Law History Profiles

When Victor Tsao broke the news to his parents Ben and Ruth that he was returning to university to pursue a professional degree, their reaction was one of happy relief. “So you have finally come to your senses,” said the couple, who are both physicians. “I want to go to law school,” Tsao clarified.

“Oh,” Ben and Ruth responded, “so you really haven’t come to your senses.”

Assistant Professor Stewart joined the law school in August 2009, after spending two years as an Associate-in-Law at Columbia Law School in New York. Prior to his time at Columbia, Professor Stewart was an Appeals Counsel with the Prosecution of the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. He has also worked for the Legal Division of the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Prosecution of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.

Bethany Hastie is an Assistant Professor at the Peter A. Allard School of Law. Hastie first joined the Allard community as a law student, graduating alongside the class of 2009. Following her JD studies, Hastie received her LLM from McGill University at the Institute of Comparative Law. Hastie also completed her DCL at McGill University where she held both a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Doctoral Fellowship and an O’Brien Fellowship in Human Rights and Legal Pluralism. She joined the Law Faculty as a Lecturer in 2015.

Kelsey Sherriff is a Partner at the Vancouver office of Miller Thomson LLP (“Miller Thomson”) where she works directly with the firm’s Civil Litigation Group. While Sherriff deals with a complex array of civil litigation matters, her legal practice primarily focuses on health law, wills and estates, and class actions.

Allyson Marta is a graduate from the JD class of 2009 from the law school at UBC. She currently works as an Associate in the Pensions & Benefits Group at the Toronto office of Stikeman Elliott LLP (“Stikeman Elliott”).

Like many of the members of the board, Nicholas Tsoi dedicates much of his time to community involvement, something that began early on during his years at law school.

Through LSLAP and the school’s rugby team, Nic found great opportunity to build connections, “There might be one or two highlight classes, you might do a moot, but it’s the relationships that you build that shape your law school experience.”

Lauren Cook is a partner at Lawson Lundell LLP in Vancouver, specializing in regulatory law, administrative law, and commercial litigation. Cook’s practice primarily focuses on environmental law with specific efforts in forestry, mining, clean energy, real estate development, and aquaculture. Through her work Cook frequently advises a variety of clients on environmental compliance, assessments, audits, and due diligence. She is well regarded by the legal community, being listed on Benchmark Litigation’s “40 and Under Hotlist” in 2018.

Laura E. Duke graduated with the LLB class of 2008 from the law school at UBC. During law school she was the recipient of the Blake, Cassels and Graydon LLP Prize in Constitutional Law. Upon being called to the British Columbia Bar in 2009, she began working at the Vancouver office of Lawson Lundell LLP (“Lawson Lundell”) where she is now a Partner. Prior to attending law school she received a Bachelor of Arts from UBC in 1999 and a Masters of Arts from the University of Toronto in 2000.

Byron Shaw is a graduate of the LLB class of 2008 from the law school at UBC. He currently works as a Partner in the Litigation Group at the Toronto offices of McCarthy Tétrault LLP (“McCarthy Tétrault”). His litigation experience has brought him before all levels of court in Ontario as well as the Federal Courts of Canada and the Supreme Court of Canada.

Allard School of Law Associate Professor Emma Cunliffe is a recent recipient of a Killam Research Fellowship, one of ten awards given to leading UBC scholars, for her research on how judges come to a decision about the facts in a criminal case. The study, which will make up a large part of a soon-to-be-published book called Judging Facts, focuses on areas where a criminal trial has been known to fail or raised concerns.  The book will emphasize judicial factual reasoning as opposed to the reasoning of juries.

Tariq Ahmed graduated from law school at UBC’s LLB program in 2008. In recognition of his dedication and involvement during law school, the Faculty of Law at UBC granted Ahmed with the Raymond G Herbert Award which annually honours the best all-round graduating student in reference to academic excellence, athletic involvement, leadership, and moral force of character. In addition to his stellar academic performance and involvement in student governance, Ahmed also acted as a Real Estate Law Tutor with the Sauder School of Business from 2006-2008.

Mark Colavecchia is a Partner at Harris & Company LLP (“Harris”), a Vancouver-based firm that is also Western Canada’s largest workplace law and advocacy firm. Colavecchia’s practice focuses on a wide range of legal issues relating to labour, employment, and human rights law. He primarily represents management from a variety sectors, lending advice and representation on a plethora of matters ranging from dismissals to seniority issues. His experience in the courtroom is extensive, having appeared before the Federal Court and all levels of court in British Columbia.

After working as a tax lawyer for a year after law school, Allison Suter needed a change. "I found myself wanting to do something different. I couldn't put my finger on it, but I knew that 'something different' would probably include running a business and creating something." That change came in the form of running a photography business, a passion she's always had and started cultivating between graduating from law school and starting her articles.

Samantha Cunliffe is a partner in the Business Law Group at McCarthy Tétrault LLP (“McCarthy Tétrault”). She graduated from the law school at UBC in 2008 in the LLB program. Prior to attending law school, Cunliffe obtained a Bachelor of Science in Physics in 2005. She was called to the British Columbia Bar in 2009 and the Ontario Bar in 2018.

For Christopher Ellett, the Panama Papers were not necessarily the bombshell they have been made out to be in the media. “A smaller disclosure a few years ago made it clear that the banking laws of many tax havens facilitated tax evasion,” he says, adding that “aside from the specific individuals involved, which are still being identified, I don’t think the Panama Papers revealed any great surprises.” Ellet recently graduated from the Peter A Allard School of Law with an LLM in Taxation, and currently works as a barrister and solicitor at Moodys Gartner Tax Law in Calgary.

David Johnston, Governor General of Canada, has awarded UBC Law Associate Professor Benjamin Perrin the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in recognition of his significant contributions to Canada. Professor Perrin was nominated by the Macdonald-Laurier Institute for Public Policy for his work at the forefront of the human trafficking issue as a driving force for important legislative changes and policy improvements.

Cheryl D’Sa, a civil litigator and the managing partner of Narwal Litigation LLP, became an elected Bencher of the Law Society of British Columbia in May 2020. She was the first visible minority female President of the Vancouver Bar Association and in 2019, Business in Vancouver named her one of the Top Forty under 40. She devotes her practice primarily to plaintiff personal injury and has appeared in all levels of Court in British Columbia.

Allard Law alum Joven Narwal is a leading trial and appellate lawyer at Narwal Litigation LLP in Vancouver. When he’s not dedicating time to the legal and broader community, Joven, who was an avid martial artist and grappler from the age of 8 until the end of law school, also serves as a director of the British Columbia Wrestling Association and tries to catch every big MMA and boxing event he can while ringside in Las Vegas, when his schedule permits.

It wasn’t a search for the perfect wave in wild West Coast surf that prompted Myron Plett to set up his law practice in Ucluelet, southwest of Tofino on Vancouver Island. “Lord, no,” he says, by phone. “I’m from the Prairies.” Yet he always had a dream of living in a beautiful small town. Above his desk, Plett keeps a photo of his favourite local spot: ocean waters churn under a dash of blue sky as the Broken Group Islands beckon beyond the Lighthouse Loop trail ...