Cristina Wendel

Cristina Wendel is a Partner at Dentons in Edmonton, serving as the lead of the Edmonton Employment and Labour group and leader of the Alberta occupational health and safety practice, specializing in Employment Law. She advises and represents employers in all aspects of occupational health and safety matters, including day‑to‑day compliance, incident response, incident investigations, and defending employers charged with occupational health and safety offences.

Cristina represents federally and provincially regulated, unionized and non‑unionized employers in wrongful dismissal claims, employment standards disputes, human rights issues, labour arbitrations, labour relations board proceedings, and unfair competition actions. She provides strategic advice on employment contracts, workplace policies, restrictive covenants, managing employees, workers' compensation matters, workplace discrimination, and accommodation concerns. As a member of Dentons' workplace investigations team, she conducts thorough and timely workplace investigations as a neutral external investigator and has completed specialized training in trauma‑informed workplace investigations. Notable matters include advising the Edmonton Elks Football Club on the sale of substantially all of its assets, Finning International Inc. on the wind‑up of its equipment rental business, and Manning Diversified Forest Products Ltd. on its sale to West Fraser. She has also successfully defended employers charged with occupational health and safety offences and advised employers on responding to and investigating workplace incidents.

Cristina holds an LL.B (with Distinction) and a B.A. (with Distinction) from the University of Alberta (2003, 1997). She was admitted to the Alberta Bar in 2004. She regularly presents on occupational health and safety, employment, and labour topics, and is actively involved in the legal and community organizations.

Cristina has been recognised in Chambers Canada in Employment and Labour (Alberta).