Esteemed panelists join for discussions on the intersection of alternate dispute resolution and the Courts.

Chief Justice Melissa Gillespie, Justice Bruce Butler, Justice Brianna Hardwick, The Honourable Mary Ellen Boyd, and Lawrence Kahn, KC, provide their views from both sides of the Bench on the following topics:

• Notices to Mediate (Civil and Family) - how effective is "forced" Mediation?
• Judicial Settlement Conferences and Judicial Case Conferences - how/when are these best utilized?
• Enforcement of Agreements achieved in Mediation or Med/Arb - how often are these before the Courts and what, if any, unique considerations would the Court apply?
• Estate Planning Mediation Agreements subsequently challenged in wills variation
• Compellability of the ADR professional (Mediator/Arbitrator/Parenting Coordinator) to testify or provide their file.
• Appeals from an Arbitrator or Parenting Coordinator's decision - are there considerations that are different from appeals from a lower Court?
  
   

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Speaker Biographies

Chief Judge Melissa Gillespie received her law degree from the University of Toronto and was called to the BC Bar in 1991. Soon after that, she began her legal career as Crown Counsel working in New Westminster, Surrey and Burnaby. Appointed a Queen’s Counsel in 2009, Chief Judge Gillespie was sworn in as a Provincial Court judge in February 2012. Following her appointment, she presided in the Fraser Region. In addition to sitting assignments, Chief Judge Gillespie was active in delivering education programs to judges in Canada and Guyana. Chief Judge Gillespie was appointed an Associate Chief Judge in April 2016. She was appointed Acting Chief Judge on May 7, 2018 and appointed Chief Judge on October 19, 2018 for a seven year term.

Justice G. Bruce Butler was appointed to the Supreme Court of British Columbia on March 30, 2007 and to the Court of Appeal for British Columbia on August 29, 2018. In his 11 years on the trial court, he heard a wide range of cases in all areas of the law. As a judge, he developed a strong interest in family law. He was appointed the Hague Contact Judge for British Columbia in 2009 and was a member of the Canadian Network of Contact Judges (now the Special Committee on International Child Protection) from 2009 to 2017. He was a member of the Supreme Court’s Family Law Committee for eight years and chaired it for three years. He was a member of the Editorial Board of the CLEBC British Columbia Family Practice Manual, for six years and has been a member of the Editorial Board of the CLEBC Family Law Sourcebook for British Columbia since 2019.  

Justice Briana Hardwick was appointed to the British Columbia Supreme Court effective February 7, 2022.  Madam Justice Hardwick is resident in Kelowna and currently remains the youngest member of the British Columbia Supreme Court judiciary. Prior to her appointment and following a stint as a law clerk for the British Columbia Supreme Court, Madam Justice Hardwick practiced substantially all of her career with the law firm of Rush Ihas Hardwick LLP in Kelowna, a firm she helped establish with her former partners, David M. Rush, KC and Kenneth J. Ihas in 2007. Initially Madam Justice Hardwick had a practice consisting of a wide variety of civil, commercial and family law litigation and arbitration matters. In or about 2012, Madam Justice Hardwick took on the role of the head of the family law department at Rush Ihas Hardwick LLP and thereafter focused her practice exclusively on family law matters with the assistance of a crew of capable associates. 

Mary Ellen Boyd was called to the BC Bar in 1975 and practised as a civil litigator at Bull Housser & Tupper before being appointed to the County Court of Vancouver in December 1985. After the merger of the Superior Courts in July 1990, she presided as a justice of the Supreme Court of B.C. until she retired in May 2012. She was recalled to the Bar and underwent intensive training as a mediator. She launched her mediation practice, first as Associate Counsel at Singleton Urquhart from June 2012 until February 2017. In early 2017 she joined her friends and colleagues, Barbara Cornish and Simon Margolis, in forming Cornish Margolis Boyd Mediation & Arbitration. Mary Ellen has lectured on mediation for CLEBC, the Canadian Bar, TLABC and the Law Society of BC. Mary Ellen was awarded BEST LAWYERS 2022 “Lawyer of the Year” award in Alternative Dispute Resolution. She was recently included in the BEST LAWYERS 2023 Alternative Dispute Resolution list and the Who’s Who Legal: Commercial Mediation 2023 list of Recommended Lawyers.  

Lawrence (Larry) Kahn, KC, is one of the leading Family Law practitioners in British Columbia. As one of the founders of the firm Kahn Zack Ehrlich Lithwick (KZEL), he has practiced in Richmond since 1974. Larry has been practicing law for over 50 years. He is one of the pioneers in the practice areas of adoption and reproductive technology in BC. Larry is accredited as a Family Law Mediator and Family Law Arbitrator. Previously he was accredited as a Parenting Coordinator and was a member of the B.C. Hear the Child Society. Larry was appointed King's Counsel in 2008.