Lawyer Profile
Joan M. Young
Vancouver, British Columbia
Overview
Joan Young, recognized as one of Canada’s Top 100 Women in Litigation by Benchmark Litigation, heads McMillan’s Litigation & Dispute Resolution Group in British Columbia. A highly skilled and seasoned courtroom advocate, Joan has appeared before the courts in BC, Alberta and Yukon, the Federal Court of Canada and the Supreme Court of Canada, as well as before numerous provincial and federal administrative tribunals. Her practice focuses on complex commercial litigation involving competition, commercial and regulatory, public law and product liability.Joan has also advised on public law issues for over 30 years, including administrative law, procedural fairness, judicial review of government action, misfeasance in public office, and integrity in procurement (including involvement in over 15 multi-million dollar P3 procurements for governments across Western Canada).“Consistently exceeds expectations,” is very “thorough and sharp” and highlighted the “notable number of fans among clients.”Recognized by her peers as “consistently recommended” and “repeatedly recommended” by Lexpert, Joan has been ranked as one of Canada’s Leading Litigators for her advocacy work in Litigation: Corporate Commercial and Competition Law. She is a Fellow of the Litigation Counsel of America, a peer selected honorary society of trial lawyers. Benchmark Canada has repeatedly recognized Joan’s strengths as an advocate where she is ranked as a “Litigation Star” for class actions, corporate commercial litigation, and product liability. Reviewers highlighted that she “consistently exceeds expectations,” is very “thorough and sharp” and highlighted the “notable number of fans among clients.” She similarly holds a “Distinguished” rating from Martindale. Joan previously served as legal counsel to Office of the Premier of British Columbia and special advisor to the Attorney General of British Columbia.Co-management provisions in recent proposed treaties raise new uncertainties as they significantly depart from the approach taken in prior treaties.Amidst discussion of the Cowichan Tribes and Gitxaala cases lurks another significant legal issue: how do recent treaty agreements stack up against those cases?The BC government has announced an intention to amend the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act. It remains unclear where matters will land.The BC Court of Appeal confirmed in a recent case that a non-resident filing of a class action does not bar later certification applications by a BC resident.
Practice Areas
Bar Information
Called to the bar: 1991 (BC)