Course Chairs
Brett J. Nash — Department of Justice Canada, Vancouver
Erica Olmstead — Edelmann & Co. Law Offices, Vancouver
Kim Sutcliffe — Department of Justice Canada, Vancouver
About the Course Chairs
Brett Nash is counsel with the Department of Justice Canada in Vancouver and practices primarily in the area of immigration and refugee law. Brett has appeared in the Federal Court and Federal Court of Appeal on a wide range of immigration and refugee issues. Prior to focusing on immigration matters, Brett was counsel on Aboriginal rights and title claims in the Aboriginal Law Section, and prior to joining the Department of Justice, he had a general litigation practice. Brett holds a Master of Laws degree focusing on constitutional and statutory interpretation and international law.
Erica Olmstead is a Partner with Edelmann & Co. Law Offices, where she practices immigration, refugee, and criminal law. She has extensive experience resolving particularly complex inadmissibility cases for persons who face legal hurdles in seeking to get or keep their status in Canada. Erica regularly appears before all divisions of the Immigration and Refugee Board and the Federal Court, and she has acted in cases before the BC Court of Appeal, the Federal Court of Appeal, and the Supreme Court of Canada.
Erica also works with Legal Aid BC as a case review lawyer with the Appeals Department, where she advises staff in all areas of immigration, refugee and criminal law, and she is an Adjunct Professor with the UBC, Allard School of Law course where she teaches an upper-level seminar on Appellate Advocacy.
Kim Sutcliffe received her LLB from the University of Manitoba in 1992. After articling and being called to the Ontario bar in 1994, Kim worked as a sole practitioner for a year in Toronto before she moved to Vancouver and the Department of Justice. Kim was called to the BC bar in 1995 and she has practised almost exclusively in immigration law throughout her career.
Faculty
Meera Bennett — Legal Counsel, Ministry of Attorney General, Legal Services Branch, Vancouver
Jody Brennan — Assistant Deputy Chairperson, Refugee Appeal Division, Western Region, IRB, Vancouver
Julie Gordon — Senior Registry Officer, Special Projects (Regional Training), Federal Court Registry, Vancouver
Darren McLeod — Legal Counsel, IRB, Vancouver
Steven Meurrens — Larlee Rosenberg, Vancouver
Karin Michnick — Assistant Deputy Chairperson, Refugee Protection Division, Western Region, IRB, Vancouver
Erin C. Roth — Edelmann & Co. Law Offices, Vancouver
Banafsheh Sokhansanj — Department of Justice Canada, Vancouver
Alice Tang — Assistant Deputy Chairperson, Immigration Division, Western Region, IRB, Vancouver
Linda Taylor — Assistant Deputy Chairperson, Immigration Appeal Division, Western Region, IRB, Vancouver
David Tyndale — Department of Justice Canada, Ontario Regional Office, Toronto
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