My employment practice consists of advising and acting for clients in wrongful dismissals, terminations, severance packages, constructive dismissals and human rights complaints. I negotiate settlements or litigate claims as the circumstances require. I’ve appeared before administrative tribunals, the Federal Court of Appeal and the Courts of Appeal for British Columbia and the Yukon Territory. I’ve also appeared at the trial level of all courts in B.C. and at the Federal Court of Canada.  In 2020, I was appointed Queen’s Counsel (which changed to King’s Counsel upon the accession of King Charles III on September 8, 2022) and was also honoured to become the inaugural recipient of the Allard School of Law Alumni Community Service Award.

In addition to employment law matters, I have experience resolving academic disputes on behalf of students and professional regulatory matters for a wide range of professionals.

I was called to the bar of BC in 1999, and after practising commercial litigation for 7 years at a large downtown law firm, I joined HHBG in 2005 and became a partner in 2011.

I serve as the editor of The Advocate, a legal journal circulated to all lawyers in the province of British Columbia and with a readership throughout the Commonwealth (www.the-advocate.ca).  Since 2008 I have regularly written on a wide variety of legal topics “of interest to lawyers and in the lawyer’s interest”.  I served for a decade as an elected member of the Vancouver Bar Association, retiring from the position as secretary-treasurer in 2013. I am a past winner and loser of the Great Debate, a fund raiser for the British Columbia Law Institute, and was a member of the steering committee of the Public Commission on Legal Aid in British Columbia. I am the only lawyer in Canada to have serenaded a judge on the Supreme Court of Canada (twice).

My former life as a professional musician has not been completely abandoned. I have been a regular participant in the annual fundraising efforts of the CBA (BC) Benevolent Society performing rock and roll with both Mr. Fancy Education and Twisted Solicitor, and more recently treading the boards in all-lawyer productions of Monty Python’s Spamalot!, Hairspray! and Grease.   I play the bass, the guitar and the ukulele.  I have also made an award-winning documentary film and enjoy writing humorous and satirical songs and poems.  I am the only member of HHBG to have met a Beatle.