Annotate. Collaborate. Inform.

Ryan Bortolin

Ryan Bortolin is a partner with Stewart McDannold Stuart. He is a member of the Firm’s solicitor’s group. He advises clients on the full range of legal matters that confront local governments, including bylaw drafting, procurement and tendering, development matters, privacy, real estate transactions, and governance issues. He has represented local governments at all levels of court in BC on matters ranging from bylaw enforcement to contractual disputes.

Ryan has presented on several different topics related to local governments. He is currently the Co-Chair of the Municipal Law Section of the Canadian Bar Association (BC Branch).

Ryan contributes annotations to Quickscribe in the area of local government law.

View Sample Annotations

Bill Buholzer

Bill Buholzer, associate counsel at Young Anderson Barristers and Solicitors, is Quickscribe’s Local Government law expert.

Bill is a respected authority on land use and planning law, and is the author of British Columbia Planning Law and Practice as well as the Planning and Zoning title in Halsbury’s Laws of Canada.

Bill is also the author of Local Government in British Columbia: A British Columbia Legal Handbook, published by the BC Continuing Legal Education Society, and is frequently invited to speak at CLE courses on local government law. He is a past chair of the Municipal Law Section of the BC Branch of the Canadian Bar Association and also served on the executive of the CBA’s National Municipal Law Section. Bill teaches planning law at VIU, UBC’s School of Community and Regional Planning, and regularly instructs courses in Simon Fraser University’s City Program.

In 2010 Bill was elected to the College of Fellows of the Canadian Institute of Planners, and in 2017 he was awarded the Local Government Management Association’s President’s Award for his many years of outstanding support and advice to the LGMA and its members.

View Sample Annotations

Katherine Hardie

Katherine Hardie has been in-house counsel to the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal since 1998. Before that, Katherine was counsel with the British Columbia Public Interest Advocacy Centre and the Legal Services Society, and an associate in the employment and labour law department of a national law firm. She has appeared before administrative tribunals and before all levels of court, federal and provincial, on judicial review of administrative action. Katherine has law degrees from UBC and the University of Toronto. She is a frequent presenter on issues related to human rights and judicial review. Katherine will annotate the Human Rights Code and related legislation.

View Sample Annotations

Don Lidstone

Don Lidstone, K.C. partner at Lidstone & Company in Vancouver, will act as Quickscribe’s expert annotator in the area of local government law. Don has been practicing in the area of local government law since 1980 and has published numerous papers and consulted on the development of the Community Charter as well as other municipal statutes in a number of provinces. He has also worked with Quickscribe to help us maintain our popular BC Local Government Index, which is still being used by nearly every local government in BC. Don will be contributing annotations to key local government laws within the Quickscribe Online 2.0 legislation service.

View Sample Annotations

Michael Moll

Michael Moll is a partner with Civic Legal LLP and has over 15 years of experience advising and representing local governments. Michael will be contributing annotations to Quickscribe. The primary focus of his annotations will relate to local government finance legislation.

Michael is a regular speaker for the Government Finance Officers Association of BC, including at its annual workshop on municipal tax sales. He was a co-contributor to chapters on subdivision regulation and development cost charges in four editions of the BC CLE’s British Columbia Real Estate Development Practice Manual. Michael maintains a mixed practice of both litigation and solicitor work with a particular focus on local government finance, collections, bylaw regulation and bylaw enforcement.

In 2014, Michael obtained a Master of Laws degree from the University of Toronto, writing a thesis on the municipal regulation of business.

View Sample Annotations

Rachel Roy

Rachel Roy is a partner at Allevato Quail & Roy and will act as Quickscribe’s expert annotator in the area of campaign law. Rachel provides advice related to electoral finance and campaign regulation to candidates and political parties as well as third party organizations at the municipal, provincial, and federal level. In addition to her experience as in-house legal counsel to a national political party, Rachel has significant expertise in assisting clients with judicial recounts, investigations by regulatory bodies including Elections BC and Elections Canada, and compliance with applicable privacy, CRTC, CASL, and campaign finance rules.

View Sample Annotations

Jeff Waatainen

Jeff Waatainen, a senior forestry lawyer with DLA Piper LLP in Vancouver, will act as Quickscribe’s expert annotator in the area of Forestry law. Jeff has worked with Quickscribe in the past and has provided valuable commentary on forestry legislative changes via the Quickscribe Forestry Law Reporter. Jeff has a wealth of experience regarding regulatory and commercial law in the B.C. forest industry. He has appeared before administrative tribunals that govern the industry, and worked on major commercial transactions within the industry. Jeff will be contributing annotations to key forestry laws within the new Quickscribe Online legislation service.

View Sample Annotations