Farris litigation partner Ludmila Herbst co-chaired the conference and presented on various limitations-related topics. Farris litigation partner Rebecca Morse and Farris associate Tim Louman-Gardiner led in-person and online breakout groups on limitation issues related to banking and finance.  Farris associate Jason Yamashita led an online breakout group on limitation issues related to general civil litigation matters.  Group leaders also presented key points from their sessions to the conference as a whole.

Chris J. Wiebe, a partner in the Farris Kelowna office’s Labour & Employment practice, was interviewed by host Philip Till on CKNW radio regarding discrimination in the workplace.  The discussion covered examples of what constitutes discrimination and the outlets available for resolution of these issues.

Chris advises and represents businesses, employers and individual clients on a wide range of contract, labour and employment matters including collective agreement grievance arbitrations, labour relations matters, human rights complaints, employment standards complaints, post employment competition, privacy issues, workers compensation issues, injunctions and wrongful dismissal actions.

Also mentioned in the article are Farris partners and fellow litigators Teresa Tomchak, Dylana Bloor, and Rebecca Morse.

For a full copy of the article, please click here.

Both LifeLabs and BC Biomedical provide high-quality diagnostic lab services through community-based patient service centers, homecare and long-term care visits, and dedicated laboratory testing facilities.

The deal brings together 125 patient service centers under one operating structure across British Columbia. On a combined basis, LifeLabs and BC Biomedical provide more than 25 million laboratory tests a year in B.C.

The Farris team was led by senior partner Hector MacKay-Dunn Q.C, and included associates Ron Chin, James Campbell, Robert Veitch and Lisa Andrews (articled student) together with partner Marc Darmo and associate Ron Dueck (for tax).

For more information on the deal please click on the link to LifeLabs press release.

Download the PDF file here.

Most of the net proceeds of the offering were used to indirectly acquire 32 hotel properties located in 19 U.S. states, primarily operated under the “Oak Tree Inn” banner.  Farris also represented AHIP in connection with the acquisition of this hotel portfolio.

Besides Mr. Canfield, the Farris team included Duncan Reid, Kwang Lim, Matthew Smith and Robert Veitch.

A copy of AHIP’s detailed press release can be found here.

On February 27th, at a gala dinner in Toronto, MacDonald, Dettwiler, and Associates Ltd (MDA) was recognized as a dealmaker of the year for their purchase of Space Systems Loral, LLC, the satellite manufacturing business of Loral Space & Communication Inc.

These prestigious awards were presented by Lexpert Canada and also recognized Farris as the lawyers for MDA and principal legal team on the deal. The transaction was completed in June and was worth US$875 million.

The Farris team led by Elizabeth Harrison, Q.C.  included partners Maria McKenzie (banking), David Selley (regulatory), and Bo Rothstein, and associates Thierry Keable and Kyle Miller.

Farris, Vaughan, Wills and Murphy LLP is pleased to announce the firm has been listed in Benchmark Canada’s 2013 Litigation Guide as ‘Highly Recommended’ for its BC-based litigation practice. In addition, Ludmila Herbst has been named female litigator of the year for British Columbia. Ludmila is a partner who practices in the fields of corporate and commercial litigation and regulatory matters.

The guide provides an in-depth review of the Province’s current litigation practices and summaries of some of the highest profile cases.

To celebrate the release of this year’s guide, dozens of Canada’s leading litigators, law firms, and in-house legal counsel celebrated their accomplishments at the first-ever Benchmark Canada Awards, held February 5 at the Park Hyatt in Toronto.

For more information about the Farris litigation team:
http://www.benchmarklitigation.com/firms/715-farris-vaughan-wills-murphy-firm

Bo Rothstein was called to the British Columbia bar in 2006 and the Ontario bar in 2005. His experience includes acting as lead counsel on several acquisition and sale transactions, public and private company financings and strategic alliances.  Bo has also assisted the firm’s senior counsel on some of British Columbia’s most significant hostile take-over bids and negotiated transactions.  In addition to transactional work, Bo regularly negotiates and drafts commercial agreements, shareholder rights plans (poison pills) and continuous disclosure documents for public companies.

Denise Nawata was called to the British Columbia bar in 2006 and the Alberta bar in 2005. Denise has experience in a broad range of transactions including debt and equity financings, mergers involving both public and private companies, plans of arrangements and other corporate reorganizations. Her practice also focuses on advising issuers with respect to securities reporting, compliance and disclosure obligations and general corporate matters. In addition, Denise advises clients on mining title matters and project permitting issues.

The firm’s Movember Team, ‘The Farris Flavour Savers’ raised $8000 for prostate cancer research and prevention.

Finally, this year’s ‘Adopt a Family’ program provided gifts for three lower mainland families to make their holiday more festive and our Food Bank Drive raised $2300 in cash and over 115 pounds of food.

Happy Holiday from everyone at Farris!

Dominic has been practicing law for more than 25 years, the majority of that time, in the Okanagan. In his practice he has assisted and counselled clients through the entire business spectrum, from start-up to expansion and divestment. He has significant experience in mergers and acquisitions, and has been past president and chair of the Central Okanagan United Way, the Central Okanagan Foundation, the Okanagan Symphony and the Kelowna General Hospital Foundation.

Reasons for judgment of the BC Court of Appeal can be viewed here.

This prestigious award honours Canada’s Leading Lawyers Under 40 – from law firms and in-house – and is decided upon by a group that includes In-House Counsel along with Chairs or Managing Partners from Canada’s most noted law firms.

Mike is the sixth consecutive Farris Partner to be awarded the honour and he joins Sean Hern (2011), Ludmila Herbst (2010), David Selley (2009), Trevor Scott (2008), and Brad Newby (2007).

The 1 day conference was attended by solicitors and in-house counsel. The objective of the conference was to identify tools that may assist in risk management up-stream of litigation.

Scott was on a panel with Joscelyn Baker of Polygon Homes Ltd. The panel addressed the use, misuse and pitfalls associated with corporate policies and procedures. 

Since 1996 Who’s Who Legal has identified the foremost legal practitioners in multiple areas of business law.

*Retired in December 2011

The Review’s founding editor, Justice Todd Archibald of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, states about the paper:  “it deals with the important issue of the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods.  The paper is intended as a practical and academic guide for Canadian lawyers faced with a sale of goods issue that spans international borders.  It is also intended as a basis for considering the evaluation whether or not to advise clients to opt out of the United Nations convention….It is a scholarly paper which is recommended to all commercial litigators who in their practices must deal with the international sale of goods”.

All of the four resolutions proposed by New York hedge fund Mason Capital Management LLC, were defeated.  The four defeated Mason Resolutions sought to prevent the share exchange from proceeding on a one-for-one exchange ratio.

Farris, Vaughan, Wills & Murphy LLP represent TELUS with respect to this matter.

Farris’ Senior Partner, Mitchell H. Gropper Q.C joins an exclusive and distinguished group of Canadian practitioners who have been recognized with this award.

Mitchell is currently the Chair of the Board of the Federation of Jewish Community of Greater Vancouver and, until recently, was a director of the Arts Club Theatre and Chair of the Board of Trustees, Jewish Foundation of Greater Vancouver. In addition he had been recognized as a Top 100 Cross Border Lawyer (Lexpert 2011) and by Best Lawyers in Canada (2012).

Excerpt from the article:

Farris Vaughan Wills & Murphy LLP managing partner Alan Hamilton says the firm switched its focus from national to regional about five or six years ago. Although he doesn’t rule out going national in the future, he says none of the opportunities that have presented themselves so far have been attractive enough. Instead, the firm looked inside British Columbia for growth by merger. “We thought we should get out of Vancouver if we could, and we found the ideal firm to merge with in Kelowna,” Hamilton says of its 2008 absorption of Kelowna-based Petraroia Langford LLP. Farris has also picked up partners in Victoria as it seeks to expand its presence in the province’s capital city. “A significant number of people, including the business community in Kelowna, like to use lawyers that live, work and pay taxes in the province, so it makes sense for us to embrace this concept of regionalism,” says Hamilton.

For the complete press release from Canadian Lawyer click here.

Additional information is available by clicking here.

To obtain a copy of the brochure for the course, please click here. Please mention this press release, in order to obtain a 15% discount off the basic registration price.

The article is available by clicking here.

For the full press release, please click here.

Farris Litigation Team wins a Supreme Court decision on behalf of TELUS

On September 11, 2012, the British Columbia Supreme Court ruled that TELUS was correct in declining to call a meeting requisitioned on behalf of Mason Capital Management LLC.  Specifically, Mr. Justice Savage held that the meeting had not been requisitioned in compliance with the Business Corporations Act and that the resolutions proposed for voting at the meeting could not be implemented.  The Court concluded that based on TELUS’ proper rejection of the requisition, Mason was not authorized to call or hold its own meeting of TELUS’ shareholders.
 
The Farris team was led by Robert Anderson, Q.C. and included Robert J. McDonnell, David J. Selley, Ludmila Herbst, and Erica Miller.
 
A copy of the Reasons for Judgment can be found here.