News
December 2010
Lexpert Publications has published its 2010 Guide to the Leading US/Canada Cross-Border Litigation Lawyers in Canada and John Hunter has been recognized in the area of Corporate-Commercial, Class Action and Securities Litigation.
November 2010
Ken McEwan and Tam Boyar successfully defended a shareholder oppression proceeding launched by the Carl Icahn group in Icahn Partners LP v. Lions Gate Entertainment Corp., 2010 BCSC 1547.
October 2010
The respected law firm directory, Best
Lawyers of Canada, has named Bill Berardino “2011 Vancouver
Corporate and Commercial Litigator of the Year.” This is
particularly striking since Bill has spent most of the current
year as special prosecutor in the well-known Basi/Virk criminal
trial that recently ended with guilty pleas by both main
accuseds.
John Hunter spoke at two separate Continuing Legal Education
sessions in October. On October 1st, he gave an address on oral
appellate advocacy at the CLE’s course on “Appellate Practice,
2010” and on October 22nd he spoke on a panel at the CLE’s
annual conference on administrative law.
September 2010
Brent Olthuis represented a client in a successful appeal from a judgment applying the doctrine of "resulting trust". The trial judge ruled that the client held property in the Okanagan in trust for the benefit of a deceased person's estate. The Court of Appeal agreed with the argument that the trial judgment was in error, and awarded the client sole ownership of the property.
Claire Hunter participated in the Third National Pro Bono
Conference in Calgary, which took place September 16-17, 2010.
She chaired a panel on US Firm Perspectives on pro bono practice
and spoke about Hunter Litigation Chambers' commitment to pro
bono work on a panel about the Pro Bono Declaration for the
Americas.
On September 28th, our firm was awarded the Gold award for
political pro bono representation at the 2010 Zenith Pro Bono
award ceremony in Toronto. The award related to a Freedom of
Information and Protection of Privacy Act proceeding conducted
by Brent
Olthuis and Tam Boyar.
August 2010
The 2011 edition of Best Lawyers in Canada has been published and once again lawyers from Hunter Litigation Chambers have been recognized in a wide range of areas, including Bet-the-Company Litigation (Bill Berardino), Corporate and Commercial Litigation (Bill Berardino, John Hunter, and Ken McEwan), Labour and Employment Law (Randy Kaardal), Natural Resources Law (John Hunter), Class Action Litigation (Bill Berardino and Ken McEwan), Director and Officer Liability (Bill Berardino), Administrative and Public Law (John Hunter and Randy Kaardal), Product Liability (Bill Berardino), Securities Law (Bill Berardino and Ken McEwan), Aboriginal law (John Hunter), Personal Injury Litigation (Bill Berardino) and Legal Malpractice Law (Bill Berardino).
We are pleased to announce that Greg Allen has joined the firm. Greg is a graduate of the University of Victoria Law School. He was called to the bar in 2009 after clerking for the British Columbia Court of Appeal. Since his call, he has been working at a leading personal injury and insurance law firm. He will practising in the areas of commercial litigation and administrative law with us.
July 2010
On July 1st a new set of civil rules came into effect for civil litigation practice in British Columbia. To explain the process of rule revision, Ken McEwan has written an article on "A Short History of Rule-Making for Courts", published in the current edition of British Columbia Annual Practice. Ken is a member of the Attorney-General's Rules Revision Committee.
Hunter Litigation Chambers recently signed on to the Pro Bono Declaration for the Americas, an agreement by which firms commit to a designated amount of pro bono legal services for poor or underprivileged persons and communities. The declaration was originally signed by a number of American and Latin American law firms in 2008. We understand we are the first Canadian law firm to sign on to the Declaration, which is intended to strengthen the profession's commitment to the provision and expansion of pro bono legal services.
Martin Taylor Q.C.'s Remarks at the British Columbia Court of Appeal Centennial Dinner on April 23, 2010 have now been published in the Advocate: Vol. 68, page 549. Mrs. Donoghue's snail-infused beverage is suitably represented.
June 2010
We are very pleased to welcome Martin Taylor Q.C. as associate counsel to the firm. Mr. Taylor practised for 15 years, primarily as counsel in commercial and private litigation, before being appointed to the Supreme Court of British Columbia. He served as a trial judge for 11 years and subsequently for six years on the Court of Appeal before returning to private practice. Mr. Taylor was awarded the BC Law Society’s Begbie Award for exceptional service in 1998 and was recently honoured with the UBC Law Alumni Association Lifetime Achievement Award. Mr. Taylor will assist the counsel of this firm on litigation matters and be available to the profession as a consultant, arbitrator and mediator. We are delighted to have him with us.
May 2010
In April, Carswell’s Practice Cases published a case comment by Brent Johnston on the judgment in MacEachern (Committee of) v. Rennie, (2009), 80 C.P.C. (6th) 7. The MacEachern judgment clarifies the extent to which discovery evidence directed by the court to be read in as “closely connected” to the discovery evidence read in by the Plaintiff may be used as evidence in the case at large, a practice point of some consequence to the civil litigation bar.
Gib van Ert gave a presentation on the use of international law in Canadian domestic courts to the appellate judges attending at the National Judicial Institute’s Appellate Courts Seminar, which took place in association with the centenary celebrations for the British Columbia Court of Appeal in April. John Hunter gave a presentation to the judges on the role of the courts in aboriginal rights litigation.
April 2010
Brent Olthuis has been named “2009 Lawyer of the Year” by Pro Bono Law B.C. Congratulations to Brent for the recognition of his contributions to providing legal services to those who can least afford it, in the finest traditions of our bar and our firm.
Congratulations also to David Harris, who has been appointed a judge of the Supreme Court of British Columbia. David was one of the co-founders of the firm and will be greatly missed. He is the second lawyer of our young firm to be appointed to the bench, following Mr. Justice Peter Voith who became a judge of the Court last year.
We are pleased to welcome Caily DiPuma to our firm. Caily was recently called to the bar of British Columbia after clerking for the British Columbia Court of Appeal and completing her articles at a national firm.
On April 8, John Hunter will be speaking on a panel at the Continuing Legal Education program Suing and Defending the Government.
March 2010
Our firm has been listed by Canadian Lawyer magazine as one of the “top 10 boutique firms in litigation” in Canada in the March 2010 issue. The magazine’s description of the firm reads as follows:
Hunter Litigation Chambers
Many consider this 18-lawyer Vancouver litigation shop the best in the country. One lawyer says the firm owes its success to the work of three “primo” litigators who call it home, namely John Hunter, William Berardino, and Ken McEwan. The firm acts for Imperial Tobacco in its matters against the B.C. government, and forestry companies Western Forest Products Inc. and Canfor Corp. are two top clients. Meanwhile, Hunter recently represented the Law Society of Yukon in its Supreme Court of Canada case on an issue relating to the withdrawal of counsel.
On March 1st, John Hunter delivered the annual F. Murray Fraser lecture on Professional Responsibility to the University of Victoria Law School. His topic was “Ethics and Professionalism in the Practice of Law: The Role of Legal Education.” John was also recently elected Vice-President of the Federation of Law Societies of Canada.
February 2010
We are very pleased to welcome Claire Hunter to our firm. For the past five years Claire has been practising in New York with Sullivan & Cromwell, working primarily in the areas of regulatory defence and administrative law. A graduate of McGill, Stanford and the University of Toronto Law School, Claire served as law clerk to Justice Iacobucci of the Supreme Court of Canada before commencing her practice in New York. She is a member of the Ontario and British Columbia bars as well as the New York State bar and related U.S. bars.
January 2010
We are very pleased to welcome Mark Oulton as our newest shareholder in the firm. Mark was an associate with Hunter Voith before the current firm was established. We look forward to a long association with Mark.
Gib van Ert successfully represented a homeowner who sued the previous owners of her property to recover losses caused by a leaking underground oil storage tank. The homeowner claimed she was induced to purchase the property by the previous owners' negligent misrepresentation concerning the oil tank. She also claimed that the previous owners were liable for the cost of remediation by virtue of the Environmental Management Act, S.B.C. 2003, c. 53. The judgment can be found at 2010 BCSC 57.
From 4-22 January 2010 Gib was a visiting professor in the Common Law (French) section of the Faculty of Law, University of Ottawa. He taught the course "Études en droit international : l'utilisation du droit international devant les tribunaux canadiens" (Studies in international law: using international law in Canadian courts).
In its January issue, Lexpert Magazine designated the judgment of the British Columbia Court of Appeal in Re Inmet Mining one of the top 10 Business Cases of 2009. John Hunter and Mark Oulton were counsel for Inmet in this leading decision on legal fees in major commercial litigation.