Frank Friesacher practices as a litigator, working with clients to resolve their legal disputes, by consensus where possible, and representing their interests in all levels of the Alberta courts where required. Frank’s practice areas include resolving legal disputes in the fields of estate litigation, divorce and family law, employment law, and business litigation. In the estate litigation area, Frank deals with family maintenance claims brought against estates, as well as addressing issues of mental capacity and undue influence in wills and property transfers. In the family law field, Frank has experience in dealing with spousal and child support, matrimonial property division, child custody and access, and separation agreements; his family law practice also includes drafting pre-nuptial and marriage agreements. In the employment law field, Frank has acted for both employers and employees to resolve disputes either through agreement or by recourse to the court system. Finally, in business litigation, Frank understands that small-to-medium businesses need expert and timely advice and representation to avoid disrupting operations and to ensure the viability and prosperity of the parties involved.
A member of the Law Society of Alberta since his admission to the bar, Frank has also been long active with the Canadian Bar Association (CBA) and completed his service on the Executive of the Alberta branch (CBA Alberta) from 2015-2021 including as President for the 2018-2019 term, where he represented the interests of its over 5,300 members, and advocated for improvements in the administration of justice, for support for the rule of law in this province, and for adequate resources for the justice system. Frank is currently active on CBA Alberta’s Agenda for Justice Committee, focusing on the Branch’s advocacy efforts. He is a member of the Legislative Review Committee, and is a long-time coordinator for the Inns of Court, an Edmonton mentor project for junior lawyers dear to his heart. He is also a member of the CBA Civil Litigation and Family Law sections.
Before commencing with the firm in 2000, Frank held a clerkship at the Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench and the Court of Appeal from 1999-2000. Prior to that he was a summer student with the ALRI (Alberta Law Reform Institute) as well as being past Articles Editor for the Alberta Law Review, a wholly student-run organization. Before entering his legal studies, Frank obtained his Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and his Bachelor of Commerce (International Studies/German) with Distinction.
Frank became a partner at the firm in 2008, and uses his legal skills, training and broad experience to guide clients through the often-complex issues and decisions they face when encountering legal disputes. In 2022, Frank was appointed Queen’s Counsel in Alberta.
Frank is active in the province’s vibrant German-Canadian community, having served on the German-Canadian Associate of Alberta executive, and including his long-term involvement with a local dance group, The Bavarian Schuhplattlers of Edmonton. He is an avid reader (especially the works of Haruki Murakami and John D. MacDonald), is an occasional mindfulness meditator, thinks Moby-Dick is the greatest novel ever written, and both is a fair-weather cyclist and a poor-weather frequenter of Edmonton’s many locally-owned and operated cafés.
