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Lawyers
Our Experienced Lawyers in Newfoundland
Do you need help with your personal injury or impaired driving case? Gittens, de Beer & Associates is here to help you with that and much more. On this page, you can find information about our team. Call us to book an appointment. We will be happy to help you.
Ernest L. Gittens
SENIOR PARTNER
Ernest received his undergraduate degree from the University of Toronto in 1977 and his Bachelor of Laws from the University of Ottawa in 1981.
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In his 39 years of practice, Ernest has gained considerable experience and currently maintains an extensive family law, personal injury, and litigation practice.
Ernest has appeared before all levels of Provincial and Supreme Courts in Newfoundland Labrador as well as the Supreme Court of Canada. He is a current member of the Law Society of Newfoundland and Labrador, the Canadian Bar Association, and is a past president of the Atlantic Provinces of Trial Lawyers Association.
Nancy C. McKillop
ASSOCIATE
Nancy was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia and grew up in St. John’s East. She received her Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in History and Anthropology from the Memorial University of Newfoundland and her Bachelor of Laws from the University of New Brunswick in 2000. Nancy has an extensive family law and real estate practice and has appeared at all levels of court in this province, including the Provincial Court, Supreme Court (Family and General Divisions), and the Court of Appeal. She is a current member of the Law Society of Newfoundland and Labrador and the Canadian Bar Association.
Nancy is experienced, knowledgeable, and reliable. She is committed to being accessible to her clients. In her 20 years of practice she has developed a reputation for effectively negotiating settlements for her family clients as well as navigating seamless transactions for her real estate clients.
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Nancy’s areas of practice include family, real estate, wills and estates, civil litigation and property.
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Outside of practice, Nancy has enjoyed volunteering with the Girl Guides of Canada for several years. She has also been a Board Member with the Goulds Historical Society for over twenty years, which focuses on the preservation of St. Matthews Church (the Ruby Church) in the Goulds.
Natasha J. de Beer
PARTNER
Natasha joined Gittens & Associates as an articling student in 2017 and became an Associate with the firm in February 2019. She is also a member of the Law Society of Newfoundland and Labrador and the Canadian Bar Association.
She obtained her LLB degree through the University of South Africa, and commenced her articles at Koep & Partners in Windhoek, Namibia in 2015. During this time, she also received the prestigious Chief Judge Karuaihe Excellence Award as the top student of the bar admission examinations in Namibia. Since her successful admission to the bar, she appeared in civil matters, both in the Magistrates’ Courts and the High Court of Namibia.
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After relocating to Canada, Natasha attended the University of Alberta to complete the Internationally Trained Lawyer Pathway in 2017 and completed the bar exams in Newfoundland and Labrador in 2018. She appears before the Provincial and Supreme Courts in Newfoundland and Labrador on a regular basis where she represents her clients professionally.
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Her experience covers a wide range of legal areas, including, but not limited to, corporate and commercial law, shareholders’ disputes, employment law, lease disputes, construction law, professional negligence, defamation, immigration, family law, as well as wills and estates. She understands the needs of her clients, both locally and internationally, and provides her clients with sound advice and sensible solutions.
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She enjoys hiking, reading, swimming and snowshoeing. She is also fully conversant in English and Afrikaans.
Robert Escott
ASSOCIATE
Robert earned his Juris Doctor from the University of New Brunswick (“UNB”), where he was awarded the Maurice Gautreau Prize for Legal Writing. He was called to the Newfoundland and Labrador bar in October of 2019 and is a member of the Canadian Bar Association (“CBA”).
Robert has a strong background in personal injury and civil litigation, with an emphasis on helping survivors of sexual abuse. Robert now has a varied general practice, including wills & estates, employment, family law, and other areas.
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Robert considers himself an intrepid traveller, having completed a Russian language program in Pushkin (Russia), a semester of law school in Seoul (South Korea), and a volunteer internship for the Department of Public Prosecutions in Kingston (Jamaica). Robert also taught as a Head Teacher for an English language school in Seoul before entering practice as a lawyer. Through these experiences, Robert has developed valuable skills and perspective, helping him to assist clients from a broad range of backgrounds.
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Robert understands the indispensability of clear, timely, and cost-effective legal advice. He is committed to advancing his clients’ interests and strives to deliver positive results.
Chineze Nwokedi
ASSOCIATE
Chineze joined Gittens, de Beer & Associates in April 2020 as an Articling Student and was called to the Newfoundland and Labrador Bar in 2021.
She graduated with an LL.B (Honours) from Madonna University in 2011 and a BL From the Nigerian Law School in 2012. While at the Nigerian Law school, she did her chamber’s attachment with the Attorney-General/Minister of Justice of Nigeria in 2012.
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Chineze practiced law for 4 years in Nigeria and appeared in all levels of court before moving to Newfoundland in 2016. She is also a member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, United Kingdom.
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​Outside of work, she enjoys spending time with her family, volunteering, cooking and travelling. She is also fluent in English, pidgin English, and Igbo.
Michael Hrabowsky
ASSOCIATE
Michael obtained a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry from Memorial University in 2014 and earned his Juris Doctor from the University of New Brunswick in 2021. After graduating from UNB, Michael joined Gittens & Associates as an articling student and as has been practicing as an Associate with the firm since being called to the Newfoundland and Labrador bar in June of 2022.
Michael’s practice focuses primarily on Civil Litigation; however, he also maintains an active practice in the areas of Family law, Real Estate law, Employment and Labour, and Municipal law. Regardless of the legal issue, Michael tailors his approach to meet each client’s individual needs and he works tirelessly to obtain an outcome that is in their best interests. Michael has appeared in Provincial Court, Supreme Court (General and Family division), and the Court of Appeal.
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​Outside of the office, Michael enjoys tennis, golfing, watching football, and playing pickleball with friends.
Michele Grant
ASSOCIATE
Michele (she/her) is from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where she obtained her Juris Doctor with honors in Intellectual Property Law in 2009 as a member of the inaugural class of Drexel University’s School of Law. She holds a B.A. cum laude from the University of Delaware, where her course of study included a semester at the Université de Caen, Normandy. After university and before law school, Michele co-founded and operated a boutique internet software business in Seattle.
During law school, Michele interned at the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas and Pennsylvanians for Modern Courts. She founded the school’s chapter of the American Constitution Society and served as the first president of the school’s alumni association. Upon admission to the bar of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in 2009, Michele practiced law in Philadelphia. Her practice focused on supporting the city’s arts, non-profit, and small business community by providing entrepreneurial counseling, contract negotiation, representation in civil matters, and assistance with family court issues. She co-represented, pro bono, a theater arts organization to victory in a landlord-tenant dispute on The People’s Court reality television show in 2011. She also volunteered with the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania, where she trained and coordinated Legal Observers, who monitor police activities during public demonstrations, for ACLU and the National Lawyers Guild.
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She obtained her NCA Certificate of Qualification from the Federation of Law Societies of Canada and joined Gittens & Associates as an articled clerk in 2021, becoming an Associate after her call to the bar of Newfoundland and Labrador in 2022. Michele continues to hold her license to practice law in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
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Michele currently focuses her practice on immigration matters. She maintains a client-centred practice in the areas of wills and estates and family law as well.
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​Michele and her husband have lived in St. John’s since 2017, and her son lives in Vancouver. She is an ally of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community. Outside of work, Michele enjoys movies, travel, and supporting Philadelphia sports teams (go Birds!).
Elizabeth Zarpa
ASSOCIATE
Elizabeth is Inuit from the Labrador Inuit Land Claims Agreement and is a member of the Newfoundland and Labrador Bar since 2017.
In September 2022, Elizabeth joined our firm as an Associate. She focuses on finding creative ways to resolve client’s legal issues in the areas of family law, wills and estates, human rights law and criminal law.
She has a keen interest in academics and learning. Throughout her post-secondary education, she obtained a Bachelor of Arts in political science and international development studies from Dalhousie; Juris Doctor in common law from the University of Victoria; Master of Arts in political science from Memorial and a Master of Laws from the Schulich School of Law. Her LLM thesis focuses on the revitalization of Indigenous laws, and the application of those laws to contemporary government and legislative structures.
In the past, Elizabeth practiced as solicitor and barrister. She drafted memorandums and reports on aboriginal, environmental and Indigenous legal issues, bylaws and legislation. Furthermore, she represented Inuit at the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls where she travelled coast to coast to coast listening to the testimony from diverse populations about the systemic, political and legal realities that create vulnerable circumstances for Indigenous people.
Patrick Murphy
ASSOCIATE
Coming soon