Our firm has been in existence since 1908 and we have a long and storied history especially in the Wetaskiwin area.
C.H. Russell, K.C. was our founder with W.H. Odell, Q.C. later joining him as a partner. When Mr. Russell died in 1952, Mr. Odell took on F.R. MacNaughton as a student, then associate, then partner. Mr. Odell died at his desk in 1956. After a few years, Mr. MacNaughton took on P.L. Adilman as a student, associate, then partner. Messrs. MacNaughton and Adilman were joined by D.A. Sirrs in 1973 when he was admitted to the bar, and by J.S. Watson (later Hamilton) in 1979. A.H. Deckert joined the firm after he was admitted in 1981. G.E. Allen, who articled here in 1982/83, joined the firm as a partner in December of 1985. In the fall of 1993, J.S. Hamilton took a leave of absence and obtained a Master’s Degree from Columbia University, left the firm and commenced teaching law at the University of Calgary where she is now the Associate Dean. Miles A.M. Cymbaluk, articled here in 1990/91 and joined the firm as a partner in June of 1994. Greg Genest joined the firm as an associate in 2002 and became a partner in July of 2004. Richard Gregory joined the firm as a student in 2006 and became a partner on the 01st day of January 2009.
We have had three our partners appointed to the bench: Mr. MacNaughton was appointed to the Court of Queen’s Bench in 1980; Mr. Adilman was appointed to the Provincial Court in June, 1983; D.A. Sirrs was appointed a Justice of the Court of Queen’s Bench in June of 1999.
In 2010 we rebranded and changed our name to Sirrs LLP and set about transitioning our senior partners to ‘of counsel’. The partners, Miles Cymbaluk, Q.C. and Richard Gregory put forward a vision to grow our firm and solidify our presence in central Alberta. To that end, in August of 2010, Sirrs LLP purchased Wald Law Offices and thereby expanded its presence to include Ponoka and Rimbey. A year later, in August of 2011, Sirrs LLP purchased Vickerson & Hankinson of Wetaskiwin who had a history as long as ours, having opened its doors the same time as our forefathers and welcomed Robert J. Hankinson, Q.C. to our group as of counsel. Two years later, in August of 2013 we purchased the long standing firm of Noble and Kidd in Ponoka and welcomed William Kidd, Q.C. along with Richard Wyrozub as of counsel. Rod Clark, former chief crown prosecutor joined in February of 2016 and is practicing out of our Ponoka Office and we currently have an associate, Melanie Caissie and articling student, Ryan Hartford who are both in our Wetaskiwin Office. We currently have 9 lawyers to service our clients’ various requirements for legal services.
In summary, we are a full service, general law practice which has been providing legal services to our clients for over a century. Most recently known as Deckert Allen Cymbaluk Genest, we re-branded by paying homage and honouring the legacy of the late Honourable Justice Douglas A. Sirrs, our former partner and friend. As is our firm’s tradition, we continue to provide quality services with a personal touch to clients in central Alberta. Our vision is to position ourselves and maintain our reputation as a small town law practice with ‘big city’ draw abilities to service our long standing and new clients, all of whom are most valued and appreciated.
