THE Canadian Bar Association, BC Branch (CBABC) on Tuesday announced Jennifer J.L. Brun as its President for the 2020-21 term.
Brun’s term begins during the COVID-19 pandemic, where a legal industry facing the danger of inertia has seized the opportunity for durable improvement. “Now is the time for our profession to effect a cultural paradigm shift embracing diversity, shattering the glass ceiling, and validating flexible work arrangements,” she said.
“While CBABC welcomes the overdue leveraging of technology necessitated by the pandemic, we recognize durable improvement starts with culture change – not technology. It requires a collective pledge from the Bench and Bar to define the profession by new metrics,” she noted. “The line between work and personal lives is imprecise in this virtual world we now occupy. This is no doubt law’s cultural restart and CBA has been at the forefront of coordinating and effecting this positive change.”
As a CBA member since 2005, Brun has served both provincially and nationally at many levels of governance. From 2010 to 2014, she served on the executive of the National CBA Young Lawyers, promoting the interests of over 16,000 young lawyers nationwide. She was elected to the CBABC Provincial Council and Executive Committee in 2017, and on her path to the CBABC presidency was elected Secretary-Treasurer in 2018 and Vice President in 2019.
Brun is a Managing Director at Harris & Brun Law Corporation, a civil litigation boutique where she practices law with an emphasis on claims arising from professional liability, occupiers’ liability, recreational accidents and motor vehicle accidents. She represents her clients in both litigation and regulatory contexts, before all levels of court in British Columbia and various administrative tribunals. She is a regular contributor and presenter for continuing professional development seminars focusing on civil litigation, personal injury and health law content, and is co-author of CLEBC’s Discovery Practice in British Columbia practice manual since 2016.
Brun is a vocal advocate for the rights of British Columbians regarding the recent changes to the province’s auto insurance system. “Accident victims should retain the right to have their claims resolved by an independent judiciary. They should be fairly compensated for the pain and suffering caused by at-fault drivers in our province,” she said.
She has a Bachelor of Science from the University of British Columbia, a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Calgary and a Master of Laws from Osgoode Hall Law School specializing in civil litigation and dispute resolution. She completed a judicial law clerkship at the Supreme Court of British Columbia before being called to the Bar.
The Canadian Bar Association is the professional organization representing more than 36,000 lawyers, judges and law students across Canada with over 7,000 members in British Columbia.
