Professional Background
Derek Brindle, QC is experienced counsel in major litigation, arbitration and in alternate dispute resolution involving commercial claims and complex construction and engineering disputes. He regularly represents owners, construction participants, design professionals and insurers in construction law matters, and has appeared at all levels of the Courts in British Columbia and in the Supreme Court of Canada. He acts as an arbitrator and in mediations involving construction and insurance disputes. Derek advises Crown institutions and industry on risk mitigation strategies in major procurement.
He has a diversified commercial and insurance law practice and has acted as counsel in a wide range of disputes involving class actions, claims for defective design and construction, building envelope failures, tender claims, delay/impact claims, claims involving errors and omissions and comprehensive general liability insurance policies, and in insurance “bad faith” claims. He has an extensive background in criminal and in personal injury law. Derek is rated by LEXPERT as one of British Columbia’s “Consistently Recommended” lawyers in the area of construction law, and is listed in the Best Lawyers in Canada, 2008 and 2009. He was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 2001.
In addition to counsel work, Derek writes and lectures extensively on legal issues of interest to the construction industry, architects, engineers, the legal profession and the insurance industry. He has written and presented on a wide variety of topics, including construction claims and risk avoidance, building envelope failures, builders liens, the liability of design professionals, procurement law, and insurance “bad faith” claims. He is a Director of the B.C. Pavilion Corporation and Governor and executive member of the Canadian College of Construction Lawyers.
Education
- BA (Cum Distinctione): University of Alberta, 1971
- LL.B.: University of British Columbia, 1974
- Admitted to British Columbia Bar, 1975
Professional Memberships
- Chair, British Columbia Hospital Appeal Board, 2005
- Member, Canadian Bar Association, Construction Law Section, 1988
- Chair, Law Society of BC -- Proceeds of Crime Committee, 1994—96
- Director, CBA (BC) Benevolent Society, 2000
- Member, BC Trial Lawyers Association
- Past member, American Trial Lawyers Association
- Member, Defence Research Institute
- Member, International Association of Defence Counsel, 2001
- Member, Canadian Defence Lawyers, 2001
- Member, Society for the Reform of Criminal Law, 1994 — 2003
- Member, International Centre for Criminal Law Reform and Criminal
- Justice Policy (Beijing- Planning Committee, 1998)
- Director, Society for the Study of Enterprise Crime in the Pacific Rim, 1999 — 2001
Professional Activities
- UBC Law School Adjunct Professor, Construction Law, 2002 — 2004 Governor, Canadian College of
- Construction Lawyers, 2007 — UBC Law School Sessional Lecturer, Construction Law, 1994 —2003
- Co-Editor, British Columbia Builders Lien Practical Manual, C.L.E. 1999— present
- Co-author ,C.L.E. Injunctions on Land Use Disputes
- Co-Chair Continuing Legal Educational Program - Construction Law, 2002 — 2004
- Ad hoc Bencher, Law Society of British Columbia, 1994— 1996
Avocations
Motorcycling, music, jogging and scuba-diving.