Bill's Biography
Bill graduated from U.B.C. Law School in 1990 and articled with a large national law firm before joining the firm as an associate lawyer in 1991. He was the first editor of the firm's client newsletter and has been a partner in the firm since 1996. Bill holds an M.A. in Community and Regional Planning from U.B.C. and worked as a regional planner in Alberta before joining the City of Vancouver Planning Department from 1974 through 1980. Before attending law school he held positions with the federal Indian Affairs department, where he advised First Nations governments on community planning and capital programs.
Bill is a member of the College of Fellows of the Canadian Institute of Planners and is a member of the Planning Institute of B.C., Bill continues to be involved in professional development activities for planners, including frequent seminars sponsored by the Simon Fraser University City Program, where he is an Associate Member of Continuing Studies. He is an adjunct professor in the School of Community and Regional Planning at the University of British Columbia, where he lectures on advanced planning law topics. He is the author of the 'Planning and Zoning' title in Halsbury’s Laws of Canada, published in 2008; British Columbia Planning Law and Practice, a legal practice manual for planners published by Butterworths in 2001, and the chapter on 'Development Rights' in the Continuing Legal Education Society's Real Estate Development Practice Manual. Bill is also the author of Local Government under the Community Charter, a handbook on the Community Charter published by the B.C. Continuing Legal Education Society in 2009, and is frequently invited to speak at CLE courses on local government law. His practice focuses on land use and planning law, building regulation, aboriginal law matters and opinions on a broad range of local government issues. He is a past chair of the Municipal Law Section of the B.C. Branch of the Canadian Bar Association, and is on the executive of the CBA’s National Municipal Law Section.
In 2011 Bill was awarded the Local Government Management Association's Distinguished Partnership Award for his ongoing contribution to the work of LGMA's Approving Officers Committee.
Recent Presentations
- Pop-Up Planning Issues (Simon Fraser University City Program, Vancouver, October 12, 2011)
- Legal and Marketing Implications of Preliminary Subdivision Approval (Local Government Management Association Workshop for Approving Officers, May 17 2011)
- Trade Agreements and Local Government Procurement (with Gregg Cockrill) (Continuing Legal Education Society of B.C., Vancouver, March 3, 2011)
- Legal Update (Association of Regional District Planning Directors, Victoria, October 28, 2010)
- Acting Locally: Local Government Responses to Climate Change (Simon Fraser University/Planning Institute of B.C., Victoria, October 22, 2010)
- The Approving Officer as a Statutory Decision-Maker (Municipal Administration Training Institute School for Approving Officers, Kelowna,October 18, 2010)
- Local Government Responses to Climate Change: British Columbia (Canadian Institute of Planners, Montreal, October 4, 2010)
- Hot Topics in Zoning Law (Planning Institute of British Columbia PlanTalk Series, Vancouver, September 23, 2010)
- Reasonableness Attacks on Taxing Bylaws in British Columbia (International Municipal Lawyers Association, Toronto, June 10, 2010)
- Acting Locally: Local Government Responses to Climate Change (Simon Fraser University / Planning Institute of B.C., Kamloops, May 31, 2010 )
- Leasehold and Phased Strata Subdivisions (Local Government Management Association Approving Officers' Seminar, Whistler, May 18, 2010)
- Municipal Powers and Resources for Climate Change (Centre for Civic Governance, Harrison Hot Springs, March 27, 2010)
- Climate Change: Using the New Local Government Powers (Planning Institute of B.C., Victoria, March 5, 2010)
- Board of Variance Seminar (Surrey Board of Variance, Surrey, September 16, 2009)
- Subdivision Approvals and Security Arrangements (Local Government Management Association Approving Officers’ Seminar, Nanaimo, June 9, 2009)
- Defending Municipal Turf on the West Coast (International Municipal Lawyers Association, Toronto, June 4, 2009)
- Provincial-Municipal Relations Under the Community Charter (Continuing Legal Education Society of B.C., Vancouver, April 3, 2009)
- Local Government Law for Newly Elected Officials (Local Government Leadership Academy, Richmond, February 26, 2009)
- Climate Change: Using the New Local Government Powers (Simon Fraser University City Program, Vancouver, February 6, 2009)
- Trends in Canadian Planning and Zoning Law (International Municipal Lawyers Association, Toronto, May 15, 2008)
- Section 904 Amenities (Continuing Legal Education Society of B.C., Vancouver, February 8, 2008)
- Legal Update (Local Government Management Association Approving Officers’ Seminar, Vancouver, May 15, 2007)
- Rethinking Land Use and Design Reviews (Planning Institute of B.C. Annual Conference, Kelowna, April 18, 2007)
- Three Things They Didn’t Teach You in Planning School (Simon Fraser University, Kelowna, April 17, 2007)
- Board of Variance Seminar (Penticton Board of Variance, Penticton, October 27, 2006)
Publications
- Local Government Under the Community Charter, Continuing Legal Education Society of B.C., 2009. More information: www.cle.bc.ca/OnlineStore
- 'British Columbia Local Governments and Climate Change', Digest of Municipal and Planning Law, November 2008.
- 'Planning and Zoning', Halsbury’s Laws of Canada (First Edition), LexisNexis Canada, 2008. More information: www.lexisnexis.ca/bookstore
- ‘Phased Development Agreements in British Columbia: The Return of Contract Zoning’, Digest of Municipal and Planning Law, October 2007, Vol. 12 Issue 10.
- ‘Canadian Pacific Railway Co. v. Vancouver – A Very High Bar for Regulatory Takings?’, Municipal Lawyer, November/December 2006, Volume 47 No. 6.
- ‘The Islands Trust: 30 Years of Protecting B.C.’s Gulf Islands’, Digest of Municipal and Planning Law, March 2005, Vol. 10 Issue 3.
- British Columbia Planning Law and Practice, Butterworths, 2001 (updated semi-annually). More information: www.lexisnexis.ca/bookstore
- 'Renovating Local Government Enabling Legislation: B.C.'s Community Charter', Digest of Municipal and Planning Law, November 2003, Vol. 8 Issue 11.
- 'Musings on Metalclad, NAFTA and Land Use Planning', Digest of Municipal and Planning Law, August 2001, Vol. 6 Issue 8.
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Real Estate Development Practice Manual, Continuing Legal Education Society of B.C. (contributing author).