At the Annual General Meeting of the Canadian College of Construction Lawyers, Mr. Richard A. Shaban of Borden Ladner Gervais LLP (“BLG”) was elected President of the College for the current year, replacing outgoing president Mr. Derek Brindle, Q.C. Mr. Shaban is a senior partner and past regional leader of BLG’s Construction and Engineering Group. He specializes exclusively in the areas of procurement, construction and surety law, including construction contracts and project delivery methods, public infrastructure renewal, dispute resolution, liens, construction insurance and surety bonds.
The Board of Governors of the Canadian College of Construction Lawyers is pleased to announce the induction of nine new Fellows to the College:
Dan Levert, Assistant General Counsel, Kiewit Infrastructure Co.
Dan is Assistant General Counsel for Kiewit Infrastructure Co. which is in the top 5 contractors in North America and Australia. In addition to being a lawyer, Mr. Levert is a professional engineer and a Fellow of the Engineering Institute of Canada. He is a Past President and Chief Executive Officer of Engineers Canada, a national organization representing Canada’s Engineers and Geoscientists. Dan was called to the Bar in Alberta in 1988. His responsibilities as Assistant General Counsel of Kiewit include all legal matters in all Provinces and Territories in Canada for its infrastructure and industrial division. He was relocated to St. John’s, Newfoundland in 2011 to facilitate support to Kiewit’s Newfoundland operations.
Marc MacEwing, Associate Counsel, Shapiro, Hankinson & Knutson Law Corporation
An Associate Counsel with SHK, Marc MacEwing has practiced extensively as a construction lawyer in all aspects of the practice for over 30 years. He has particular expertise as a builders lien lawyer, as well as in tendering disputes and preparing and analyzing contract documents. Marc advises owners, contractors, subcontractors, material suppliers and design professionals.
Tim Mavko – Partner, Reynolds, Mirth, Richards & Farmer
Tim began his articles with the Alberta Court of Appeal before completing them with another regional firm. He joined RMRF in 2002 and joined the Partnership in 2003.Tim’s practice spans two of RMRF’s key practice areas: Construction Law and Civil Litigation. Tim is an accomplished litigator. He regularly represents parties at all levels of Alberta’s courts in commercial disputes and injury claims. In the construction industry, he represents clients in negotiating and preparing construction contracts, bonding issues, delay claims, builders’ liens, and other project related disputes. Over the last several years he has been involved in both negotiating the contracts and handling the disputes for some of North America’s largest mega-projects.
John Murphy, Partner, BLG
John is a leading lawyer in construction law, and is regularly called upon to provide strategic advice and act as trusted advisor to some of our Firm’s longstanding clients. John regularly represents general contractors, bonding companies, insurers (professional liability, architects, engineers) sub-contractors and owners in construction matters of all nature. He is involved in large, complex construction matters and surety workouts involving several construction projects. He also advises with respect to product liability issues, commercial fraud, fidelity insurance issues and directors’ and officers’ liability. John has represented clients before all instances in Québec and encourages the use of alternative dispute resolution mechanisms for quick resolution of conflicts.
Steve Richards, General Counsel, PCL Construction
As general counsel of PCL Constructors Inc., Steve and the law department he manages provide legal support and advice relating to strategy and operations for the PCL family of companies. Steve is a member of PCL’s Office of the CEO, a group that includes the top senior executive management and leadership of PCL. Prior to joining PCL, Steve served as an executive and in-house counsel in a variety of project-related capacities, including most recently as the senior vice president of Shared Services at Infrastructure Ontario, and previously as counsel at Johnson Controls and Bombardier. Steve began his legal career at Gowlings LLP.
Phillip Scheibel, Partner, Rose LLP
Phil’s practice focuses on construction projects and commercial litigation. He has represented clients on projects across North America, in Australia, and has appeared before the courts in Alberta, Saskatchewan and British Columbia. Phil has acquired significant expertise associated with oil and gas, industrial and commercial construction projects. His experience includes providing counsel to project proponents in the structuring of the project, drafting, negotiating, implementing and administering construction contracts as well as representing owners, contractors, engineering firms, consultants and suppliers on disputes including liens, bonds, productivity, delay, extra work and cost over-run claims.
George Vlavianos, Partner, Bennett Jones
George is the managing partner of the Doha office of Bennett Jones (Middle East) LLP.Leader of the firm’s arbitration practice, George practises in the areas of commercial litigation and construction law. He acts for owners, contractors and engineers in a wide range of construction disputes, from civil to industrial. He also has experience with professional errors and omissions insurance claims arising out of large industrial construction projects.George represents major institutional clients in complex multi-party litigation and is involved in both domestic and international mediation and arbitration with respect to significant commercial disputes. He has UNCITRAL and ICC arbitration experience. George also has extensive experience with builders’ lien disputes, particularly in the oil and gas context.
Mario Welsh, Partner, BCF Business Law
A partner at BCF, Mario focuses his practice on civil and commercial litigation, professional liability, and construction law. Having been a contractor himself, his expertise in the field is quite extensive, encompassing all legal aspects of the construction industry, including professional liability. He regularly litigates before trial and appeal courts. He has also argued before the Supreme Court of Canada. A veteran of several lengthy trials involving construction law as well as other matters, Mr. Welsh has also acted in major class action cases.
Master Carol Albert (New Honorary Fellow)
Master Albert has over 30 years of experience working with Ontario’s justice system, as a practising lawyer, a legal educator and dispute resolution trainer, an arbitrator, a mediator and a judicial officer specialized in construction lien matters and dispute resolution. In her capacity as a full time construction lien master in Toronto, Master Albert presides over trials, motions, case conferences and settlement conferences.