The Vancouver Bar Association is managed by an executive elected by their peers and comprised of lawyers from all over Vancouver.
The current executive members are:
Officers
Patrick S. Cleary, Alexander Holburn Beaudin & Lang LLP (President)
Patrick Cleary is a lawyer at Alexander Holburn Beaudin & Lang LLP. Patrick was called to the Alberta Bar in 2004 and the BC Bar in 2005. He is a member of his firm’s Banking, Corporate/Commercial, Construction & Engineering and Real Estate Practices. Outside of the office, Patrick enjoys travelling, soccer, tennis, skiing and politics.
Timothy Hinkson, Guild Yule LLP (Vice President)
Tim Hinkson is an associate at Guild Yule LLP, practicing civil litigation with an emphasis on insurance, health care, professional liability, and personal injury.
Sandra Kovacs, Harper Grey LLP (Past President)
Sandy Kovacs is a litigation associate at Harper Grey LLP, specializing in aviation, professional liability, commercial and insurance matters.
Michael Bain, Hamilton Howell Bain & Gould (Treasurer)
Michael Bain was first elected to the Vancouver Bar Association in 2003. He has been the secretary-treasurer since 2005. He is currently the assistant editor the Advocate, published (since 1943) six times per year by the VBA and circulated to all members of the profession in B.C. Michael is a partner at Hamilton Howell Bain & Gould where he is a litigator practising employment law. He is the singer and bass player of the all-lawyer band, Mr. Fancy Education.
Members-At-Large
Sarah Batut, Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP
Sarah Batut is a business associate with Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP. She practices in the areas of real estate and corporate/commercial with a particular focus in property development, commercial sales and purchases, and leasing. Sarah graduated from the UBC Law in 2006 and was admitted to the British Columbia bar in 2007.
Andrew Brine, Harper Grey LLP
Andrew Brine is an associate in the health, administrative and insurance law groups at Harper Grey LLP. He advises and assists clients with respect to civil medico-legal issues and disciplinary matters before the College of Physicians and Surgeons of British Columbia and the Health Professions Review Board. Andrew also conducts insurance subrogation litigation, primarily in connection with product liability and property damage. Andrew grew up in the Vancouver area. After graduating from law school, he articled at a Vancouver firm where he focused on insurance defence and health care litigation. Prior to joining Harper Grey LLP, he practiced maritime and international trade commercial litigation in London, England for approximately two years.
Gordon Buck, Alexander Holburn Beaudin & Lang LLP
Gord Buck was called to the Bar of British Columbia in 2006 and is currently a litigation associate at Alexander Holburn Beaudin & Lang LLP, where he is a member of the firm’s Commercial Litigation, Construction & Engineering, Environmental and Insolvency & Restructuring Practices.
Jordanna Cytrynbaum, McCarthy Tétrault LLP
Jordanna Cytrynbaum is an associate with McCarthy Tétrault’s litigation group with a practice emphasizing on commercial, real estate and employment litigation matters.
Mark Fancourt-Smith, Lawson Lundell LLP
Mark Fancourt-Smith is an associate in the commercial litigation group at Lawson Lundell LLP. His practice encompasses a broad range of commercial disputes, including technology and intellectual property litigation, protection of trade secrets, breaches of fiduciary obligation, and fraud. He has particular experience with injunctions, trade-mark protection, mining disputes involving confidential information, and the area of preservation and discovery of electronic documents and records in complex litigation. Mark has appeared as counsel in the Supreme Court of British Columbia, the British Columbia Court of Appeal, and in the Federal Court.
Stephanie Gutierrez, Farris, Vaughan, Wills & Murphy
Stephanie grew up in Vancouver and earned her Law degree from the University of British Columbia. She practices labour and employment law, administrative law, and civil litigation at Farris, Vaughan, Wills & Murphy. Stephanie represents employers, employees, businesses and individuals in a wide range of labour, employment and commercial matters, including wrongful dismissals, labour arbitrations, labour relations board matters, human rights complaints, employment standards matters, privacy law issues, police discipline matters, and contractual disputes.
Carolyn MacDonald, Borden Ladner Gervais
Carolyn MacDonald is an associate at Borden Ladner Gervais LLP, practicing in the area of taxation with an emphasis on resource taxation, public company transactions and international tax.
Rob Miller, Miller Titerle LLP
Rob is a founding partner of Miller Titerle LLP and has a broad corporate and commercial law practice. Prior to establishing Miller Titerle LLP, Rob worked at a large national law firm and, prior to that, in the forest industry.Rob has organized reforestation projects in Central America on a volunteer basis. He is a member (and the former Vice-President) of the Hooplaw Society, a not for profit organization devoted to improving the life of disadvantaged youth in the Lower Mainland. He also does pro-bono legal work for local charities and First Nations organizations.
Richard Pearce, Webster Hudson & Coombe LLP
Originally from Vancouver Island, Richard is a graduate of UBC Law School and was a law clerk for the Supreme Court of BC. Richard’s practice areas include commercial and insurance litigation; professional errors and omissions; realization and foreclosures; bankruptcy and insolvency; personal injury litigation; and real estate litigation.
Andrew Schafer, Bull, Housser & Tupper LLP
Andrew is an associate at Bull, Housser & Tupper LLP in the Labour and Employment group. Andrew earned his Bachelor of Laws degree from Queen’s University in 2007 and was called to the British Columbia bar in 2008.
Nicholas Tsoi, Slater Vecchio LLP
Nicholas is an associate at Slater Vecchio LLP practicing in personal injury litigation. He is a graduate of the UBC Faculty of Law, earning his Bachelor of Laws degree in 2008. He was admitted to the British Columbia bar in 2009. Prior to joining Slater Vecchio LLP, Nicholas practiced in areas including commercial and insurance litigation, professional errors and omissions and bankruptcy and insolvency law.
Erica Weiss, McMillan LLP
Erica is an associate in the Capital Markets and M&A Group of McMillan LLP. Her practice focuses primarily on corporate finance and general corporate and commercial matters. Erica also assists public companies with general securities compliance, continuous disclosure requirements and corporate governance matters. She regularly acts for public corporations, including issuers listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange and the TSX Venture Exchange. Erica articled with McMillan in 2008 and was called to the Bar in 2009. Prior to attending law school, Erica earned her honours degree in Political Science and Spanish from Mount Allison University in Sackville, New Brunswick. She has also studied Spanish at the Universidad de Guanajuato and the Universidad de Salamanca, and international law at the Universiteit van Amsterdam.