Course Chairs
Ward K. Branch, QC — Branch McMaster LLP, Vancouver
Luciana P. Brasil — Branch McMaster LLP, Vancouver
About the Course Chairs
Ward Branch, QC is a principal in the firm Branch McMaster LLP, Vancouver where his practice focuses on class actions and insurance. He was counsel in the first class action cases to come before the BC Supreme Court and BC Court of Appeal. Ward has been retained in over 130 class actions in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and BC, and has acted both for and against the Governments of British Columbia, Alberta, and Canada in class actions.
Ward was the recipient of Canada’s Class Action Litigator of the Year Award for 2013 and 2015 from Benchmark Canada, and BC’s Bet-the-Company Litigator of the Year in 2012 by Best Lawyers. He is recognized as a leading counsel in commercial insurance and class actions by the Lexpert, Benchmark, and Best Lawyers guides.
Ward is the author of the textbook Class Actions in Canada, which has been cited with approval by the Supreme Court of Canada. He has written extensively and presented frequently on all things class actions. Ward is called to the bars of BC, Ontario, and Alberta, and is an adjunct professor at the University of BC.
Luciana Brasil is a partner at Branch McMaster LLP, Vancouver. Her practice is primarily in the area of class actions where she acts for both plaintiffs and defendants. She has worked with or against leading Canadian class action counsel. On the plaintiff side Luciana has been counsel for the class in various high-profile multi-jurisdictional cases including Joel v. Menu Foods Genpar Ltd. (recalled pet food) and Langille v. Maple Leaf Foods Inc. (recalled processed food products). These cases resulted in settlements in excess of $20 million.
Luciana commenced her legal studies in Sao Paulo, Brazil and has a Bachelor of Civil Law Degree from Mackenzie University (1993) and a Bachelor of Laws Degree from the University of Victoria (1998). She was admitted to the BC bar in 1999. As a result of her practice in class actions, Luciana has been recognized by Lexpert as a “Top Litigator to Watch” in the 2009 US/Canada Cross-Border Guide — Litigation.
Faculty
The Honourable Associate Chief Justice John D. Rooke — Court of Queen’s Bench of Alberta, Calgary
Marie Audren — Borden Ladner Gervais LLP, Montreal
Theodore P. Charney — Charney Lawyers, Toronto
D. Geoffey Cowper, QC — Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP, Vancouver
Shawn Gilhula CIP — Director of Operations, Crawford Class Action Services, Waterloo
Mahmud Jamal — Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP, Toronto
Carsten Jensen, QC — JSS Barristers, Calgary
Doug Lennox — Klein Lawyers LLP, Toronto
Robert W. Leurer, QC — MacPherson, Leslie & Tyerman, Regina
Reidar M. Mogerman — Camp Fiorante Matthews Mogerman, Vancouver
Christopher M. Murphy — McDermott Will & Emery, Chicago
Maxime Nasr — Belleau Lapointe, Montreal
James M. Sullivan — Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP, Vancouver
K. Craig Wildfang — Robins, Kaplan LLP, Minneapolis
Jill S. Yates — McCarthy Tétrault LLP, Vancouver