News
December 2007
The Vancouver Bar Association presented the first Peter S. Hyndman Mentorship Award to Bill Berardino. This award has been created to recognize the qualities of effective mentoring to the profession and the public and specifically the qualities of good judgment, civility, decorum, wisdom, idealism and ethical behaviour. Bill received the award at the Annual General Meeting of the Vancouver Bar Association.
We are pleased to welcome two new associates to our growing firm. Micah Rankin joined the firm on December 1st after completing his articles with us. Micah is a graduate of the University of Victoria Law School and clerked with the British Columbia Court of Appeal in 2006-2007. Two weeks later Angela Baxter joined the firm. Angela has been practising a year with a national firm after graduating from the University of British Columbia Law School. Both Micah and Angela will be joining our litigation and administrative law practice as junior barristers.
November 2007
We are very pleased to announce that Kenneth McEwan has joined the firm. Ken is a senior commercial litigator who has been a partner at Farris & Co. since 1995. He practices as counsel in both civil and criminal litigation, with a particular focus on complex securities and corporate-commercial litigation, commercial arbitration and administrative law. Ken is the author of "Commercial Arbitration in Canada: A Guide to Domestic and International Arbitrations" (Canada Law Book pub.). He has been recognized as one of British Columbia’s leading commercial litigators in both the Lexpert Canadian Legal Directory and the Chambers Global Directory. Ken is a Fellow of the International Society of Barristers and the President of the Sopinka Cup Society which hosts the national finals of the Canadian law school trial moot competition.
October 2007
Peter Voith has been elected a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers. The College is an organization of trial counsel in the United States and Canada to which fellowship is by invitation only. Its mission is “to improve and elevate the standards of trial practice, the administration of justice and the ethics of the profession.” Peter is the third member of Hunter Litigation Chambers to become a Fellow of the College.
August 2007
The Federation of Law Societies of Canada has appointed John Hunter as Chair of its Task Force on the Accreditation of Canadian Common Law Degrees. The Task Force will examine the criteria for recognition of common law degrees in Canada for bar admission programs and will make recommendations to the Federation of a national standard to be adopted by provincial law societies.
July 2007
Hunter Litigation Chambers is pleased to announce that Michael Stephens has joined Bill Berardino, John Hunter, David Harris and Peter Voith as full members of the firm. Michael was called to the bar in 1998 and has practised as an associate with Davis & Company, Hunter Voith and, since July 2006, Hunter Litigation Chambers.
June 2007
The Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory for 2007 has now been published and once again the lawyers of Hunter Litigation Chambers have been recognized as leading practitioners in their fields of litigation practice. All four senior counsel have designated as leading counsel in the area of Corporate-Commercial Litigation. In addition, Bill and John have been recognized in the field of Directors-Officers Liability, Peter and John in the area of Forestry Law, John in Aboriginal Law and Bill in the additional areas of Class Action Litigation, Commercial Insurance Litigation, Securities Litigation, Products Liability and Professional Liability.
April 2007
Once again, we have the pleasure of welcoming a new addition to our growing firm. Brent Olthuis has joined the firm to work as a litigation associate. Brent graduated first in his class at McGill Law School in 2000 and then clerked with first the Ontario Court of Appeal and then Justice Iacobucci in the Supreme Court of Canada. He was called to the bar in Ontario in 2001 and practised commercial litigation with a national firm in Ottawa for two years before returning to British Columbia in 2005, when he was called to the British Columbia bar. After receiving a Master’s degree from the University of Victoria in 2006, Brent practiced with a litigation boutique before joining Hunter Litigation Chambers. We are pleased to have him with us to continue his practice in civil litigation and administrative law.
March 2007
We are pleased to welcome Brent Johnston, who has joined the firm as a litigation associate. Brent is a graduate of Dalhousie Law School. He clerked with the British Columbia Supreme Court and was called to the bar in 2000. He has practised commercial litigation in a national practice since that time. Brent will be working on a wide range of commercial litigation matters with Hunter Litigation Chambers.
John Hunter was inducted as a Fellow of the International Society of Barristers on March 5. The International Society of Barristers is, along with the American College of Trial Lawyers, one of the two major American organizations of litigation lawyers to which membership is by invitation only.
February 2007
We are pleased to report that in our first year of operation Hunter Litigation Chambers has been recognized as the leading litigation firm in British Columbia in The 2007 Who's Who in Canadian Law Firms published by the LEXPERT rating service. The firm was also ranked in the top three firms in the more specific area of commercial litigation.