Biography: Environment

Alan Blair is a partner in Gowlings' Vancouver office, practising in the area of environmental law with an emphasis on occupational health and safety law. He has an extensive litigation and regulatory practice including 12 years as a prosecutor in the Ministry of the Attorney General's office and 15 years at a large Vancouver-based business law firm.

Alan has been responsible for prosecuting all major environmental infractions undertaken by the Province of British Columbia, including individuals, private corporations, Crown corporations, and various levels of government. He has also been involved in the evolution of environmental enforcement in the province. He was responsible for drafting the enforcement training manual which has been used predominately by the Ministry of the Environment and the Ministry of Forests.

Alan also practises extensively in the area of occupational health and safety law. He has frequently been called upon to provide advice with respect to industrial accidents involving serious injuries to workers. He also defends clients charged under provincial and federal health and safety legislation and has acted for clients in British Columbia and the Northwest Territories.

Additionally, Alan has extensive knowledge of governmental policies, which has resulted in successful defences and reduction of liability in a series of significant cases on behalf of his clients.

His clients include companies in the mining, oil and gas, forestry, chemical, landfill and manufacturing industries, as well as various government departments and personnel.

Alan has been listed as a leading lawyer in several legal industry publications, including The International Who's Who of Business Lawyers, Chambers Global, Who's Who Legal:Canada, Best Lawyers in Canada and Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory.

Alan is a guest lecturer at the University of British Columbia's Faculty of Law and Simon Fraser University's MBA Resource Managers programme and Continuing Legal Education seminars. He is a guest speaker at the Provincial Judges Education Seminar on the issue of due diligence standards necessary in prosecutions. Alan also participated in the federal government's expert witness training programme for investigations, and has served as a panellist at various environmental law seminars, including the Canadian Institute's seminar on Western Canadian environmental law and regulation, and the Government Institutes' review of Canadian environmental law in Washington, DC.