Melissa Salfi’s practice is devoted to Family Law, Mediation, and Fertility Law. She is committed to helping clients through significant life transitions with a warm, compassionate, and practical approach.
Melissa is an accredited Family Law Mediator and a certified Collaborative Divorce Lawyer. She has a background in Psychology and has a strong desire to empower her clients during challenging times. While she has significant litigation experience, she is dedicated to resolving family law matters outside of court whenever possible and offers affordable mediation services.
Melissa holds a strong academic background, graduating summa cum laude from her Honours B.A., and thereafter receiving a Juris Doctor degree from the top ranked University of Toronto Faculty of Law. Melissa articled at a leading national law firm in Toronto and was called to the Ontario Bar in 2011. In Ontario, Melissa regularly represented family law clients at the Superior Court of Justice and served as Duty Counsel. Melissa has also spent a few years in sunny Sydney, Australia. After requalifying as a lawyer in Australia, Melissa worked in the media industry on high profile negotiations between major newspaper publications and complainants. After moving back to Canada in 2019, Melissa transferred to the BC Bar. Here, she has established a track record of successfully advocating for family law and fertility clients in British Columbia, including in cases involving the application of the Hague Convention on International Child Abduction.
Melissa is a member of the International Association of Collaborative Professionals and Collaborative Divorce Vancouver. In her Collaborative files, Melissa takes a holistic approach to divorce by assisting clients with the financial and emotional transitions involved in a divorce, in addition to just the legal process.
As a Mediator, Melissa is approachable, caring, and perceptive. She is adept at understanding situations and perspectives quickly and is dedicated to finding creative solutions that are tailored to each family she works with. Having lived in five countries and completed training in international dispute resolution in Europe, Melissa brings a culturally sensitive and adaptable approach to her mediations.
In addition to family law services, Melissa has a busy Fertility Law practice representing donors, surrogates, and intended parents. Melissa is passionate about helping individuals and couples build their families and is pleased to offer the following fertility law services:
Fertility Clients, please contact Melissa's assistant:
VANCOUVER PARALEGAL
Neetu Minhas
Phone Number: 1-877-445-2627 ext. 123
nminhas@crossroadslaw.ca
Melissa has been interviewed by the media on fertility issues on a number of occasions and written articles about this rapidly developing area of law, including for the Globe and Mail. Along with fertility clinic leaders, academics, and legal experts in reproductive law, Melissa is involved in a law reform project on the law of parentage. Specifically, she is a member of the British Columbia Law Institute (BCLI) Project Committee that is tasked with reviewing the law of parentage as set out in Part 3 of the Family Law Act.
You can read more about this project at: https://www.bcli.org/bcli-launches-project-to-review-the-law-of-parentage-under-part-3-of-the-family-law-act
Outside of the office, Melissa is a busy mom who enjoys yoga, travelling with her family, and connecting with people. Melissa is fluent in Swedish and has intermediate proficiency in Spanish and Hebrew.
"I highly recommend Melissa Salfi at Crossroads Law. She made this very stressful and emotional time in my life such a smooth process. She is very knowledgeable, compassionate, timely and efficient! Her writing skills are amazing, I can’t say enough about the experience I had and the positive outcome for me in the end was because of her. She helped me immensely, going above and beyond in such a professional yet friendly manner."
The lawyer for the intended parents has drafted the fertility agreement and recommends that the surrogate or donor obtain independent legal advice (ILA) from another lawyer.
In real estate, it’s ‘location, location, location’. In divorce mediation, it’s ‘preparation, preparation, preparation’.
Engage any legal professional and they will advise that mediation is a proven method of dispute resolution.
Collaborative Divorce in Vancouver, also known as Collaborative Practice or Collaborative Law, is a voluntary and private dispute resolution process in which the parties commit to settling their matter outside of Court.