ALLARD SCHOOL OF LAW - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Associate Dean, Academic Affairs
Professor Uteck practiced law in Nova Scotia before before deciding to pursue an academic career beginning at the SMU Sobey School of Business. She completed her doctorate on reconceptualizing spatial privacy for the Internet of Everything during which time she was the recipient of several awards, including the Gowlings Fellow in Technology Law, as well as winning several international peer reviewed competitions.
Prior to her appointment in the Educational Leadership faculty stream at Allard School of Law in 2019, Professor Uteck taught extensively in the 1L curriculum and in areas of commercial law, including e-commerce at both Dalhousie and University of Ottawa law schools, as well as courses focused on her research interests in privacy and more broadly, law and technology including an interdisciplinary course she developed, The Law of Every ware. She was also a Visiting Professor in the international graduate business law programme at Vrije University in Amsterdam where she taught privacy and e-commerce law.
Job Titles:
- Associate Dean, Research and International
- Professor
Professor Kaushal joined the Allard School of Law, University of British Columbia in July 2016. She works in the fields of immigration and citizenship law, public law, and legal theory, and has published in all of these fields.
Prior to joining the Allard School of Law, Asha held a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Toronto, Faculty of Law. Before commencing her graduate studies, she worked in a variety of legal capacities, including as a law clerk for the Court of Appeal for Ontario, as an aspiring civil litigator in Toronto, and as an international investment lawyer.
Professor Kaushal's research examines the ways in which law encounters diversity and difference across a range of legal settings. Her present focus is on immigration law and its adjacent fields, although she continues to explore how conceptions of community and belonging relate to legal orders more generally.
Asha supervises graduate students in subjects related to her research and teaching interests. She is affiliated with the UBC Centre for Migration Studies, a UBC Research Excellence Cluster.
Bill Black's research interests pivot around Human Rights Reform, Equality Rights, and Mediation and other Dispute Resolution within Human Rights Agencies. He has written on the Charter of Rights and Freedoms emphasizing equality rights and on various aspects of human rights, including the human rights process, employment equity and systemic discrimination. He is the Principle Investigator (along with Dean Phil Bryden of the Faculty of Law, University of New Brunswick) for the Human Rights Dispute Resolution component of UBC's Dispute Resolution Program. From 1999-2000 he was a member of the Human Rights Act Review Panel, which published its report in June of 2000. He was Visiting Professor and Director of the University of Ottawa's Human Rights Research and Education Centre from 1989-93, and headed a research project on human rights for the B.C. government in 1994. Professor Black joined the Allard School of Law in 1970 as Assistant Professor, was promoted to Associate Professor in 1975 and Professor in 1998.
Billy Garton (B.Sc.F. (U. of T. 1983), LL.B. (U. of T. 1989)) is a Vancouver lawyer with over 25 years of experience advising clients on forestry law topics, primarily focused on the commercial, first nations and environmental aspects of forestry law. He previously lead the forestry law practice at Bull, Housser & Tupper LLP (now Norton Rose Fulbright LLP) where his clients included large and small timber tenure holders, first nation governments, logging contractors, lenders to the forest sector and industry associations. He recently retired as General Counsel to Seaspan ULC, a large BC-based shipbuilder and marine services provider. Prior to attending law school Billy worked in the BC coastal forest industry as well as in Alberta and Ontario.
Job Titles:
- Coordinator of Student Academic Services at the Peter a. Allard School
Boyuan Xian is the Coordinator of Student Academic Services at the Peter A. Allard School of Law.
Job Titles:
- Professor
- Research Associate at the Centre for Palestine Studies
Prior to joining the law faculty in 2021, Brenna Bhandar was a Reader in Law and Critical Theory at SOAS, University of London, and previously held faculty positions at Queen Mary School of Law, Kent Law School and the University of Reading Law School. She has also held visiting appointments at L'École des hautes études en science sociales (Paris) and the Stellenbosch University Faculty of Law (South Africa).
Professor Bhandar's research and teaching lie within the fields of property law, critical theory, colonial legal history and critical race feminism. She is the author or editor of 4 volumes, including Colonial Lives of Property: Law Land and Racial Regimes of Ownership, published in 2018 with Duke University Press, and the co-authored book of interviews (with Rafeef Ziadah) Revolutionary Feminisms: Conversations on Collective Action and Radical Thought published in 2020 with Verso. Her work has been translated into Catalan, Spanish, German and Italian.
Brenna is a research associate at the Centre for Palestine Studies, SOAS, University of London, and a member of the Radical Philosophy editorial collective. She is happy to supervise doctoral and post-doctoral researchers working broadly in the areas of property, critical theory, race, geography and colonialism.
Brian Bird's primary research interests are constitutional law and theory, interactions between courts and legislatures, jurisprudence, philosophy of law, legal history, and bills of rights.
Before joining Allard Law, Brian was a postdoctoral research fellow at Princeton University in the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions. At Princeton, Brian was also a lecturer in Politics.
Brian's academic writing has appeared in the Dalhousie Law Journal, Cambridge Law Review, Alberta Law Review, Supreme Court Law Review, Saskatchewan Law Review, and Manitoba Law Journal.
Brian has co-edited three collections of essays published by LexisNexis Canada: The Forgotten Fundamental Freedoms of the Charter (2020), Forgotten Foundations of the Canadian Constitution (2022), and Rights, Freedoms, and Their Limits: Reimagining Section 1 of the Charter (2023).
Brian's writing on current affairs has appeared in a variety of media outlets, including the Globe and Mail and the National Post.
Brian clerked for judges of the Supreme Court of British Columbia and for the Hon. Justice Andromache Karakatsanis at the Supreme Court of Canada. He completed his doctorate at McGill University. He also holds degrees from the University of Oxford, the University of Victoria, and Simon Fraser University.
Job Titles:
- Partner at Dolden Wallace Folick LLP in Vancouver
Brian Rhodes is a partner at Dolden Wallace Folick LLP in Vancouver. He has appeared as counsel at all levels of court in British Columbia and Alberta, as well as the Ontario Superior Court. Brian's practice has a particular emphasis on construction law, professional liability and product liability. Brian holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of British Columbia and a Bachelor of Laws from Dalhousie University. In 2010 Brian completed the Program of Instruction for Lawyers - Mediation Workshop at Harvard University
Carl Monk (BA (Royal Military College of Canada), MA (Royal Roads) JD (UBC)) has served in the Royal Canadian Navy and later in the Office of the Judge Advocate General in the Canadian Armed Forces for 28 years. He deployed on a warship to the Gulf of Oman (2002), with the United Nations Mission in Sudan (2009), and domestically to the BC wildfire response (2017). He has previously held instructor positions at the Canadian Forces Leadership and Recruit School, the Royal Military College, and the Military Law Centre. Carl continues to practice military law on a part time basis and is the CEO of Transform International (Canada). He is happily married with two young daughters and continues to work hard at improving his surfing, tennis, and parenting skills, although not necessarily in that order!
Job Titles:
- Coordinator, Equity Diversity & Inclusion
Carlos is the Coordinator, Equity Diversity & Inclusion at the Allard School of Law.
Cassandra Florio (B.A., First Class Honours in Economics (McGill University 2006), J.D. (University of Toronto 2010)) is Senior Solicitor and Counsel in the Commercial Group of the Office of the General Counsel at British Columbia Hydro and Power Authority. Cassandra began her practice in New York at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, and prior to joining BC Hydro was Counsel in the Corporate Commercial Group of Borden Ladner Gervais LLP, dealing primarily with private company mergers and acquisitions, as well as general corporate and commercial matters. Cassandra has been a recurring guest lecturer with the Professional Legal Training Course since 2016, and was recognized in the 2022 -2024 editions of Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch in Canada for corporate law.
Catherine Chow (B.A. 1994 (University of Calgary), LL.B. 1997 (University of Calgary), LL.M. 2007 (UBC)) is the Chief Legal Officer for the Vancouver Canucks Sports & Entertainment. Taking up this role after 17 years as the VP Legal + General Counsel of Keg Restaurants Ltd., Catherine is an experienced legal executive handling a broad portfolios of legal matters across Canada and US for public and private companies. With experience in financing, real estate, business development, franchising, key partnership agreements, risk management, litigation, trademark protection, and compliance, she has been teaching her expertise at Allard since 2016 with the inception of the Business Law Clinic. Catherine has been appointed for a second term as a hearing panel adjudicator for the Law Society of British Columbia, and published numerous decisions. Her accolades include awards such as Top 25 Inhouse Counsel in Canada, Adam Albright Adjunct Teaching Award and Shauna Little Award for volunteerism.
Catherine Kim, BA (UBC 2007), JD (UBC 2012), was called to the Bar in British Columbia in 2013. Ms. Kim is a lawyer with Boughton Law and specializes in estates and trust planning, as well as estate administration. She focuses on personal estate and business succession planning and advises on matters such as: wealth preservation, probate minimization and incapacity planning. Ms. Kim's background in tax also equips her to navigate various income tax and regional real estate tax issues relevant to estates and trusts. Ms. Kim completed the CPA Canada In-Depth Tax Course in 2019 and is recognized in the list of "Best Lawyers in Canada", as voted by other experts in her field. She is a regular presenter with the Pacific Business & Law Institute and at conferences for lawyers, accountants and financial advisors.
Job Titles:
- Faculty and Graduate Programs Administrative Assistant
Job Titles:
- Lawyer With CFM Lawyers LLP
Chelsea Hermanson is a lawyer with CFM Lawyers LLP. She previously worked as legal counsel for the British Columbia Ministry of Attorney General. Chelsea practices primarily in class actions, working on cases involving price fixing, product liability, and institutional abuse.
Job Titles:
- Professor Emerita
- Queen 's Counsel
Professor Boyle taught law in a number of universities before joining the University of British Columbia - Queen's University, Belfast, the University of the West Indies, the University of Windsor, and Dalhousie University.
Cindy Phillips (B.A., Honours (University of British Columbia), J.D. (University of British Columbia)), is a lawyer in the Litigation and Dispute Resolution Department of Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP in Vancouver. Her practice focuses on commercial disputes, including shareholder disputes and claims in breach of contract and tort, fraud claims, and personal injury appeals. Cindy also has experience with class actions and regulatory prosecutions. Prior to teaching Civil Procedure, Cindy was involved with running the Allan McEachern Course in Advanced Trial Advocacy, Law 472.
Prior to joining the Allard School of Law in 1992, Claire Young practiced law with the Alberta Attorney-General's department for several years and taught law at the University of Western Ontario from 1984-1992.She is the co-author of two books and the author of numerous articles on tax law and policy. Her other research interests include feminist legal theory and sexuality and the law. She was awarded the University of British Columbia Killam prize for excellence in teaching in 1998 and 2002. In 1999 she held the Dunhill Madden Butler Visiting Chair in Women and the Law at the University of Sydney, Australia. She has consulted with the Department of Finance and several international organizations on tax policy issues and is currently a a member of the Joint Commonwealth Secretariat and the International Development Research Centre (IRDC) research team (based in London, U.K.) working on The Gender Responsive Budget Project.
In 2003 Professor Young was awarded the Therese Casgrain Fellowship in recognition of her research on women and economic issues.
Dana is the JD Admissions Advisor at the Peter A. Allard School of Law. Dana holds a BA (Hons) in International Business from the University of Huddersfield in the UK, where she also played a key role in advising international students and assisting with their enrollment in the Business School. She then worked as an Admissions and Recruitment Specialist at Nazarbayev University in Kazakhstan, streamlining the admissions process for incoming MBA students.
Job Titles:
- Founding Partner of Callison & Hanna
Darwin Hanna is a founding partner of Callison & Hanna www.chlaw.ca and is one of six Indigenous lawyers with the firm. This year the firm celebrated 25 years of service to Indigenous Nations. He has worked for Indigenous Nations throughout British Columbia and the Northwest Territories on a wide array of legal matters with a focus on reconciliation, land claims, specific claims, community governance and economic development, and employment law. He is a member of the Law Societies of British Columbia and the Northwest Territories. He was lead counsel for various precedent setting Specific Claims, including Siska Indian Band v. HMTQ, 2018 SCTC 2, Akisq'nuk First Nation v. Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada 2020 and Siska Indian Band v HMTQ, 2021 SCTC 2. Since 2001, he has been an Adjunct Professor at the Allard School of Law at UBC and has taught First Nations and Economic Development. He is the author of Legal Issues on Indigenous Economic Development published by LexisNexis. He is a member of the working group of officials to explore how UNDRIP will be implemented in the NWT. He was the recipient of the 2014 Premier's Award (GNWT) for Collaboration on the Wildlife Act Working Group which developed the new Wildlife Act. And, Callison & Hanna were the inaugural recipients of the Special Contribution Award of the Aboriginal Lawyers Forum, Canadian Bar Association, for recognition of the firm's contribution to addressing the various issues facing Aboriginal people in the law in 2013. Callison & Hanna was the recipient of the Aboriginal Business Award, BC Achievement Foundation in 2016. He is director with the piyeʔwiʔx kt Language Foundation Society. He is a member of the Nlaka'pmux Nation from the community of Lytton.
Dean Pindell received his A.B. (Economics) in 1993 from Duke University and his J.D. in 1996 from Harvard Law School. Following graduation, he practiced community development law in Baltimore, MD, followed by a fellowship and visiting assistant professorship at the University of Baltimore School of Law Community Development Clinic. He joined the William S. Boyd School of Law at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) in 2000 as an Assistant Professor and earned promotion to Professor in 2008.
Job Titles:
- Legal Counsel at Vancouver Coastal Health Authority
Deanna Fedio is currently a Legal Counsel at Vancouver Coastal Health Authority, where she has practiced since her call to the bar. Her practice includes advising on public health, professional regulation, adult guardianship, human rights, occupational health and safety, employment, health care consent, privacy, and providing representation before administrative tribunals and courts. She was one of the main advisors to public health and clinical leadership during the pandemic. Deanna regularly volunteers on international human rights projects relating to Indigenous and women's rights in the mining sector and is an executive member of the CBA Health Law section.
Deborah Carlson is Staff Lawyer at West Coast Environmental Law and has been responsible for the Green Communities Program since 2010. Prior to joining West Coast worked as part of the climate change team at the David Suzuki Foundation and as a litigator in Vancouver.
Job Titles:
- Partner at First Peoples Law LLP
Dr. Bruce McIvor is a partner at First Peoples Law LLP. His work includes both litigation and negotiation on behalf of Indigenous Peoples across Canada. Bruce is recognized nationally and internationally as a leading practitioner of Aboriginal law in Canada. His collection of essays entitled Standoff: Why Reconciliation Fails Indigenous People and How to Fix It was published in the fall of 2021 by Harbour Publishing. Bruce is a member of the Manitoba Métis Federation.
Job Titles:
- Tax Administration and Dispute Resolution ( LAW 413D )
Ed Kroft, K.C. (J.D. (Osgoode Hall 1978), LL.M. (UBC 1980), CPA (Hons)) is a partner with Bennett Jones LLP and is the leader of that firm's Tax Controversy and Litigation Group. Ed has taught courses in tax law, tax policy and tax litigation as an adjunct professor in the Faculty of Law for over 30 years. Ed's practice is exclusively dedicated to handling federal and provincial tax disputes, including those related to transfer pricing. He appears before all levels of court, including Supreme Court of Canada, and has published extensively on taxation issues. Ed is a former member of the editorial board of the Canadian Tax Journal and sat for 20 years on the Rules Committee of the Tax Court of Canada. He is a recipient of the Award for Excellence in Income Tax Practice and Education from the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants , the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal and the Adam Albright Award for Excellence in teaching at the Faculty of Law.
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor
- Principal Investigator
- Associate Professor at the University of British Columbia Allard School
- Expert
Efrat Arbel is an Associate Professor at the University of British Columbia Allard School of Law. Her research examines how legal rights are negotiated and defined in liminal legal spaces like the border, the detention center, and the prison. She has published widely in these fields.
Prior to joining the Allard School of Law, Dr. Arbel completed her masters studies and doctoral degree at Harvard Law School, where she was Canada Research Fellow with the Weatherhead Centre for International Affairs and a researcher with the Harvard Immigration and Refugee Law Clinic. She then held a postdoctoral appointment at the University of British Columbia, with visiting appointments at the Oxford Center for Criminology and the European University Institute.
Presently, Dr. Arbel is principal investigator on a SSHRC-funded study examining the lived experience of immigration detention in Canada. She is recipient of the 2022 Killam Accelerator Research Fellowship.
Dr. Arbel has served as an expert witness in Canadian judicial proceedings and prepared independent research reports for government agencies. She has also engaged in consultations with, among others, the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), Canadian Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB), and United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Dr. Arbel has appeared before committees of the House of Commons and the Senate. She undertakes pro bono litigation within her field of research, most recently appearing before the Supreme Court of Canada as intervener co-counsel in Canadian Council for Refugees v Canada. Dr. Arbel serves as an advisor to the Multi-Agency Partnership BC Immigration Holding Center Support Program and conducts training for the Immigration and Refugee Board's Gender Taskforce.
Dr. Arbel is a frequent media commentator and has been cited by numerous media outlets, including by The Globe and Mail, National Post, and The New York Times. She is featured in the documentary film Finding Freedom: the Endless Pursuit of an Elusive Dream.
Dr. Arbel serves on the Executive Committee of UBC's Centre for Migration Studies and is a member of the International Editorial Board of Oxford University's Border Criminologies.
Job Titles:
- Advanced Legal Research ( LAW 430 )
Emilie LeDuc (B.A., LL.B., MLIS) is a research lawyer at Harper Grey LLP. She graduated from Allard Hall in 2008 and practiced general litigation at a top-rated boutique for almost nine years prior to becoming a dedicated research lawyer. Emilie has drafted memoranda, opinions, pleadings, mediation briefs, arguments, leave applications, and factums on complex and high-profile cases.
Emily MacKinnon (BMus (University of Ottawa), MA (UBC), JD (UBC)) has served in the Canadian Armed Forces Reserves for 23 years, first with the Canadian Army and later in the Office of the Judge Advocate General. She deployed with the Office of the Judge Advocate General to Ukraine (2021). She has held instructor and leadership positions with the Communications recruit school in Shilo, Manitoba and with the Canadian Forces School of Communications and Electronics in Kingston, Ontario. Emily continues to practice military law on a part-time basis. She is also a partner with Osler, Hoskin, & Harcourt LLP, where she practices commercial and civil litigation. In her spare time, Emily flies planes and rides motorcycles.
Job Titles:
- Public Interest Coordinator
Emily Zarychta (she/her) is the Public Interest Coordinator at the Allard School of Law, where she promotes public interest law to Allard Law JD and graduate students, and enhances the public interest law career opportunities and resources available to students. Emily received her BA from the University of Manitoba and her JD from the University of Victoria. She was admitted to the British Columbia Bar in 2021, and practiced human rights law at a non-profit social justice law firm in Vancouver prior to joining Allard.
Erez Aloni's scholarship examines how the law of family and intimacy both reflects and reshapes broader legal and social orders. He is particularly interested in family law's exceptional position within private law and in the distributive consequences of regulating marriage, cohabitation, and surrogacy. His work highlights the paradoxes of recognition: how legal reforms designed to promote equality can also entrench hierarchy and produce new forms of disadvantage.
Aloni serves on the Executive Council of the International Society of Family Law and has been Faculty Co-Editor of the Canadian Journal of Family Law since 2017. He is also a Contributing Editor in the Equality Section of Jotwell. In addition to publishing in scholarly law journals and edited collections, he has written op-eds for the LA Times, The Guardian, The Globe and Mail, and The Vancouver Sun, and he is a frequent source of expert commentary in media.
At the Peter A. Allard School of Law, Aloni teaches contracts, family law, and law and sexuality. His dedication to teaching excellence was recognized with the George Curtis Memorial Award in 2021, and his research achievements with the Killam Faculty Research Fellowship in 2023.
Earlier in his career, he was a Fellow at the Center for Reproductive Rights and Columbia Law School, and an Assistant Professor at Whittier Law School in California. He earned his LL.M. and S.J.D. at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, where he also taught a course on law and sexuality. Aloni has taught as a visiting professor at Reichman University's Radzyner Law School, the Faculty of Law at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the Faculty of Law at Tel Aviv University, and the College of Law, National Taiwan University.
Job Titles:
- Partner With Edelmann & Co.
Erica Olmstead is a Partner with Edelmann & Co. Law Offices, where she practices immigration, refugee, and criminal law. Her main area of focus is the intersection between these areas. She has extensive experience resolving particularly complex inadmissibility and refugee cases for persons who face legal hurdles in seeking to obtain or keep their status in Canada. She also acts on complex criminal files where there is an immigration nexus or an appealable issue. Erica regularly appears before all divisions of the Immigration and Refugee Board, the Federal Court, the BC Supreme Court, the BC Court of Appeal and the Federal Court of Appeal. She has appeared in a number of cases before the Supreme Court of Canada. Erica also works with Legal Aid BC as a case review lawyer with the Appeals Department, where she began working as a student in 2010.
Job Titles:
- Associate at DLA Piper 's Vancouver
Gavyn Backus is an Associate at DLA Piper's Vancouver office. He is a corporate law generalist and a trusted advisor in the areas of commercial law, corporate governance, securities law, corporate finance, and mergers and acquisitions. He advises companies at all stages of their lifecycle in a range of industries, including information technology, fintech, biotech, ecommerce, entertainment, and emerging markets. He frequently advises clients on a variety of corporate commercial matters, including purchase and sale transactions, business combinations, corporate finance, licences and services agreements, and the negotiation of other complex strategic relationships. Outside of the legal profession, Gavyn has worked as a strategic advisor to startups. He has experience in marketing, community engagement, and project management for various non-for-profit organizations, and is currently on the Board of Directors of The Beaumont Studios in Vancouver. He also has a background in science. Using his diverse experience, Gavyn applies a methodical approach to provide clients with practical legal advice.
Greg Noble is a senior partner at EY and leader of the Transfer Pricing West Practice. With over 28 years of transfer pricing experience, Greg has led projects in a wide variety of industries including Private Equity & Pensions, Energy, Mining, Media & Technology, Retail and Agriculture & Food.
Job Titles:
- Communications Manager
- Communications Manager at the Peter a. Allard School
Heidi Wudrick is the Communications Manager at the Peter A. Allard School of Law, where she leads the law school's editorial and brand strategies.
Heidi Wudrick is the Communications Manager at the Peter A. Allard School of Law, where she leads the faculty's editorial and brand strategies. Prior to joining the law school in 2021, she has worked in a variety of communications roles in higher education, including Communications Manager at UBC's Faculty of Arts, as well as communications roles in conservation, government and health.
Heidi holds an MA in Communication from Simon Fraser University and a BA from the University of Victoria.
James Cantwell (BCom (University of British Columbia 2010), J.D. (University of Alberta 2017)) is a senior associate in the Corporate and Capital Markets group of Borden Ladner Gervais LLP, dealing primarily with public company transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, equity financing and initial public offerings, as well as corporate governance and regulatory compliance matters. James has practiced at Borden Ladner Gervais LLP since articling in 2017. Prior to attending law school, James worked in helicopter leasing at a global aviation company
James Goulden K.C. (B.Comm. (University of Calgary 1989), LL.B. (UBC 1992)) is a partner in the dispute resolution and litigation department with Norton Rose Fulbright Canada LLP (formerly known in Vancouver as Bull Housser LLP). His practice is focused in the areas of commercial, real estate, administrative, securities, and government disputes and litigation. Mr. Goulden has conducted a broad range of matters before all levels of court in British Columbia, the Federal Court of Canada and various administrative tribunals. He has been an adjunct professor at the Allard School of Law at UBC for over 20 years. Mr. Goulden is also the co-author of the book "Procedural Strategies for Litigators in British Columbia".
James Hickling, M.Sc., LL.B., B.C.L. has practiced natural resources law in British Columbia for twenty years. He was a UBC Law gold medalist, clerked at the Supreme Court of Canada, held a Commonwealth Scholarship at Balliol College, Oxford, and the WM Tapp Studentship in Law at Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge. He has led negotiations on significant natural resource issues and published articles on energy law, environmental law, and indigenous rights in leading academic journals.
Professor Janine Benedet joined the law school faculty in 2005 after teaching at Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto, where she also practiced labour and employment law. After her L.L.B. graduation from UBC she clerked for fellow UBC alumnus Justice Frank Iacobucci at the Supreme Court of Canada. That was followed by graduate studies - leading to both an LL.M. and an S.J.D. - at the University of Michigan. Professor Benedet teaches criminal law, labour law, legal ethics and the law of sexual offences. She has served as Associate Dean, Academic Affairs and Dean pro tem. She is a member of the British Columbia bar and engages in pro bono litigation in sexual violence cases.
Professor Benedet's research focuses on legal responses to men's sexual violence against women. Her current research considers barriers to successful criminal justice system responses to the sexual assault of women and girls, including the impact of the Charter of Rights on the evolution of sexual assault law. She also researches the use of criminal law to target sex buying and pimping. She is an Associate Editor of the Criminal Reports.
Job Titles:
- Assistant Professor
- Academic Director, Indigenous Community Legal Clinic
Jessica is from Samson Cree Nation/Nipisikohpahk, and her Cree/nehiyawak name is Maskwa Iskwêw, meaning Bear Woman. Before law school, she completed a Bachelor of Arts degree at Simon Fraser University, majoring in political science. Jessica obtained her Juris Doctor from Peter A. Allard School of Law at UBC in 2016 and was called to the Alberta Bar in 2017 after completing her articles at Calgary Legal Guidance.
Following her articling term, Jessica served as the temporary Homeless Outreach Lawyer at Calgary Legal Guidance until the end of 2017. She then entered private practice, focusing on criminal defence for Indigenous and marginalized people. During this time, Jessica played a pivotal role in establishing the Calgary Indigenous Court and contributed to the development of the Edmonton Indigenous Court through judicial education initiatives.
In 2019, Jessica joined Legal Aid Alberta as Duty Counsel for adult and youth criminal, and dedicated duty counsel for the Calgary Indigenous Court, Siksika Adult and Youth Criminal Court, and Tsuu'tina Adult and Youth Criminal Court. She also appeared regularly in first appearance Court, bail Court, domestic violence Court, and various circuit Court locations around Calgary and Edmonton.
In 2022, Jessica moved to the Law Society of Alberta as the first Indigenous Initiatives Counsel. In this role, she led initiatives aimed at advancing Reconciliation, particularly focusing on ensuring Call to Action 27 is adhered to. Jessica has been actively involved in numerous committees and boards in Alberta, including the Access to Justice Committee through the Court of Justice of Alberta, the Wîyasôw Iskweêw - Restorative Justice Committee, the Alberta Court's Gladue Report Committee, and the Reconciliation Discernment Circle.
Jessica has also been a guest lecturer at both the University of Calgary School of Law and the University of Alberta's Law School. Throughout her career, she has presented at many conferences, panels, and webinars on building competencies in working with Indigenous peoples within the justice system. Additionally, Jessica has developed intercultural competency courses for both Legal Aid Alberta and the Law Society of Alberta.
Job Titles:
- Executive Director & Senior Counsel at West Coast Environmental
Jessica Clogg is the Executive Director & Senior Counsel at West Coast Environmental Law where she has worked as environmental and Indigenous rights lawyer for the past 25 years.
Job Titles:
- Associate Dean
- Associate Professor
- Associate Dean, Graduate Studies and Professional Programs
- Professor
Jie Cheng is an Associate Professor of Law and Associate Dean Graduate and Professional Programs at the Peter A. Allard School of Law, University of British Columbia. Her teaching and research interests include Chinese law and government, comparative constitutional law, judicial politics, and the Hong Kong Basic Law. Before joining UBC, she taught at Tsinghua University School of Law from 1999 to 2019. Professor Cheng has held visiting appointments at the University of Michigan Law School, Columbia Law School, the University of Oslo Human Rights Center, Sciences Po Paris, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, the University of Hong Kong, and the University of Toronto. She was called to the Bar in Beijing in 1995 and was one of the founders of the Tsinghua University Legal Clinic. Between 2006 and 2007, she was seconded to the Hong Kong and Macau Basic Law Commissions of the Standing Committee of the Chinese National People's Congress. Professor Cheng is an associate member of the International Academy of Comparative Law.
Professor Cheng has published extensively in both Chinese and English. Her recent publications include "The Legal Status of LGBTQ+ in China: A Law and Politics Perspective" in Constitutional Forum (2024) and "Identity Politics and Constitutional Change in Hong Kong: The National Security Law and 25 Years of the Basic Law" in Hong Kong Law Journal (2022). She is an SSHRC Insight Grant holder for the research project "Judicial Politics in China" from 2022 to 25.
Joel A. Morris (B.A., Hons. (Queen's University 2007), LL.B. (UBC 2010)) is a Partner in Harper Grey's Health Law, Commercial Litigation, Professional Regulation, and Insurance Law practice groups. Mr. Morris' practice focuses on professional liability; commercial litigation, including multi-party cases and class actions; and administrative law. He has represented clients at all levels of court in British Columbia and before various administrative tribunals. Mr. Morris acts as pro bono counsel in civil and administrative law matters. He serves as Harper Grey's LSLAP (Law Students' Legal Advice Program) coordinator and volunteers as a supervising lawyer with LSLAP. Prior to joining Harper Grey, Mr. Morris clerked at the British Columbia Supreme Court.
Job Titles:
- Professor ( on Sabbatical )
Joel Bakan writes and researches in the areas of Constitutional Law, socio-legal studies, legal theory and economic law. He has law degrees from Oxford, Dalhousie, and Harvard. He studied at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar and served as Law Clerk in 1985 for Chief Justice Brian Dickson of the Supreme Court of Canada He joined the Law Faculty in 1990 as Associate Professor after a year's visit from Osgoode Hall Law School, where he had been Assistant Professor since 1987. Professor Bakan teaches Constitutional Law, Contracts, socio-legal courses and the graduate seminar.
Professor Bakan's scholarly work includes Just Words: Constitutional Rights and Social Wrongs(University of Toronto Press, 1997), as well as textbooks, edited collections, and numerous articles in leading legal and social science journals. In 2003, he published The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power,which received critical acclaim, was widely translated, and became a bestseller in several countries. The book inspired a feature documentary film, written by Professor Bakan and co-created with Mark Achbar. The film, also widely translated, won numerous awards, including best foreign documentary at the Sundance Film Festival. In 2011, Professor Bakan published Childhood Under Siege: How Big Business Targets Children, which also was widely translated and won awards.
Bakan's new book and film, The New Corporation: How ‘Good' Corporations are Bad for Democracy will be released in September, 2020.
In addition to awards for his books and film, Professor Bakan is a two-time winner of the Faculty of Law's Teaching Excellence Award, a recipient of a UBC Killam Research Prize, and, in 2004, received the honour of being named British Columbia's Academic of the Year, a province-wide award for which academics in all disciplines are eligible.
Job Titles:
- Member of McMillan LLP 's Capital Markets
Jon Sigurdson, K.C., B.A. (UBC) LL.B. (UBC) was appointed to the Supreme Court of British Columbia in 1994. He served as a Justice of that Court until his retirement in November, 2017. He articled at Bull Housser and Tupper (now Norton Rose) and after working there for a year, practised with Fraser Kelleher Sigurdson Watts and Gudmundseth before rejoining Bull Housser and Tupper in 1981. He had a commercial/civil litigation practice and after 20 years as a lawyer was appointed to the Supreme Court of British Columbia. He was on the Court for 23 years before retiring. He is the former President of the UBC Law Alumni Association and was the co-chair of the New Federally Appointed Judges Program offered by the National Judicial Institute and the Canadian Institute for the Administration of Justice. Presently he is a contributing editor for the Advocate, the B.C. lawyers' magazine, is a part time radio announcer on Crossroads, a blues program, and enjoys writing and taking care of his grandchildren who are ardent Montreal Canadiens fans as is he.
Jonathan Corbett is a graduate of U-Vic Law and has been practicing in Vancouver for 20 years. He is a partner at Quinlan Abrioux, and his practice focusses primarily on defending personal injury and professional negligence claims.
Joost Blom joined the Allard School of Law in 1972, served as Associate Dean 1982-85, and as Dean 1997-2003. His teaching subjects were Contracts, Torts, Conflict of Laws, and Intellectual Property. He became Professor Emeritus on his retirement in 2017 but continues to teach at the law school part-time. He received the Faculty of Law Teaching Excellence Award 2005. He has been a Visiting Professor at Osgoode Hall Law School 1981, Part-time Lecturer at the University of Victoria 1979-81, Research Fellow and Lecturer at the Canadian Studies Centre at the University of Trier (Germany) 1996, and Senior Fellow, Faculty of Law, University of Melbourne 2006. Professor Blom's research and writing have been concentrated in the areas of Contracts and Torts, focusing on the relationship between them; in Conflict of Laws (Private International Law); and in Comparative Law. He served as President of the Canadian Association of Law Teachers 1983-84. He was elected by the lawyers in Vancouver District as a bencher of the Law Society of BC for four terms 2004-11 and became a Life Bencher as of 2012. He served as a law-school-appointed director of the Continuing Legal Education Society of BC 1991-2017, including Chair of the Board 1996-97 and Treasurer 1995-96 and 2004-06. He also served as a director-at-large of the British Columbia Law Institute 2007-17, including Vice-Chair 2013-15 and Chair 2015-17. Prof. Blom served on the board of Courthouse Libraries B.C. 2006-13 and was Treasurer 2009-13. He is currently Chair of the Mackenzie King Scholarship Board of Trustees (since 1986) and a Titular Member of the International Academy of Comparative Law. He has also been a Trustee of the UBC Faculty Pension Plan 2004-20. He was awarded the designation of Queen's Counsel (for B.C.) in 1985.
Job Titles:
- Corporate Counsel Externship ( 379E ) & Corporate Counsel Externship - Reflection ( LAW 380A )
- Position of Senior Director, Legal at Hootsuite
Karim Amlani holds the position of Senior Director, Legal at Hootsuite. He loves being an in-house lawyer and is excited to help students get a glimpse into life as an in-house lawyer through the Externship. At Hootsuite, Karim leads a team supporting the corporate, product and procurement functions. In his eight years at Hootsuite, he has closed M&A/financing transactions, negotiated business critical agreements with social networks, developed company-wide processes and considered the use of artificial intelligence technologies. Before joining Hootsuite, Karim was a lawyer in the securities and information technology groups at Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP. He also sits on the Dean's Advisory Committee for the Centre for Business Law at the University of British Columbia, and frequently contributes to industry activities within the in-house legal community.
Job Titles:
- Partner at First Peoples Law LLP
Kate Gunn is a partner at First Peoples Law LLP. Kate holds an LLM from the University of British Columbia, where her research focused on the interpretation of treaties between Indigenous Peoples and the Crown. She is also a founding member of the Justice and Corporate Accountability Project, a legal clinic which provides advocacy and support to communities affected by transnational corporate activities and resource extraction.
Job Titles:
- Partner at KPMG Law LLP in Vancouver
Kate Marples is a partner at KPMG Law LLP in Vancouver with over 17 years of experience advising clients on tax, trust and estate planning issues. She is a frequent speaker and writer and is a contributing author for the estate and trust taxation chapters of the Continuing Legal Education publication of the BC Probate and Estate Administration Manual.
Krista James is a lawyer, writer, feminist, and community organizer. She is currently Policy Director and Senior Legal Counsel for Vancouver Coastal Health. She was a Staff Lawyer with the BC Law Institute for 15 years, including 11 years in the position of National Director of the Canadian Centre for Elder Law. Krista was called to the BC bar in 1998 after articling with the Legal Services Society of BC (now Legal Aid BC). She has practiced labour and human rights law, and written and presented extensively on health law topics. Over the years Krista has worked with various legal non-profits as staff, volunteer, and board member, including both more traditional lawyer positions and gigs as advocate and victim assistance worker. You can find Krista on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/krista-james-27431840/.
Kwang Lim's business law practice includes corporate finance and M&A. He focuses on offering practical and strategic advice and facilitating opportunities for domestic and international clients, including entrepreneurs, start-ups, scale-ups, public companies, and broker-dealers across various industry sectors. Kwang also advises on securities law compliance and corporate governance issues. Kwang obtained his Master of Laws at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) with a specialization in business law. Kwang was named a Lexpert Rising Star for 2018, as one of Canada's leading lawyers under 40, and was named a Leading Lawyer to Watch - Corporate Finance & Securities by the Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory.
Job Titles:
- Associate in the Vancouver Office of Lawson Lundell LLP
Lauren Dresselhuis is an associate in the Vancouver office of Lawson Lundell LLP. She practices in the areas of commercial litigation and labour, employment and human rights. Lauren graduated from the Allard School of Law, where she received various awards including the David Roberts Prize in Legal Writing and the Guild Yule Prize in Ethics and Professionalism. She is excited to return to Allard as co-instructor for Law 312D and in her free time can be found petting dogs in her vicinity and reading legal books that no one else except her co-instructor thinks are interesting
Lindsay McGivern represents plaintiffs in medical negligence and birth injury litigation. She is a lawyer at Pacific Medical Law, a unique firm that practices solely in the field of medical malpractice. Since joining Pacific Medical Law, the primary focus of Lindsay's practice has been representing infants who were injured at birth or within the first month of life. Lindsay articled at a civil litigation defense firm before moving to Pacific Medical Law. Working on both sides of civil litigation has allowed her to have a broader perspective and given her a better understanding of the different approaches taken by plaintiff's and defense counsel. Lindsay received her Bachelor of Science degree from the University of British Columbia and her Juris Doctor degree from the Schulich School of Law at Dalhousie University. Lindsay also serves as a member of the CBABC Health Law section Executive.
Dr. Biuković is a Professor in the Allard School of Law. She teaches Contract Law, European Union Law, and International Trade Law. Her research interests are in the areas of international economic law and European Union integration. She publishes regularly on topics of legal transplantation of international norms and standards by national governments, the impact of regionalism on multilateral trade negotiations, mega-regional trade and investment agreements, and the development of European Union. She acted as a co-investigator in the Major Collaborative Research Initiative research project on Coordinated Compliance of International Trade Law and Human Rights funded by SSHRC from 2011 to 2018. Her work focused on the interaction between international trade rules and local human rights norms and practices in the context of performance of international trade agreements and cooperation among developing countries. At present, Dr. Biuković examines issues on collective memories and international law as a part of a new research project funded by Franklin Lew Innovation Fund.
Lynn Smith, O.C., K.C., B.A. (University of Calgary), LL.B. (University of British Columbia), LL.D. (Hon.) (Simon Fraser University) was appointed to the Supreme Court of British Columbia in 1998. She served as a Justice of that Court until September 2012. In 2005-06, Justice Smith was Executive Director of the National Judicial Institute, on secondment from the Court. She continues to serve on the faculty of the New Federally-Appointed Judges Program. She has been involved in international judicial education exchanges with China, Scotland, Ghana and Viet Nam. Prior to her appointment as a judge, she practised law, specializing in civil litigation, at Shrum Liddle and Hebenton (now McCarthy Tetrault). She taught law at the University of British Columbia 1981-97 in areas including Constitutional Law, Evidence, Civil Litigation, and Real Property. She was Dean of the U.B.C. Law Faculty 1991-97. She has published books and articles in the fields of Charter equality rights, civil litigation and evidence, human rights, and women's equality. She is a past Chair of the Law Foundation of British Columbia, the Board of B.C. Women's Hospital, and the Women's Legal Education and Action Fund. She currently serves on the Boards of Music in the Morning and of the Health Arts Society.
Margot Young is Professor in the Allard School of Law at the University of British Columbia. After studying at the University of British Columbia, the University of Toronto, and the University of California, Berkeley, Professor Young began her teaching career at the Faculty of Law at the University of Victoria. In 2002, she moved to the University of British Columbia.
Professor Young teaches in the areas of constitutional and social justice law. She was the Director of the Social Justice Specialization at the law school and has organized the Law and Society Speakers Series for close to a decade. Professor Young served three terms as Chair of the university-wide Faculty Association Status of Women Committee. She is a research associate with Green College, the Peter Wall Institute of Advanced Studies, and the Centre for Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice at UBC.
Professor Young's research interests focus on equality law and theory, women's economic equality, urban theory, and local housing politics and rights. She is also working on the intersections between environmental justice, social justice, feminism, and human rights. Professor Young was co-editor of the collection Poverty: Rights, Social Citizenship and Legal Activism and was Co-Principal Investigator of the Housing Justice Project (HousingJustice.ca). She is widely published in a variety of journals and edited books.
Professor Young is a member of the editorial boards of the Canadian Journal of Women and Law, the Review of Constitutional Studies, Studies in Housing Law and is on the advisory board of the Windsor Yearbook of Access to Justice. In 2016, she became co-editorship of the Law and Society Review.
Professor Young is active in a variety of professional and community organizations. She sits on the boards for Justice for Girls and the David Suzuki Foundation. She is Research Associate with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives-BC Office. Professor Young works with provincial and national women's equality groups during United Nation committees' periodic reviews of Canada's human rights record, travelling as an NGO representative to these meetings in New York and Geneva. More specifically, she works with the BC CEDAW Group and the Feminist Alliance for International Action.
Professor Young is a frequent commentator in the media on a variety of issues to do with social justice and socio-economic rights issues. Interviews include local, national, and international print, television, and radio coverage of key constitutional, equality, and civil liberties issues.
Max Faille is a partner in the Vancouver office of Cochrane Saxberg LLP, the largest Indigenous-led law firm in Canada, where he practices in Indigenous law and constitutional litigation. Max's clients principally consist of Indigenous governments, businesses and organizations across Canada, as well as private and public sector interests working with Indigenous communities. In addition to legal representation in the courts and in negotiations, Max regularly provides advice on matters of Aboriginal and treaty rights, First Nation taxation, self-government, and Indigenous governance and economic development. Max was named Benchmark Canada's Aboriginal Law Litigator of the Year for 2016, and is regularly recognized as a leading lawyer in the field of Aboriginal Law by Chambers Canada, Lexpert, Legal 500 and Best Lawyers in Canada. He represented the Assembly of First Nations in the seminal Bastien and Dube cases in the Supreme Court of Canada that breathed new life into the First Nation tax immunity. He previously served on the Board of the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business, and on the Taxpayers Ombudsman's Advisory Board. In December 2020, Max received the Northwest Territories Premier's Award for Indigenous Partnership.
Michelle Booker is Crown Counsel with Criminal Appeals and Special Prosecutions (CASP) in Vancouver, B.C.. Following graduation from law school, Ms. Booker clerked for the Supreme Court of British Columbia. After her call to the bar, Ms. Booker practiced as a commercial litigator with Fasken Martineau. In 2009, Ms. Booker joined B.C. Prosecution Services where she spent the next 10 years prosecuting serious crime and appearing at all levels of court. In 2018, Ms. Booker joined the Prosecution Support Unit within CASP. She now provides complex litigation and resource support in the areas of firearms, sexual offences, Charter and constitutional issues. Michelle is a frequent presenter at legal conferences, seminars and workshops. She is a faculty member with the National Criminal Law Program, Federation of Law Societies of Canada, a Supreme Court Advocacy Institute practice advisor and a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers. Michelle also sits on the Board of Courthouse Libraries B.C..
Mike Donaldson, KC (LLB, UBC (1994) LLM, Columbia (2017)) has practiced complex commercial and energy arbitration and litigation in Calgary for over 25 years, for the last several years with Lawson Lundell LLP. He has been repeatedly recognized by Chambers, Best Lawyers, Lexpert, Benchmark Litigation, and others as a leading lawyer in Commercial Litigation, Arbitration, and Appellate Advocacy. Mike has also published several articles in US and Canadian Law Journals and is the author of book chapters on damages, arbitration, and statutory interpretation. Mike completed his LLM at Columbia University in 2016-2017, where he was a James Kent Scholar and published several articles. Mike has also taught effective writing, legal drafting, and written advocacy courses to lawyers and business people in law firms, industry, government, and regulators.
Job Titles:
- Construction Law ( LAW 439 )
- Construction Litigation Specialist
Mike Preston is a construction litigation specialist and has run trials in B.C., Alberta, Ontario and the Yukon. At the appellate level he has appeared as lead counsel at the B.C. and Alberta Courts of Appeal. At the Supreme Court of Canada he was lead counsel for the successful appellant in Valard v. Bird. Currently called to the bar in B.C. (and formerly of the Ontario and Yukon bars), Mike began his career in commercial litigation. To hone his trial skills, he later joined the crown attorney's office where for 3 years he prosecuted several criminal trials a week. Prior to moving (back) to Vancouver, Mike practiced in Ottawa where his focus was drafting written arguments for cases in all areas of law going to the Supreme Court of Canada.
Mila Shah (B.A. (UBC), J.D. (Uvic)) is Crown Counsel with the B.C. Prosecution Service, specializing in criminal appeals in the B.C. Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Canada. Before joining the Crown, Ms. Shah practiced as a criminal defence lawyer with Peck and Company Barristers and was a supervising lawyer with the UBC Innocence Project. She is a former clerk to the previous Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin and she is currently the Vice-Chair of the Appellate Advocacy Section of the Canadian Bar Association, B.C. Branch.
Moira Aikenhead is a Lecturer at the Allard School of Law. Her current research focuses on the adequacy of federal and provincial responses to technology-facilitated gender violence from a feminist perspective. At Allard, Professor Aikenhead teaches Torts and Legal Research and Writing.
Professor Aikenhead's recent work examines legal responses to technology-facilitated violence within the context of abusive intimate partnerships. This includes the first analysis of British Columbia's novel framework for addressing the non-consensual distribution of intimate images, the Intimate Image Protection Act. This work builds on her dissertation research, which encompassed a comprehensive review and critique of the Canadian criminal justice system's response to technology-facilitated intimate partner violence. Professor Aikenhead's research highlights challenges that the legal system must face in addressing these evolving forms of violence, including the need to ensure evidentiary standards and legal conceptions of privacy and equality are not eroded in the context of digital violence.
Prior to joining the Allard School of Law, Professor Aikenhead taught Torts, Evidence, and Sentencing at the University of Victoria Faculty of Law. She is a founding member of the Women's Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF) Technology-Facilitated Violence Advisory Committee and an Associate of the BC Access to Justice Centre for Excellence (ACE).
Job Titles:
- Graduate Professional Programs Coordinator
Job Titles:
- Adjunct Professor at the Peter
Mr. John C.H. Kim is an Adjunct Professor at the Peter A. Allard School of Law and a partner at Norton Rose Fulbright Canada LLP / S.E.N.C.R.L., s.r.l. He practices corporate/commercial law with a focus on cross border M&A, inbound investments and technology sector transactions and projects, in particular those involving blockchain and cryptocurrencies.
Natasha Affolder is a Professor and a former Associate Dean Research and International at the Allard School of Law, University of British Columbia. She is a leading scholar in transnational environmental law whose research explores some of the most challenging and complex issues of our time. Her recent scholarship has sought to reveal and to challenge the marginalization of environmental law in legal practice and scholarship and to creatively expand the methods for studying environmental law and its global movements. She is the recipient of numerous awards including, most recently, the 2019 Richard Macrory Prize for the Best Article published in the Journal of Environmental Law.
A sought-after and frequent panelist, keynote speaker, and commentator, Professor Affolder has put her scholarly expertise to work as an advisor to indigenous communities, environment and development NGO's, and governments on multiple continents. She was a lawyer in private practice in Boston, Massachusetts with the firms Hill & Barlow, and (what is now) DLA Piper. She also held a research associate position at Harvard Business School and consulted for Oxfam International, working to integrate gender and development law perspectives in the negotiations leading to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Prior to beginning her professional career in legal practice and academia, Dr. Affolder completed a Bachelor of Civil Law (First Class) and a doctorate in law at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar.
Naz Mitha, KC is recognized as one of the leading counsel in British Columbia in the areas of labour and employment law and commercial litigation. Naz handles a wide range of workplace matters, including in the areas of employment, labour, human rights and administrative law. Naz's clients include public and private sector employers and senior employees. He also maintains a general commercial litigation practice, frequently acting in shareholder and partnership disputes. Naz has conducted hearings before all levels of court in Canada, including the Supreme Court of British Columbia, the British Columbia Court of Appeal, the Federal Court of Canada, and the Supreme Court of Canada. In addition, he regularly appears before various tribunals such as commercial and labour arbitration boards, the BC Labour Relations Board, the BC Employment Standards Tribunal, the BC Human Rights Tribunal, and the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal. In addition to his counsel work, Naz conducts workplace investigations into complex matters, including with respect to allegations of serious employee misconduct, financial improprieties and bullying and harassment. Naz also acts as a mediator in workplace disputes and commercial matters. Naz is a sought-after speaker and presenter and is an Adjunct Professor teaching Employment Law at the Peter A. Allard School of Law, University of British Columbia. Prior to co-founding Mitha Law Group, Naz was a partner at Western Canada's largest employer-side workplace law firm.
Job Titles:
- City of Nelson ‘Decommissions' Government Road Camp
At UNLV, Dean Pindell has held a number of academic administrative roles, most recently as Vice Provost and Special Advisor to the Executive Vice President and Provost from January to July 2019. He also served as Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs (2016-2018), and as Associate Dean of Academic Affairs and then Vice Dean in the Boyd School of Law (2012-2016).
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor of Teaching
- Is Director of the International Justice
- Professor
Nicole Barrett is Director of the International Justice and Human Rights (IJHR) Clinic at Allard Law, where she teaches international human rights, international criminal law international humanitarian law as well as a seminar on human trafficking law and policy.
Nicole Barrett is Director of the International Justice and Human Rights (IJHR) Clinic at Allard Law, where she teaches international human rights, international criminal law, and international humanitarian law. Professor Barrett and the IJHR Clinic work with international courts and tribunals, a wide range of international and domestic non-governmental organizations, and provide human rights law and policy advice to governments. Her research interests include human rights, international criminal law, corruption, and human trafficking, on which she has widely published, presented and testified.
From 2015 - 2019, Professor Barrett was also Executive Director of the Allard Prize for International Integrity and related initiatives. During this time, she oversaw development of the biennial Allard Prize and biannual Allard Prize photography competition and launched a vibrant anti-corruption and human rights hub at Allard Law, which held over 45 public events, including presentations, public discussions and debates, book launches, and film screenings with human rights leaders from around the world.
Professor Barrett began practicing law at Sullivan & Cromwell in New York City, where she specialized in complex white-collar criminal litigation and was a member of the Human Rights Committee of the New York City Bar Association. In 2004, she served as Legal Officer and then Trial Lawyer for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague (Office of the Prosecutor). In 2008, she worked as an international humanitarian law advisor for the defense of Guantánamo detainees and monitored military commissions in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. In 2012, Professor Barrett was a Senior Scholar in Residence at New York University Law School, where she directed legal projects with international criminal courts and tribunals.
Professor Barrett has a Masters of International Affairs and a Juris Doctorate from Columbia Law School, where she was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar and Articles Editor of the Columbia Human Rights Law Review. From 2001-2003, she served as a federal law clerk, first in New York City for the Honorable Gerard E. Lynch on the Southern District of New York United States (now US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit) and then in San Francisco for the Honorable John T. Noonan on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
Patricia M. Barkaskas is Métis from Alberta. Her research focuses on the intersection of justice and law, including access to justice, clinical legal education, and decolonizing and Indigenizing law. She is particularly interested in examining the value of Indigenous pedagogies in experiential learning, clinical legal education, and skills-based legal training, and disrupting the normative violence of colonial legal education.
Paul McLean (B.A. (St.F.X. University 1992), LL.B. (UNB 1995)). A partner with Mathews Dinsdale Clark LLP, Paul specializes in workplace law issues for employers and senior executives. He has significant experience in wrongful dismissal litigation, injunctions, CCAA proceedings, occupational health and safety, workplace class actions and executive compensation, including retention and incentive plans. He regularly appears before courts, administrative tribunals and commercial arbitrators in British Columbia and Alberta.
Peter Swanson (B.A. (UBC 1984), L.L.B. (UVIC 1987)) is a senior litigation lawyer with over 30 years of experience and is a founding partner of Bernard LLP. His practice includes cases involving the enforcement of maritime liens, vessel arrest and security, carriage of goods by water, civil and regulatory liability for ship source pollution, collision, salvage, port state control, charterparty and other commercial disputes, and constitutional issues arising in a marine context. Peter has represented clients at all levels of court in Canada, including the Provincial Court of British Columbia, the British Columbia Supreme Court, the Federal Court, the British Columbia Court of Appeal, the Federal Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Canada. He was lead counsel in the successful defence in R. v. MV Marathassa, 2019 BCPC 13. Peter is very active in the marine community being a past president and current director of the Vancouver Maritime Arbitrators Association, past president and a current director of the International Sailors Society Canada, a director of the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers (Canada) and a director of the Chamber of Shipping of British Columbia. Peter is recognized by his peers as a leader in the field of maritime law being listed in The Best Lawyers in Canada, the Canadian Legal L'expert Directory, Who's Who Legal and Chambers and Partners.
Robert Danay is a litigator with British Columbia's Ministry of Attorney General's Litigation Group in Vancouver (formerly with the Department of Justice Canada). He has represented the provincial and federal governments in a wide variety of high profile civil, constitutional and administrative law cases at all levels of court in Canada. Mr. Danay earned a B.Sc. from the University of Toronto, an LL.B. from the Osgoode Hall Law School and a B.C.L from the University of Oxford. He also clerked for the Deputy Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court of South Africa.
He has taught courses ranging from Law and Technology, Administrative Law, Public Law, Torts and the Law of Evidence at UBC's Allard School of Law as well as at the University of New Brunswick Faculty of Law.
Mr. Danay has published scholarly articles on topics ranging from internet defamation to the standard of review in administrative law in journals such as the McGill Law Journal, the University of Toronto Law Journal, the University of British Columbia Law Journal, the Yale Journal of Law and Technology, the Hong Kong Law Journal, and the South African Journal on Human Rights.
Rod Holloway is a lifetime Vancouverite. Born in St Paul's Hospital in 1946, he was raised and schooled in North Vancouver and then attended UBC where he graduated in law in 1972. Following articles with Guild Yule and Co he became the Legal Aid Society's first staff lawyer. He currently works as the Society's managing lawyer in its Appeals Section. During his career he has taught in the UBC Law Faculty's clinical law program, presided as a member of the Refugee Division of the Immigration and Refugee Board and initiated the Appellate Advocacy course which he continues to teach at UBC. His practice experience is wide ranging and includes administrative, criminal, family, immigration, prison and mental health law. He has appeared in trials and appeals at all court and tribunal levels, including the Supreme Court of Canada. Outside of work, he enjoys ski and cycle touring, and rugby. He coached Canada's national rugby team from 1990-96 and took them to two World Cups; in France in 1991, and South Africa in 1995.
Rowan Meredith is a lawyer called to the bar in British Columbia and California. She has a JD in Entertainment, Media and Intellectual Property Law from UCLA (2018) and an LLM in Media Law from Queen Mary, University of London (2019). In her legal practice, she has regularly advised clients on copyright issues involving social media platforms.
Job Titles:
- Lawyer at Juristes Power Law in Vancouver
Ryan Beaton is a lawyer at Juristes Power Law in Vancouver and a member of the Law Societies of British Columbia and Ontario. He practises primarily in areas of Aboriginal law, constitutional law, and administrative law. He clerked for Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin at the Supreme Court of Canada in 2014-2015, prior to which he clerked at the Court of Appeal for Ontario. In September 2023, Ryan completed a SSHRC postdoctoral fellowship in the Allard School of Law at the University of British Columbia. His research examines clashing positivist-pluralist notions of power and legitimation in the development of Aboriginal law in Canadian courts. In September 2021, he completed his PhD in Law at the University of Victoria, with a dissertation focused on judicial performances of sovereignty in Canadian Aboriginal law. Originally from Montreal, Ryan received his MSc in Mathematics from McGill in 2005, his PhD in Philosophy from the University of Toronto in 2011, and his JD from Harvard Law School in 2013.
Assistant Professor Samuel Beswick is a private law scholar with primary research interests in the areas of torts, unjust enrichment, limitations, and remedies. His current research concerns the temporal scope of judicial changes in the law, as well as the rule of law in public authority civil liability. Dr. Beswick has published his research in leading common law journals, and has presented at workshops and conferences across North America and in the United Kingdom. He is the editor of two long-form open-access publications: Tort Law: Cases and Commentaries (2021 CanLIIDocs 1859) and the Common Law Torts Wiki. He is also an editor of a forthcoming Encyclopedia of Private Law: Torts (Edward Elgar Publishing), currently in development, and Faculty Advisor to the UBC Law Review.
Dr. Beswick is a Green College Member of Common Room and former Leading Scholar. He studied at Harvard Law School as a Frank Knox Memorial Fellow and a Peter Brooks Saltonstall Memorial Scholar. He wrote his dissertation under Professor John C.P. Goldberg, a chapter of which received the HLS Irving Oberman Memorial Prize in Constitutional Law. His thesis has been favourably cited by the United Kingdom Supreme Court and the Constitutional Court of South Africa. Dr. Beswick was also Deputy Executive Editor of the Harvard National Security Journal and President of the SJD Association. At Auckland Law School, he wrote his dissertation under Associate Professor Scott Optican, which was published and received the New Zealand Ministry of Justice Article Prize. He was also an Editor-in-Chief of the Auckland University Law Review and graduated a Senior Scholar in Law.
Prior to joining Allard Law, Dr. Beswick had held teaching positions at Harvard Law School, King's College London, and the University of Auckland. He was a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard Law School's Project on the Foundations of Private Law, practised in the Solicitor's Office of HM Revenue & Customs (London, UK), practised as a litigator at Meredith Connell (the Office of the Crown Solicitor for Auckland), and was a judges' clerk in the High Court of New Zealand.
Job Titles:
- Senior Counsel at Kazlaw Trial Lawyers
Simi Dosanjh, BA (UBC 2006), JD (University of Calgary 2009), TEP was called to the Bar in British Columbia in 2010. Ms. Dosanjh is a Will & Estate Consultant with RBC Family Office Services in Vancouver, British Columbia. She works with individuals and business owner-managers to assist them in developing succession plans that accommodate their unique needs and advises on all aspects of estate and incapacity planning, including wills, trusts, powers of attorney, representation agreements and other means of providing for beneficiaries while minimizing taxes on death. Ms. Dosanjh has completed the CPA Canada In-Depth Tax Course and previously worked as an associate in the Vancouver tax groups of two full-service law firms. She is a full member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP) and holds the Trust and Estate Practitioner (TEP) designation.
Steven Ngo (B.S. (UBC), J.D. (UBC)) works as Senior Counsel at Rivian, a California-based electric vehicle (EV) company where he supports consumer transactions and Rivian's go-to-market initiatives, including its recent expansion to Canada. Prior to Rivian, Steven spent a number of years in private practice, working as a corporate M&A lawyer at Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP, and at Allens Linklaters in Ho Chi Minh City. Outside of work, Steven was named one of the Top 25 Most Influential Lawyers in Canada by Canadian Lawyer Magazine. Additionally, he is a recipient of the BC Medal of Good Citizenship for his advocacy work against hate crimes and was named an Alumni Changemaker by Peter A. Allard School of Law. He is on the board of governors for the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA) and is the advisory director and past president of the Federation of Asian Canadian Lawyers BC (FACL BC).
Sukhbir Manhas (LL.B. (UBC 1996)) articled with Young, Anderson. After being called to the bar in May 1997, Mr. Manhas practiced with the firm as an associate lawyer until January 2005, when he joined the firm's partnership. Mr. Manhas' law practice involves advising clients on general local government law issues as well as representing them in civil and quasicriminal proceedings before arbitrators, administrative tribunals, and the courts of this province and the nation. Mr. Manhas is currently a member of the Municipal Law, Civil Litigation and Construction Law subsections of the B.C. Branch of the Canadian Bar Association and frequently speaks at seminars and courses on local government and civil litigation issues put on by the Continuing Legal Education Society, the Local Government Management Association, and the Justice Institute of British Columbia.
Job Titles:
- Associate Dean, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
- Associate Professor at the Allard School
Supriya Routh is an Associate Professor at the Allard School of Law. His research interests include theory of labour and employment law, legitimacy of law-making for sustainable livelihoods, social justice and global value chains, postcolonialism and informal workers in the Global South, human rights and international labour law, and workers' collective action. His socio-legal research agenda straddles the disciplines of law, political philosophy, and sociology.
Susan B. Boyd joined the Allard School of Law in 1992. She taught previously at Carleton University's Department of Law in Ottawa. At UBC, she held the endowed research Chair in Feminist Legal Studies from 1992 to 2015. She was the founding Director of the Centre for Feminist Legal Studies from 2007 to 2012. She retired on June 30, 2015 but continues her relationship with UBC as Professor Emerita.
Susanne Raab (B.A. (U. Western Ontario), LL.B. (U. Victoria)) is a lawyer at Pacific Medical Law. Susanne's practice focuses on representing individuals who have suffered injuries as a result of medical malpractice, with a focus on birth injuries and catastrophic brain and spinal cord injuries. Prior to joining Pacific Medical Law, Susanne spent much of her legal career representing physicians in complex medical malpractice actions. Susanne has appeared before the Provincial Court, Supreme Court and Court of Appeal of British Columbia, as well as the Supreme Court of Canada. She has been selected for inclusion by her peers in Best Lawyers in Canada in the area of Medical Negligence and is recognized as a leading practitioner in the Canadian Lexpert Directory in medical malpractice. Susanne is also a Fellow of the Litigation Counsel of America, an honorary trial lawyer society whose membership is limited to less than one-half of one percent of North American lawyers, judges and scholars. Susanne also serves on the Executive of the Board of the Trial Lawyers Association of British Columbia. Susanne has appeared before the Provincial Court ,Supreme Court and Court of Appeal of British Columbia, as well as the Supreme Court of Canada. Susanne also serves on the Board of Governors of the Trial Lawyers Association of British Columbia. Susanne is actively involved in advocating for individuals living with disabilities, and serves as the President of the Board of Directors as well as Chair of the Advisory Committee of the Cerebral Palsy Association of British Columbia.
Job Titles:
- Director, Professional Programs
Tania received her BA from Simon Fraser University and her JD from Queen's University. She was admitted to the Ontario Bar in 2004 and the British Columbia Bar in 2005, and practised civil litigation in Toronto and Ottawa. She also led the Legal and Finance Division of a continuing education provider in Toronto, and was directly involved in the full production life-cycle for professional programming that spanned a wide range of topics before returning home to Vancouver in 2014 for a new career opportunity at UBC.
Job Titles:
- Founding Partner of the Maritime and Insurance Law Firm of Bernard
Thomas Hawkins is a founding partner of the Maritime and Insurance Law Firm of Bernard LLP in Vancouver, B.C. He practices in the area of Maritime and Insurance Law, advising clients on matters relating to Marine Insurance, Cargo Litigation, Tug and Tow, Collision, Oil Pollution and Marine Bodily Injury. Mr. Hawkins has conducted cases in the Trial and Appellant Courts of the Federal Court of Canada, the British Columbia Supreme Court and the Supreme Court of Canada.Mr. Hawkins has held many positions in the Maritime Legal Community including as past Westcoast Vice President of the Canadian Maritime Law Association, Past Chair of the B.C. Maritime Law Section of the CBA, Executive Member of the Marine Insurance Association of B.C. and currently serves on the Owner's Committee of the Chamber of Shipping of BC. Mr. Hawkins taught Maritime Law at the UBC Faculty of Law from 1996 to 2008. He has been counsel on numerous maritime casualty cases and oil pollution occurrences. He conducted the investigation of the 2006 sinking of the "Queen of the North" and represented the families and survivors of the 2015 "Leviathan II" Tofino whale watching boat case. He is listed by "Best Lawyers in Canada" and "Who's Who Legal Canada" as a leading Canadian lawyer in Maritime Law. He has sailed across the Atlantic Ocean, Tasman Sea and the in the South Pacific.
Job Titles:
- Partner at Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP
Tom Posyniak is a partner at Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP in Vancouver. His practice focuses on commercial litigation, administrative and constitutional law, class actions, and insurance litigation. Tom has an active appellate practice and regularly appears before the British Columbia Court of Appeal. Tom has also been counsel at the Supreme Court of Canada and regularly prepares written submissions in that court. Prior to joining Fasken, Tom clerked for the Court of Appeal for British Columbia and worked at another national law firm in Vancouver. He received his J.D. in 2012 from the University of Saskatchewan, College of Law, and was called to the bar in 2014. Tom is on the executive of the Appellate Advocacy section of the Canadian Bar Association - BC Branch. He also serves as a referral counsel for Access Pro Bono's Court of Appeal Program. Tom is a co-author of the Civil Appeal Handbook published by the Continuing Legal Education Society of British Columbia and the CanLII BC Civil Litigation Manual.
Tony Magre (B.A. (First Class, With Distinction, Simon Fraser University 2013), J.D. (University of Toronto 2017)) practices with the Vancouver office of Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP. His work encompasses a full range of commercial real estate transactions, including purchasing, selling, developing, financing and leasing of office, retail, industrial and multi-family properties. He also has experience acting on various construction related matters, including major infrastructure and publicprivate partnership projects across the Canadian market. Tony advises a wide variety of clients, including retailers, property managers and developers, major Canadian pension funds and their advisors, life insurance companies, institutional lenders and investors, and renewable energy companies. Tony has authored and co-authored publications for the Professional Legal Training Course (PLTC) and the Continuing Legal Education Society of British Columbia and was recognized in The Best Lawyers in Canada 2024: Ones to Watch (Real Estate Law).
Job Titles:
- Director of the Career Services Office
- Director, Career Services Office
As the Director of the Career Services Office, Tory supports the strategic leadership and delivery of comprehensive career development programming for Allard law students and alumnae. She also provides individual advising on legal career planning, job search strategies, application and interview preparation, licensing requirements and more. Tory received her B.A. from St. Francis Xavier University and her J.D. with a specialization in social justice from the University of Ottawa. She was called to the Bar in Ontario and British Columbia in 2021.
Tracey M. Cohen KC, FCIArb is a leading trial and arbitration counsel for complex commercial and corporate disputes. She is also defence counsel in some of the most high-profile technology, competition and privacy class actions. She is CoChair of Fasken's Vancouver Commercial Litigation Group and is the Chair of the Firm's Arbitration Practice Group. Tracey was recently recognized as one of Canada's top 50 litigators and has repeatedly been recognized as one of Canada's top female litigators. She was appointed as King's Counsel in 2015 and is a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, International Society of Barristers and International Association of Defense Counsel. She received her FCIArb designation in 2024.
Job Titles:
- Senior Associate at DLA Piper
Tyson Gratton is a senior associate at DLA Piper (Canada) LLP. Tyson has a business law practice which is focused on advising video game, virtual and augmented reality, information technology, and ecommerce businesses. In his video game practice, Tyson regularly advises clients at all seats of the table including independent developers, specialized service providers, AAA studios, publishers, and global distribution platforms. Tyson works alongside companies from across Canada, the United States, and abroad who are creators, developers, integrators, innovators, distributors, and service providers. As a former television executive, Tyson knows what it takes to bring a diverse team of creatives, trades, and professionals together to bring a product to market. Tyson regularly writes and speaks on a number of legal issues facing the video game industry including at TwitchCon, the Video Game Bar Association, DigiBC, CLE-BE, and the Canadian Bar Association. Tyson is committed to pro-bono and community service initiatives and has spoken at various entertainment community organizations such as Damage Labs, The Fashion Zone at Ryerson University, and Sisters in Crime. Tyson is also the co-founder of DLA Piper's Black and Indigenous Business Law Clinic which provides pro-bono business advice to qualifying Black and Indigenous owned businesses in Canada. Tyson received both his Bachelor of Arts and Juris Doctor from the University of British Columbia where he now teaches at the Centre for Business Law at the Peter A. Allard School of Law as an adjunct professor. Lastly, as an avid curler, Tyson is great with a broom and never hesitates to hurry hard.
Vicky Law (she/her) joined Rise in 2017 where she conceptualised and implemented the Virtual Legal Clinic. Vicky was the supervising lawyer for the Virtual Legal Clinic before becoming Rise's executive director. Vicky has worked in the fields of immigration law and family law for women experiencing intimate partner violence. In her career as a legal advocate and a lawyer, she has supported many women and families in navigating their immigration status in Canada and the complexity of the family law system. Vicky obtained her Juris Doctor (Honours) from the University of Saskatchewan and has built a legal career in BC where she passionately advocates for women's rights.
Job Titles:
- Visiting Professor, Allard School of Law, University of British Columbia, 1990 - 92