THERE are two South Asians among the 26 recipients of the honorary title of Queen’s counsel (QC) for 2019.

“We recognize the recipients of the Queen’s counsel title for their excellent performance and dedication to the legal system,” said David Eby, Attorney General. “I congratulate these exceptional lawyers and thank them for their contributions to the people of British Columbia and to the legal profession.”

The 26 QC recipients for 2019 reflect a wide range of legal practice, including commercial, administrative and criminal law. Some have a specific focus on Indigenous law, human rights, immigration, international conflict, medical law and commercial crime. They include lawyers in private practice, government and academia.

Potential candidates for the QC designation must be members of the B.C. bar for a minimum of five years and be nominated by their peers. An advisory committee reviews the applications and makes recommendations to the attorney general.

Quick Facts:

* There were 163 nominations submitted for an honorary QC title.

* The advisory committee was established by the attorney general to review nominations and make recommendations for Queen’s counsel appointments. It includes:
* the chief justice of B.C.;

* the chief justice of the Supreme Court of B.C.;

* the chief judge of the provincial court of B.C.;

* the president of the Law Society of B.C.;

* the president of the Canadian Bar Association British Columbia Branch;

* a Law Society of B.C. member appointed by the benchers (directors); and

* B.C.’s deputy attorney general.

* Currently, there are 499 QCs out of approximately 12,700 practising members of the bar.

2019 Queen’s counsel appointees

The following Queen’s counsel appointees are listed in order of the date they were called to the B.C. bar.

Murray Lorne Smith (1977) is an internationally recognized leader in the field of commercial arbitration law. He has been chair and panel member on many international and domestic commercial arbitration tribunals adjudicating complex cases, particularly in the energy industry. He was called to the Bar of England and Wales in 1990. He earned a master of laws degree at the London School of Economics and is a frequent lecturer in the United Kingdom, British Columbia and the Yukon. He has appeared as lead counsel before the Supreme Court of Canada in a number of criminal, constitutional and arbitration law cases.

Paul Thomas McGivern (1980) has been practicing law since 1980, first in the field of corporate and commercial litigation and then focusing on medical malpractice. In 2005, he joined the firm now known as Pacific Medical Law as senior partner. He has been lead or co-counsel in at least 120 trial and appellate decisions involving significant medical claims, which have helped to clarify the law of negligence. He has been a director of the Medical Legal Society of B.C. and a member of the Plaintiffs Medical Negligence Litigation Group. From 1987 to 2004, he was an adjunct professor at the University of British Columbia (UBC) Law School.

Michael Dudley Lucas (1987) joined the Law Society of British Columbia after eight years of practice. In 2018, he became the society’s director of policy and planning. He is a leader in the field of solicitor-client privilege and is noted for his work at the national level for the Federation of Law Societies of Canada. He has been the lead staff advisor to the society’s Rule of Law and Lawyer Independence Advisory Committee.

Drew Stavers White (1989) has 30 years’ service overseas on assignments for the United Nations (UN). White has been involved in national and international legal practice in human rights and criminal justice. He has served as defence counsel, prosecutor, human rights officer, investigative officer and legal advisor. He served the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, prosecuting cases based on international criminal and human rights law. In March 2019, he completed a two-year mission in Afghanistan leading UN human rights field offices.

Joseph Michael Doyle (1989) practises criminal law, administrative law and civil litigation. Doyle was Crown counsel in Vancouver, Richmond and Nanaimo, where he conducted major crime prosecutions. In 2008, he was designated as one of the attorney general’s special prosecutors and is recognized as an expert on police law in the province.

Clifford Gerald Proudfoot (1992) earned a master of laws from the University of Cambridge in 1989. He was admitted to the Manitoba bar in 1990 and the B.C. bar in 1992. He specializes in environmental and Aboriginal litigation, representing clients in forestry, manufacturing, mining, real estate development and power generation. He has taken a leadership role in promoting diversity in the legal profession and contributing to legal education and scholarship.

Simon Raymond Coval (1993) has a doctor of laws from Oxford University, where he taught for two years. With more than 25 years at the B.C. bar, he is one of the leading commercial barristers in the province. He has served as director of the Access Pro Bono Society and has been co-ordinator for a program that finds lawyers for unrepresented litigants in the court of appeal. He frequently teaches trial advocacy at UBC.

James Harvey Goulden (1993) holds a bachelor of laws from UBC and focuses his practice on trial and arbitration work in commercial and administrative disputes. He has appeared before all levels of court in B.C., the federal court and various administrative tribunals. He is a recognized leader on expropriation matters. Goulden is a member of the Canadian Bar Association and has been active in the civil and municipal law sections of the B.C. branch.

Rosemarie Ann Keith (1993) has been actively involved in the Canadian Bar Association and the Trial Lawyers Association, where she is a member of the board of governors. She has served as a member of the Civil Resolution Tribunal, where she adjudicated disputes relating to small claims and strata issues. Her practice focuses on personal injury claims, employment law matters, human rights complaints and other civil litigation issues.

Jasmin Zubaida Ahmad (1995) has served as a bencher with the Law Society of B.C. since 2017 and is chair of the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Committee. She is a leader in advocating for diversity and inclusion in the legal profession. She earned a bachelor of laws from the University of Victoria and acts as counsel in contract and business disputes, real estate, employment law and strata disputes.

Reidar Meyer Mogerman (1997) is one of Canada’s leading class action counsel, committed to access to justice for previously underserved groups of litigants. For many years, he has represented First Nations and Indigenous individuals. He is a founding and continuing director of the Pacific Centre for Environmental Law and Litigation and was a volunteer associate with the University of Victoria Environmental Law Centre.

James Conrad MacInnis (1998) practises commercial litigation and dispute resolution and has been lead counsel for the Lawyers Insurance Fund of B.C. He is a prolific contributor to continuing legal education, with more than 40 individual publications. He has provided pro bono clinic services through the Salvation Army and as appellate counsel through Access Pro Bono.

Roshan Philip Danesh (1998) earned law degrees from the University of Victoria and Harvard University and has held academic positions at seven universities. He has worked as an international consultant in peace building and conflict resolution and has advised major companies, governments and organizations around the world. Danesh founded the Youth Peace Builder Network in Bosnia, the United States, Canada and Bermuda, and helped design and implement the post-war reconstruction of the education system of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Barbara Ann Carmichael (1998) joined the Legal Services Branch (LSB) of the Ministry of Attorney General after obtaining her law degree from the University of Victoria and clerking with the B.C. Supreme Court. She has appeared before administrative tribunals, all levels of B.C. courts and the Supreme Court of Canada. She provides legal advice to government on complex policy questions and is known for her mentoring role as chair of the LSB Articled Student Committee.

Lisa Christine Fong (1998) has practised in Indigenous, administrative, environmental, and equality and diversity law. She has advanced the legal profession through her participation in the Governance and Equality Committee and National Policy Committee of the Canadian Bar Association and is a director of the Environmental Law Centre at the University of Victoria. She teaches legal ethics, young lawyer resilience, health law and Indigenous law.

Jeevyn Dhaliwal (1998) received her law degree from UBC. She has been an elected bencher of the Law Society of B.C. and has served on various society committees. She is a former president of the South Asian Bar Association of B.C. and represents clients in workplace immigration and related issues.

Kasandra Bruyns Cronin (1999) has practised criminal law exclusively in British Columbia for 20 years. Her provincewide practice includes representing many disadvantaged clients, including people with severe mental health difficulties and issues with addiction. She appears frequently as defence counsel in provincial court and B.C. Supreme Court, and regularly serves as ad hoc Crown counsel. She is extensively involved in bar organizations and community groups and is chair of the Criminal Defence Advocacy Society.

John-Paul Ernest Boyd (2000) is a member of the B.C. and Alberta bars, the Canadian Bar Association, the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts and the ADR Institute of Canada, and is a fellow of the International Academy of Family Lawyers. He is known for his work on continuing legal education and as creator of a public legal education website on family law maintained by Courthouse Libraries BC. He has been identified as one of the six major providers of public legal education on family law in B.C.

Bradford Frederick Smith (2000) established his criminal litigation practice in Kamloops after more than a decade as Crown counsel with the Public Prosecution Service of Canada, where he prosecuted major drug cases involving organized crime. He serves primarily as defence counsel, as well as ad hoc prosecutor, for federal and provincial Crown counsel. He received his bachelor and master of laws from Osgoode Hall.

Andrea Jaye Turton (2000) has been practising law since 2000, primarily in criminal and family law. She is well known as defence counsel in the remote communities of Haida Gwaii and Kwadacha/Tsay Keh Dene. She has participated in the mobile court circuit in those communities for nearly two decades, and now lives in Haida Gwaii.

Sean Hern (2002) is a leading practitioner in the areas of commercial, administrative, environmental and constitutional law. He has regularly appeared before trial and appellate courts, human rights and other tribunals, and arbitrators. He has served as counsel in a number of high-profile public inquiries and regularly takes on cases pro bono to facilitate access to justice for litigants who need assistance.

Catherine Dorothy Clarke Dauvergne (2008) is dean of the Peter A. Allard School of Law at UBC. She is a leading voice in immigration and refugee law and has written seven books on migration and related legal matters. She was named a Fellow of the Pierre Elliot Trudeau Foundation in 2012 and was Canada research chair in migration law. She has taught in all areas of public law and has mentored a generation of practitioners and legal scholars.

Donald John Avison (1981) is executive director and chief executive officer of the Law Society of B.C. He began his legal career in the Yukon with the federal Department of Justice and later served the department in Ottawa and the Northwest Territories. He was deputy minister of education and deputy minister of health in British Columbia from 1997-99 and became the first president of the University Presidents’ Council. He is an experienced advocate who has appeared before all levels of court, including the Supreme Court of Canada.

Louisa Mala Winn (1995) has served as Crown counsel with the Ministry of Attorney General for more than 22 years and is an expert in commercial crime and regulatory prosecutions. She conducts complex cases in many different areas of the province and at all levels of court in B.C. She trains lawyers, police and forensic accountants on a range of legal matters, including anti-counterfeit investigative techniques.

Merle Craig Alexander (2001) is a hereditary chief of the Tsimshian Nation and a member of the Kitasoo Xai’xais First Nation. He has made exceptional contributions to Indigenous reconciliation and the advancement of Indigenous lawyers and students. His practice focuses on Indigenous resource law and legal reform initiatives. He is a frequent media commentator on Indigenous legal matters.

Rodney Graeme Garson (2008) is a pre-eminent criminal and constitutional law litigator with a career-long dedication to Indigenous justice issues. He is a deputy director with the BC Prosecution Service and provides specialized litigation support to hundreds of prosecutors around the province at all levels of court. He has served as defence counsel and federal prosecutor and as a judge in the provincial court of Manitoba. He has been a leading charter and criminal litigator, appearing repeatedly at the Supreme Court of Canada and various provincial courts of appeal.