Robert J. C. Deane
Academic Qualifications:
Professional Memberships:
Arbitration Experience:
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About:
Rob Deane is a partner in BLG’s Vancouver office and the National Leader of BLG’s Arbitration Group. Rob is recognized nationally and internationally as a leading counsel in commercial litigation, international and domestic commercial arbitration, privacy, and intellectual property litigation, among other areas. As litigation counsel, Rob has litigated complex cases throughout Canada and at all levels of court, in diverse areas such as contractual disputes, arbitration-related litigation including appeals, mining disputes, life sciences and other intellectual property disputes, consumer class actions, sponsorship and advertising disputes, shareholder disputes, securities regulation, information and privacy law, and administrative law. Rob has also appeared in significant arbitration proceedings in North America, Asia, and Europe, under almost all major institutional sets of rules, in a wide array of industry sectors including manufacturing, technology, distribution, pharmaceuticals, energy, mining, and infrastructure, as well as investor-state disputes. After graduating from the University of Victoria as the Law Society of British Columbia Gold Medallist in 1998, Rob served as a law clerk to the Honourable Madam Justice Beverley McLachlin of the Supreme Court of Canada.
- Litigation Experience
- Representative recent cases on which Rob has been counsel include the following:
- Surespan Structures Ltd. v. Lloyds Underwriters – counsel to a successful contractor in obtaining a declaration that no policy limit applied to mitigation of loss coverage in a professional liability policy, in the context of a major public infrastructure project.
- Appleton & Associates v. Branch MacMaster LLP – counsel to a successful party in a challenge to an arbitrator’s costs award, in a case clarifying the Court’s role where arbitral error has been established.
- South Coast British Columbia Transportation Authority formerly known as Greater Vancouver Transportation Authority dba TransLink, et al. v. BMT Fleet Technology Ltd., et al. – counsel to a successful party in a jurisdictional challenge arising in a commercial arbitration arising from a public transportation project.
- Fortinet Technologies (Canada) ULC v. Bell Canada – counsel to the successful appellant in parallel litigation to a commercial arbitration in the telecommunications infrastructure sector.
- Centura Building Systems (2013) Ltd. v. 601 Main Partnership – counsel to the successful appellant in a significant case concerning the law of builders’ liens.
- Re Hecla Mining Company – counsel to the successful target in the first contested take-over bid proceedings heard jointly by the British Columbia Securities Commission and the Ontario Securities Commission.
- Acuitas Therapeutics Inc. v. Arbutus Biopharma Corporation – counsel to a successful applicant for an interlocutory injunction in a patent licensing dispute.
- British Columbia Hydro and Power Authority v. British Columbia (Information and Privacy Commissioner) – counsel to a public body in judicial review proceedings.
- Drover v BCE Inc. – counsel to a defendant in a successful application to dismiss a putative consumer class action.
- Weyerhaeuser Company Limited v. Hayes Forest Services Limited – counsel to the successful respondent in a contract dispute in the forestry sector.
- Bell Mobility Inc. v. TELUS Communications Company – counsel in a series of advertising disputes, including claims for injunctive relief, in the telecommunications sector.
- BCE Inc. v Gillis – counsel to a successful defendant in proceedings brought to challenge a putative consumer class action as an abuse of process.
- Nordural Helguvik ehf v. Alterra Power Corp. – counsel in a contract dispute related to an international arbitration.
- Garford Pty Ltd. v. Dywidag Systems International, Canada, Ltd. – counsel to a successful party in patent licensing litigation.
- Powerex Corp. v. Alcan Inc. – counsel to a party to proceedings arising from an international arbitration award in the energy sector.
- Wires Jolley LLP v. Wong – counsel to the successful petitioner for enforcement of an international arbitration award in the services sector.
- Reference re: Criminal Code of Canada (B.C.) – pro bono counsel to an intervener in a constitutional reference case.
- Representative recent cases on which Rob has been counsel include the following: