Anna Virtue is a lawyer at McCordic Law & Mediation whose practice is focused on real estate transactions, Wills and estate planning, and helping family law clients achieve resolutions.

In her real estate practice, Anna guides clients through the purchase and sale of property from start to finish. Buying or selling a home can be stressful. Anna’s job is to make the legal side of the transaction as straightforward as possible, while making sure the details are handled properly.

Anna considers it her privilege to help clients with Wills and estate planning. It is not anyone’s favourite afternoon activity to contemplate their own mortality, but it is one of those things that becomes significantly less stressful once it is done. Anna helps clients make thoughtful decisions about their wishes, their families, and the things they have spent their lives building.

Anna conducts many of the firm’s initial family law consultations, helping clients understand their options and determine what direction their matter should take. Where a negotiated resolution is possible, Anna works with clients to find a practical settlement and avoid unnecessary litigation. Where litigation is necessary, she works closely with McCordic’s litigators, Spencer MacInnis and Laura Murphy, to develop a strategy that fits the circumstances and gives the client the best path forward. Anna specializes in carefully crafted domestic contracts, including cohabitation agreements, prenuptial contracts, and separation agreements, and considers herself a legal-disaster-prevention nerd; an ounce of prevention is well-worth avoiding the expense of a litigated cure.

Anna is a firm believer that not every disagreement needs to become a full-scale legal battle, and that spending tens of thousands of dollars on argument is not necessarily the same thing as getting a good result. Sometimes the best outcome is the one that allows everyone to move forward with their life.

Anna’s approach to family law is rooted in her experiences long before she became a lawyer. Anna spent five years as a Family Support Worker in the child protection context, working closely with parents and children as they navigated difficult circumstances. That experience taught her that there is almost always more to a person’s story than what appears on paper—and that good advocacy requires both empathy and the ability to have difficult conversations when they need to happen.

Anna was born in New Brunswick and completed her Bachelor of Arts with an Honours in Criminology at St. Thomas University before earning her Juris Doctor from the University of New Brunswick. Anna was called to the Bar in October 2023 and joined McCordic Law & Mediation shortly thereafter. During law school, Anna worked as a research assistant with the Muriel McQueen Fergusson Centre for Family Violence Research and co-authored publications on trauma-informed approaches to family violence and family law mediation in cases involving family violence.

Since joining McCordic, Anna has found immense satisfaction in continuing to expand her legal training and skillset and growing the firm’s offerings.

Outside the office, Anna spends most of her time with her family, including Murphy the Office Dog. Anna is an avid hiker and bookworm, and can often be found at a local brewery enjoying good conversation with good friends.

Anna knows that being a lawyer is about more than knowing the law. It is about helping people through the things that matter, and sometimes the things they really wish they didn’t have to deal with in the first place. If she can make the process a little clearer, a little less intimidating, and occasionally even a little less miserable, she considers that a job well done.