Course Chairs
Medina Abdelkader — Crabtree + Senkpiel Litigation LLP, West Vancouver
Andrew Crabtree — Crabtree + Senkpiel Litigation LLP, West Vancouver
Peter R. Senkpiel, KC — Crabtree + Senkpiel Litigation LLP, West Vancouver
Kayla K. Strong — Nathanson, Schachter & Thompson LLP, Vancouver
About the Course Chairs
Medina Abdelkader is an associate with Crabtree + Senkpiel LLP. She is a graduate of University of Victoria Faculty of Law. She also holds a Masters of Design in Strategic Foresight & Innovation.
Prior to law, Medina spent several years working as a design strategist for various corporate clients to design future-facing products, services, and systems. She also worked as a Service Designer for the Government of Alberta's Digital Innovation Office, designing court management software for the Court of King's Bench. She is an avid proponent of human-centred legal services, access to justice, and data-informed decision-making in all corners of the legal system.
Medina previously served as the president of the Board of the Vancouver Island Human Rights Coalition for five years. Her practice at Crabtree + Senkpiel focuses on commercial litigation and civil litigation more broadly.
Andrew Crabtree is a founder of Crabtree + Senkpiel LLP. He has more than 15 years of experience resolving shareholder, partnership, contract and real estate disputes for corporations and individuals through negotiated settlements, arbitration, and court. He has extensive experience with matters before the BC Securities Commission and other tribunals. He also has experience with disciplinary proceedings at the Law Society and the CPABC.
Andrew is currently an adjunct professor at UBC's Allard School of Law where he is teaching a course on shareholder litigation that he co-founded with Joel Payne.
Andrew practised for several years with Blake, Cassels & Graydon and then with Bob Cooper, KC. After attending UVic Law, he clerked for five justices of the BC Supreme Court. Prior to law school, he spent time working at the BC legislature.
Outside of law, he is a director and chair of the governance committee of the BC Indigenous Housing Society, a director at Legal Aid BC, and a former board member of the Vancouver Bar Association.
Peter Senkpiel, KC is a leading trial and appellate barrister in British Columbia with a broad commercial litigation, alternative dispute resolution, and advisory practice.
After law school, Peter clerked for Chief Justice Lance Finch at the B.C. Court of Appeal.
Peter is the editor of the Civil Appeal Handbook and sits on the Board of Directors for the Vancouver International Arbitration Center. From 2015-2019, he was an adjunct professor at UBC Law teaching a course on the law of Restitution and Unjust Enrichment.
In 2022, at just 38 and after only 12 years of call, Peter was appointed King's Counsel by the Minister of Justice and Attorney General for British Columbia. This honorary title recognizes exceptional professional merit, contribution, integrity and character. Peter is one of the very youngest King's Counsel appointees in British Columbia's history.
Kayla Strong is a trial and appellate lawyer who practices in commercial litigation, alternative dispute resolution, and bankruptcy and insolvency. She has regularly appeared as counsel before the BC courts and before administrative and arbitral tribunals. She is recognized as a Recommended Lawyer in Dispute Resolution by The Legal 500 and a Future Star by Benchmark Litigation. Kayla is committed to providing pragmatic solutions to complex problems for her clients. She takes pride in seeking a deep understanding of her clients' issues and providing advice that is tailored to their objectives. Kayla has experience in a wide range of areas including proceedings under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act and the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act, receiverships, property development disputes, contract disputes, shareholder and partnership disputes, civil forfeiture, and professional regulatory proceedings.
Kayla is a regular contributor to the legal profession outside the courtroom. She is a co-editor of the Civil Appeal Handbook, and an adjunct professor at the Allard School of Law. She has also written chapters for publications on evidentiary and procedural issues in civil litigation.
Kayla is a graduate of the Allard School of Law, where she was awarded the gold medal for finishing first in her graduating class. She then served as the law clerk to the Chief Justice of BC, The Honourable Justice Bauman, before entering private practice.
Faculty
The Honourable Justice Susan A. Griffin — Court of Appeal of BC, Vancouver
Connor Bildfell — McCarthy Tétrault, Vancouver
Craig P. Dennis, KC — Dennis Dawson James Aitken LLP, Vancouver
Emily Lapper — Legal Services Branch, Ministry of Attorney General, Vancouver
Emily MacKinnon — Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP, Vancouver
Thomas A. Posyniak — Fasken Martineau & DuMoulin LLP, Vancouver