Course Chairs
Karey Brooks — JFK Law Corporation, Vancouver
Art Vertlieb, QC — Vertlieb & Co., Vancouver
About the Course Chairs
Karey's practice focuses primarily on Aboriginal and constitutional litigation.
Karey represents First Nations and First Nations organizations on matters relating to treaty and Aboriginal rights, land use and environmental issues, oil and gas related matters; water rights and general governance matters. Karey represents clients in BC, Alberta and Ontario. She has appeared at every level of court, including as co-counsel at the Supreme Court of Canada.
Karey brings an extensive civil litigation background to JFK. Before joining JFK, Karey was a partner at a national firm and represented clients in a broad range of civil matters.
Karey also acted as co-counsel for intervener groups in a variety of public law related litigation including for First Nations organizations, the Council of Canadians with Disabilities, and the Poverty and Human Rights Centre.
Karey is also involved in public inquiry work, as Associate Counsel for the Missing Women Commission and as co-counsel for a participant in the Cohen Commission.
Karey is active in professional and community organizations. She was a board member and Vice President, External of West Coast LEAF for over 10 years. West Coast LEAF is an advocacy organization that promotes women's equality rights issues through litigation, education, and law reform. She is involved in a number of Canadian Bar Association, BC committees. She is also an active presenter at Aboriginal law conferences.
Art Vertlieb, QC is a former President of the Law Society of BC.
Mr. Vertlieb was called to the BC Bar in 1973. He is a trial lawyer who has appeared in criminal and civil matters in all levels of court, both Provincial and Federal, up to and including the Supreme Court of Canada. From 2010 to 2012, Mr. Vertlieb served as Commission Counsel to the Missing Women Commission of Inquiry which looked into the mass murder of vulnerable women from the downtown eastside of Vancouver, BC (the Pickton victims). As well, from 2007 to 2010, Mr. Vertlieb served as Commission Counsel to the Braidwood Inquiry which examined the safety of conducted energy weapons and the death of Robert Dziekanski.
Mr. Vertlieb serves as General Counsel to the Canadian Football League Players Association.
Mr. Vertlieb is a former President and founding Vice-President of the Trial Lawyers Association of BC, a former Chair and founding member of the Lawyers Assistance Program of BC, a former member of the editorial advisory board for CIVJI (Civil Jury Instructions) published by the Continuing Legal Education Society of BC, and a former governor of the American Association of Justice. His professional service includes acting as a director of the Continuing Legal Education Society and the BC Courthouse Library Society. Mr. Vertlieb served for five years as a member of the Judicial Council of BC. He is an elected fellow of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers and a member of the Yukon Law Society Discipline Committee.
In 2009, Mr. Vertlieb received the prestigious CBABC's Georges A. Goyer, QC Memorial Award for his contributions to the legal profession, particularly his founding role with the Lawyers Assistance Program (LAP) and the Trial Lawyers Association of BC. He has also received the LAP Lawyer Helping Lawyer Award (2001), the Trial Lawyers Association of BC Outstanding Achievement Award (1993), the Alumni Gold Key Award from Osgoode Hall Law School (2002), and the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal (2012).
He has served on the boards of the Canadian Memorial Community Centre, the Vancouver Academy of Music, and as a coach and President of Arbutus Shaughnessy Little League Baseball. He currently serves on the board of the Arts Club of Vancouver.
Faculty
The Honourable Mr. Justice Sukhdev Dley — Supreme Court of BC, Kamloops
The Honourable Mr. Justice George K. Macintosh — Supreme Court of BC, Vancouver
The Honourable Mr. Justice Nathan Smith – Supreme Court of BC, Vancouver
The Honourable Peter D. Leask, QC — Barrister and Solicitor, Vancouver
Karey Brooks — JFK Law Corporation, Vancouver
Peter M. German, QC, PhD — Peter German & Associates Inc., Delta
Suzette Narbonne — Narbonne Law Office, Sechelt
James S. Rogers — Law Offices of James S. Rogers, Seattle, WA, USA
Anthony A. Vecchio, QC — Slater Vecchio LLP, Vancouver
Art Vertlieb, QC — Vertlieb & Co., Vancouver
Kevin B. Westell — Pender Litigation, Vancouver
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