Parentage Law Reform Project

Meredith James is a lawyer with Arbutus Law Group where her practice focuses on supporting Indigenous governance, environmental law, and community-based economic development. Meredith received her JD from the University of Saskatchewan in 2010 and is currently completing her LLM at the University of Victoria where her research examines federal contaminated sites policy on reserve lands.

Aubin Calvert is an associate at Hunter Litigation Chambers in Vancouver. Her practice is focused on administrative and constitutional law. She also teaches conflict of laws at the Peter A. Allard School of Law. Aubin served as a law clerk to Chief Justice Richard Wagner of the Supreme Court of Canada from 2016 to 2018. She received her J.D. in 2016 from the Peter A. Allard School of Law, and was called to the bar in 2017. Aubin holds a Ph.D. in political theory, also from the University of British Columbia.

Andi Sheasby is a queer, trans, non-binary, neurodivergent lawyer, mediator, and workplace investigator with over a decade of diverse experience in law, governance, and equity-focused work. They practice at Southern Butler Price LLP, working with both public and private sector clients to provide neutral services on complex matters including harassment, discrimination, sexual assault, bullying, and other workplace misconduct and conflict. They were previously a partner at a national law firm, specializing in corporate/commercial, financial services, and governance.

Andi has degrees from Cornell University (Government, International Relations) and McGill University (BCL/LL.B). They regularly devote time and expertise to speaking engagements and various access to justice initiatives. Notably, they currently serve on the Law Society of BC’s Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Committee and Bullying, Harassment and Discrimination Task Force.

Andi is based in the North Okanagan and maintains a separate career as a visual artist and writer.

Dr. Cristie Ford is a leading scholar, nationally and internationally, in the fields of regulation and governance, securities and financial regulation, and administrative law. She has published extensively in leading law reviews and peer-reviewed journals, and has authored two books: Innovation and the State: Finance, Regulation, and Justice (Cambridge University Press: 2017); and Canadian Securities Regulation (5th ed., co-authored with the Right Honourable David Johnston and Kathleen Rockwell). Her work in both securities regulation and administrative law has been cited by the Supreme Court of Canada. Recent publications include “The Legal Innovation Sandbox” (with Quinn Ashkenazy, forthcoming Am J Comp L 2025), and “Regulation as Respect” 86 Law & Contemp Probs 133-155 (2023). 

Professor Ford is an award-winning researcher and teacher, and served as Associate Dean for the Research and the Legal Profession. She has served on local, national, and international task forces advising regulators and governments, and has been featured or interviewed in media outlets including Bloomberg, the Globe and Mail, the New York Times, the Vancouver Sun, and the Wall Street Journal (Marketwatch).

Professor Ford obtained her Masters and Doctoral degrees from Columbia Law School, where she also taught as a lecturer, clinic supervisor, and Associate-in-Law. Before joining academia, she practiced law in Vancouver and New York, the latter as a senior litigation associate at Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP. She is a non-practicing member of the Law Society of BC and the New York state and federal bars.

Ignacia completed her B.A. in Sociology and Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Social Justice at the University of British Columbia, and her J.D. at Thompson Rivers University. Ignacia summered at BCLI where she worked on the Guide to Wills and Estate Planning for First Nations Clients Living on Reserves. 

Llana was born and raised in Las Piñas, Philippines and moved to Winnipeg, MB with her family in 2007 – where she lived until completing her BSc in Honours Biology (Animal Biology Specialization) at the University of British Columbia. She is a current student of the JD Program at the University of Victoria, entering into her second year of study in Fall 2025.

In her spare time, Llana is an outdoor enthusiast and loves hiking, trail running, and bouldering. She also has a passion for dance and was a former competitive hip hop dancer prior to law school.

Jon Festinger, K.C. is Of Counsel to Chandler Fogden Lyman Law Corporation, and an Adjunct Professor at the Allard School of Law, where he teaches courses including Intellectual Property Law, Video Game Law, and Business Organizations. He is also an Adjunct Professor at the UBC Sauder School of Business. In 2019, he received a Teaching Service Award from Allard Law. He has extensive experience in pedagogic AI projects, including the Judicial Interrogatory Simulator and Socrates A.I. which was developed in collaboration with UBC’s Centre for Teaching, Learning and Technology and UBC’s Emerging Media Lab.

Jon has held academic appointments at UBC’s Graduate School of Journalism and Faculty of Arts, TRU’s Faculty of Law, as well as Simon Fraser University and Queen Mary University of London. He is the author of Video Game Law (LexisNexis, 2005; 2012) and co-founded the Interactive Entertainment Law Journal in 2018. Jon’s career also includes significant industry roles, including in-house counsel at WIC Western International Communications, Senior VP of the CTV Television Network & founding GM of VTV Vancouver Television, and Executive VP of the Vancouver Canucks and GM Place. Jon’s volunteer activities have included being Chair of viaSport British Columbia, Chair of Ronald MacDonald House B.C., and a Trustee of the B.C. Sports Hall of Fame.

Leah George-Wilson, whose ancestral name is Sisi-ya-ama Tsiyalia, is a distinguished Indigenous leader and lawyer. She was the first woman elected Chief of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation. Leah served as co-chair the First Nations Health Council and as director for both the Land Advisory Board and the Four Host First Nations. In her role with the Four Host First Nations, she played a key part in ensuring Indigenous representation at the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Leah’s expertise spans Indigenous governance, Indigenous legal orders, reconciliation, and government relations. She has negotiated for her community at both federal and provincial levels, building strong connections with government leaders. Her client work includes securing the Taku River Tlingit’s right of first refusal for an Atlin Health Centre and facilitating the Tsleil-Waututh Nation’s involvement in the Canadian Delegation to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Katie Sykes has been with the Faculty of Law at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, British Columbia since its early days in 2013. She has also practiced law as Counsel at Lawson Lundell LLP since 2022. She has published on animal law issues in various academic journals, is the author of Animal Welfare and International Trade Law (Elgar, 2020), and co-edited Canadian Perspectives on Animals and the Law (Irwin, 2015). She has a JD from the University of Toronto Faculty of Law, an LLM from Harvard Law School, and an LLM and PhD from the Schulich School of Law at Dalhousie University.

Emilie LeDuc is a research lawyer and the Director of Professional Development at Harper Grey, where she conducts complex legal research and provides strategic advice on a broad range of civil and administrative matters. Before focusing her practice on legal research, Emilie practiced general litigation.

Emilie received her LL.B. from the University of British Columbia in 2008 and was called to the bar in 2009. She also holds an MLIS from the University of British Columbia.

Emilie is committed to supporting law students and junior members of the profession. She oversees Harper Grey’s student program, and supports students and junior associates with substantive advice and mentorship. She also teaches advanced legal research at the Peter A. Allard School of Law.

Edward Wilson is a partner with the Vancouver law firm Lawson Lundell LLP. Ed practices in the real estate and municipal law fields with a specialty in real estate development.

Working closely with sellers, buyers, and developers, Ed is a trusted advisor in connection with property and development projects spanning a wide variety of commercial, residential, industrial, resort and financing matters. Ed also provides advice on environmental matters in connection with real property.

Ed is one of the leading experts on strata corporation windups having completed a number of strata corporation windups as well as the first court approved windup in B.C. Ed has been an active member of a number of committees over the years proposing changes to strata property law, including the BC Law Institute’s committee that recommended changes to the Strata Property Act that allows for more the flexible rules facilitating windups. 

Marian K. Brown is a sole practitioner conducting criminal appeals for both the Crown and the Defence. She has practiced as a senior prosecutor, as Defence counsel, and as founding counsel for the Independent Investigations Office of BC.

Marian is a member of the Canadian Bar Association National Policy Committee and previously the CBA Legislation and Law Reform Committee, reviewing legislation and policy in every area of law, with particular input on search and seizure of data, self-defence, and medical assistance in dying.  She also served on many other CBA committees; on the Vancouver Planning Commission and Heritage Commission; and on the boards of various non-profit organizations.  She has been an adjunct instructor of full courses in Evidence at the University of Victoria and at the Allard (UBC) faculty of law, and is Vice-Chair of the Board of Ingenium, the national museums of science and technology. 

Tejas Bahaar Virdi Madhur practices aboriginal law at JFK Law Corporation. She assists Indigenous peoples in exercising the right to self-determination, including through good governance and intergovernmental relations.

Tejas has worked in legislative development and drafting since the start of her legal career. She previously worked as Legislative Counsel for the Government of Nunavut, and as Legal Counsel at Tsawwassen First Nation.

Tejas obtained her Juris Doctor from Dalhousie University, and completed her articles with the Government of Nova Scotia. She was called to the Nova Scotia bar in 2014, and the Nunavut and British Columbia bars in 2015.

Lisa practices a blend of administrative, aboriginal and environmental litigation, and advising governmental bodies.

Her administrative law practice includes appearing before tribunals, acting for tribunals as their independent legal counsel, and designing/drafting tribunal legislation. In this work, she acts for Indigenous governments and non-Indigenous professional regulatory bodies. Her scope of experience is broad and includes providing legal services to committees on elections, codes of conduct, housing and employment, registration with a regulator, complaints resulting in inquiries or discipline, and internal review/appeal matters.

In her litigation practice, she has acted as counsel for Indigenous governments in the Commission of Inquiry into the Decline Sockeye Salmon in the Fraser River, the regulatory proceedings and the court hearings in Northern Gateway Enbridge Pipeline, the Reference re Environmental Management Act hearings, and most recently a judicial review on behalf of Gitxaala First Nation challenging the constitutionality of the mineral tenure system under the Mineral Tenure Act. She has a special interest in the intersection of Indigenous, Aboriginal, and environmental law.

Lisa and her firm regularly provide educational offerings in administrative and Aboriginal law.

Audrey Jun is a lawyer and Executive Director at Nidus Personal Planning Resource Centre, a non-profit charitable organization that was founded by groups involved in the community-based reform of B.C.’s adult guardianship legislation, and most notably, development of the BC Representation Agreement Act. Her legal background is in estates and trusts, with a focus on serving the disability and senior communities.

Dr. Alexandra Flynn is an Associate Professor at Allard School of Law at the University of British Columbia where she teaches and researches in the areas of law and cities. Her work focuses on the constitutional role of cities and urban governance, and she has published numerous peer-reviewed articles, reports, and media articles in leading publications. She is currently leading CMHC and SSHRC-funded projects focused on Canada’s housing crisis: the Housing Assessment Resource Tools project, which redefines and helps to measure housing need; and the Balanced Supply of Housing Node, which brings together academic and non-profit community organizations to research responsive land use practices and the financialization of housing. She is also working on several projects related to precariously housed people in Canadian cities, including the governance of personal property of precariously housed people, and human rights and tent encampments.

Julia is the senior research lawyer and a partner at Nathanson Schachter & Thompson LLP, where she has practiced law since 1999. Prior to joining NST she clerked at the BC Supreme Court, articled, and worked for a short time as an associate at a large downtown Vancouver law firm. Her practice includes research and writing in all areas of corporate and commercial law as well as administrative law, estates, procedural and securities matters. Her role has included a law firm management component since 2014 and she has been a partner since 2006. Julia is the author of two chapters of Government Liability Law and Practice, Horsman & Morley, eds (Carswell: Looseleaf ed). She is a member of the Board of Directors of the Mulgrave Independent School Society, and is the mother of four children.

Margaret Mason, KC, is Of Counsel with Norton Rose Fulbright Canada LLP. Her work spans a broad range of issues which affect charities and not-for-profits including tax exempt status, governance, political activities and social enterprise.

Margaret also advises donors with respect to their philanthropic planning and has extensive experience with trust and estate related matters including all aspects of estate planning and the administration of estates and trusts, both within Canada and elsewhere.

Margaret was appointed by the Law Society of British Columbia to the BCLI Board of Directors from 2015 to 2021. During that time she was Treasurer from 2018 to 2021. She has contributed to many BCLI projects, serving as Chair of BCLI’s Society Act Reform Project; a member of the Pension Division Review Project Committee and a member of Modernization of the Trustee Act Project Committee.

Margaret is the Immediate Past Chair of Imagine Canada and is the Past-Chair of the Canadian Sport Institute Pacific, Past-Chair of the National Charities and Not-for-Profit Law section of the Canadian Bar Association and a former member of the CRA Charities Directorate’s Technical Issues Working Group. She was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 2017.

Called to the bar in 2010, Brian Dybwad has worked in the areas of criminal defence, family law, child protection and Director’s Counsel for the Family Maintenance Enforcement Program. He has dedicated his career to the protection of vulnerable people, as the managing lawyer for the Parents Legal Centre in Campbell River focusing on Child Protection through Collaborative Practice from Port Alberni to Port Hardy; as a Fellow for CanAge, Canada’s National Seniors’ Advocacy Organization; and as a Member at Large of the British Columbia Law Institute. Currently, Brian is the Manager, Indigenous Services (Term) for Legal Aid BC.

Brian was elected as a Bencher for the Law Society of BC for 2022-2023.

Brian is a member and Hereditary Chief of the Tsetsaut Gitxsan Nation, and is passionate about issues of diversity, lawyers’ mental health, reconciliation and good governance. He has served as President of the Campbell River Bar Association for three terms. Brian has also presented on various topics to the National Family Law Conference, Continuing Legal Education and Elder Abuse Prevention Ontario, and volunteered on an Indigenous Courts’ committee and working group.

Brian coaches rugby for the Campbell River Athletic Association. He enjoys listening to and playing music (multiple instruments) and spending time with family.

Filip de Sagher was born and raised in Belgium where he got his Master of Laws and Master in Business Economics. Since 2001 he practices as a Notary Public with Deprez & Associates in Point Grey Vancouver with a focus on residential real estate conveyancing. He served as Director on the Board of the Society of Notaries Public of BC for many years and is currently Manager of Complaints for the Society of Notaries Public. He is a regular contributor to The Scrivener, the BC Notaries magazine.

Professor Howell brings expertise in the areas of intellectual property law, education, research, finance and inter-disciplinary teams.

Professor Howell joined the Faculty of Law as Assistant Professor in 1980 and was promoted to Professor in 1993. From 1977 to 1979, he was a part-time tutor at Victoria University of Wellington, and he was a Teaching Fellow at the University of Illinois from 1979 to 1980. Professor Howell was co-director of the International Intellectual Property Summer Program from 2002-2007 and he currently teaches Property, Intellectual Property, Private International Law (Conflict of Laws) and Managing Intellectual Property. Some of these courses involve consideration of telecommunications and Internet-related law.

His research interests include intellectual property, technology, telecommunications, private international law, and Asia-Pacific issues. He has published extensively, including his book Canadian Telecommunications Law: Dimensions in a Digital Age, Irwin Law Inc. (2011), and has organized national and international conferences and seminars.

Joost Blom is Professor Emeritus of Law at UBC. He took his LLB at UBC, a BCL at Oxford, and an LLM at Harvard.

He joined the UBC Law Faculty in 1972, was Dean from 1997 to 2003, and retired in 2017. His teaching subjects are private international law, contracts, torts, and intellectual property, and he has published widely in those areas. He has held visiting academic positions at the University of Victoria, Osgoode Hall Law School, the University of Melbourne Law School and the University of Trier (Germany).

Prof. Blom was awarded a K.C. in 1985 (British Columbia), served as an elected bencher of the Law Society of BC from 2004 to 2011, and is now a Life Bencher. He is also a membre titulaire of the International Academy of Comparative Law. He served as Director of the BC Law Institute from 2007 to 2017, and was Chair from 2015 to 2017. He also chaired the Project Committee on BCLI’s study of Unfair Contracts Relief, the final report of which was published in 2011.

Mark Gillen has been a professor at the Faculty of Law, University of Victoria since 1987. He has taught Securities Regulation, Business Associations, Trusts, Tax, Competition Law, Contracts, and Historical Foundations of the Common Law. His primary areas of research are securities law, trusts and corporate law. He has been a visiting professor at Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok every year except one since 1999.

He is the author of Securities Regulation in Canada, 4th ed. (Thomson Reuters, 2019) and of Corporations and Partnerships: Canada (Kluwer, 1992 with many subsequent revisions to 2018). He is co-author with Donovan Waters and Lionel Smith of Waters’ Law of Trusts in Canada, 5th ed. (Thomson Reuters, 2021). He is also a co-author of Business Organizations: Practice, Theory and Emerging Challenges, 2d ed. (Emond Montgomery, 2018) and of The Law of Trusts: A Contextual Approach, 4th ed. (Emond Montgomery, 2021).

Timothy Outerbridge has served as the Registrar of the BC Court of Appeal since 2014.  In that capacity, he performs both judicial and quasi-judicial functions, including conducting registrar’s hearings, assessments and other matters set out by statute or the Rules of Court or referred by a judge of the Court of Appeal.  He manages the Office of the Registrar providing legal, technical and procedural direction to the Registry and its staff and also assists the Court in matters related to the management of its workload, including overseeing its case management system and the development of new technologies.

Miriam Kresivo, Q.C. is a retired lawyer who has had a high profile role in the energy sector and the legal profession.

Ms. Kresivo is currently a Commissioner of the B.C. Utilities Commission. She was General Counsel of Chevron Canada Limited, Products Division, for many years. In that role she was head of a legal department handling complex legal issues and she had a role on the Executive Committee focused on business issues.

Ms. Kresivo has been very active in the legal community. She was President (2018), Vice President and a board member of the Law Society of B.C – and chaired the Executive Committee, the Governance Committee and the Finance Committee. Prior to that she was the Secretary/Treasurer of the Vancouver Bar association.

In addition to her role in the legal community, Ms. Kresivo has been a volunteer in the community. She was a member of the board of the B.C. Pavilion Corporation (the operator of the Convention Centre and BC Place) for approximately 12 years and a member of the Vancouver Writers’ Festival board.

Mat Good practices class actions and complex commercial litigation with Good Barrister in Vancouver. He has particular experience with plaintiff-side actions in the areas of consumer protection, tort law, antitrust and competition law. He is the co-author of Class Actions in Canada, 2d ed. He clerked for the B.C. Court of Appeal and the Chief Justice of Canada. He formerly taught statutory interpretation at the law schools at the Universities of British Columbia and Victoria.

James Deitch is an Alternate Chair for the British Columbia Review Board. Previously, he was the Executive Director of Criminal Justice and Legal Access Policy Division of the Justice Services Branch (JSB), the Director of Criminal Justice Transformation Projects for the Criminal Justice Reform Secretariat, and worked in management with the Legal Services Society. He was also a practicing lawyer in the areas of administrative and criminal law, and in 2011, was appointed to the Forensic Psychiatric Services Commission. Mr. Deitch holds his Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in History from Glendon College, his Bachelor of Laws from Queen’s University, and his Master of Laws from the Osgoode Hall Law School. He articled in Toronto in 1983 and was called to the Bar in Ontario in April 1984 and transferred to the BC Bar in May 1999.  He is also a member of the Board of the Cognitive Behaviour Therapy Skills Society.

Ryan is an Associate Professor at Thompson Rivers University’s Faculty of Law. His research focuses on issues of international sports law and sports governance. In particular, Ryan examines the violations of human rights in Olympic Games host cities, as well as comparative approaches to North American and European Sports regulation. He has taught Tort Law, Sports Law, International Law, Employment Law, Human Rights Law, and Legislation, Administration & Policy. Ryan is also the coach of the Jessup International Law Moot team.

Emily is a partner at Clark Wilson LLP. Emily has focused her legal career on all aspects of estates, trusts and incapacity matters. She advocates for clients in contested litigation matters. She assists clients in preparing estate, trust and incapacity planning documents. She works with clients regarding the administration of estates through probate. Emily is known to be a dedicated and passionate advocate, particularly regarding the complex issues that arise regarding mental capacity.