Course Chairs
Grace M. Pastine — BC Civil Liberties Association, Vancouver
Ricard F. Pochkhanawala — Lawson Lundell LLP, Vancouver
About the Course Chairs
Grace Pastine is the Litigation Director for the BC Civil Liberties Association. She conducts litigation and manages the strategic direction of the legal activities of the BCCLA on a broad range of civil liberties cases. She has directed cases on issues including freedom of speech and expression, national security issues, access to governmental information, police misconduct, privacy rights, women’s rights, voting rights, right to counsel, and prisoner rights. She has appeared as counsel for the BCCLA on a variety of public interest cases before commissions and at all levels of court, including the Supreme Court of Canada. Prior to joining the BCCLA, Grace was a lawyer with Bull, Housser & Tupper LLP in Vancouver. She is a frequent public speaker and media commentator on civil liberties issues. Grace has taught law school courses as an adjunct professor at both the University of BC and the University of Victoria.
Ricard Pochkhanawala is an associate with Lawson Lundell LLP, Vancouver, where he has a broad research and opinions, and appellate litigation practice that engages many areas of the law. He analyzes legal authorities across Canada, the United States, and other common law jurisdictions in preparing opinions and briefs for complex litigation and commercial matters. Ricard has conceptualized and drafted briefs for cases before the Supreme Court of Canada and the Courts of Appeal, and on applications for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court.
In addition to his work on complex litigation, Ricard has prepared legal opinions on matters of constitutional law, administrative law and professional regulation, contracts, privilege, evidentiary issues and court procedure, corporate governance and securities law, trust law, limitations issues, elections and campaign finance law, energy and electricity regulatory law, insurance law and coverage, commercial transactions, bankruptcy and insolvency law, fraud, commercial real estate and land use law, labour and employment law, esoteric torts and other causes of action.
As a member of the firm’s Knowledge Management and Professional Development Committees, Ricard is active in those areas and in training and supervising lawyers and law students in legal research and writing. He was called to the Ontario bar in 2005, and the BC bar in 2012.
Faculty
Carmen Cheung — BC Civil Liberties Association, Vancouver
Bronwyn Guiton — Lawson Lundell LLP, Vancouver
Do-Ellen S. Hansen — Borden Ladner Gervais LLP, Vancouver
Meghan Maddigan — Courthouse Libraries BC, Vancouver
Raji Mangat — BC Civil Liberties Association, Vancouver
Lisa A. Peters — Lawson Lundell LLP, Vancouver
The Honourable Lynn Smith, QC — Faculty of Law at Allard Hall, University of BC, Vancouver
Margaret “Peggy” Stanier — Stevens Virgin, Vancouver
Mark G. Underhill — Underhill, Boies Parker, Vancouver