listening, understanding, and compassion. Also having the ability to tell stories because family law or any other type of the law, it comes with its own set of legal words that they are complicated, and they are hard to digest. It takes a special person to be a family law lawyer that can take all of those legal words and complicated matters and translate it into a plain language narrative so their clients can understand it. Because again, imagine if we are going through divorce or separation, the last thing that a person wants is to be exposed to all of these unfamiliar narratives and languages that is going to add a lot more stress to an already stressful situation. I think that storytelling, the compassion and the listening skills are the required for a good family law lawyer.
Interviewer: What is one piece of advice you have for people who would want to become a family law lawyer?
Sam: I think it is important to take it one step at a time. There’s a lot of learning involved in family law matters and there are also a lot of nuances attached to it. I feel like lawyers, especially family law lawyers, we have an ethical and moral duty to help our respective clients to de-escalate and help them to work within the lines of alternative dispute resolution first and then go to court. So having that understanding comes with experience and the time. Patience and taking it one step at a time is really important.
Interviewer: Cilantro. Thoughts?
Sam: I have heard some people taste it as if it is like soap, I’ve never had that issue and I’m from south of Iran, so we use a lot of cilantro in our seafood dishes.
Interviewer: Why should someone choose Panko Collaborative Law to help them through their family law matter?
Sam: The proof is in the name. We are advocating for collaborative processes. I always tell my clients at the start people don’t want to think about prenups or estate planning, but that’s when they can make choices at a time when their emotions are settled, instead of when there’s so much emotional intensity. At the time of separation and divorce, the emotions are heightened and you might do something you regret. Every aspect of what we do here is through that collaborative lens, and I’m very proud of that. I have seen a lot of my clients that have gone through separation and divorce that they became friends afterwards. And that is the quality that I absolutely love and adore about the type of work that we do here at Panko Collaborative Law.
We hope you have enjoyed this spotlight on Samuel Rezazadeh. Sam is available for new client consultations and also contracts through CommonSense Mediation to provide mediation services. If you would like to work with Sam, contact our office today to book a consultation:
Give us a call! or Email us!
If you want to learn more about Sam, make sure to visit his profile page!