Elizabeth's Biography
Elizabeth represents local government clients in litigation matters, including challenges to the validity of administrative decisions or legislation and applications for compliance with bylaws, regulations, and provincial statutes such as the Community Charter and Local Government Act. She frequently acts on judicial review and injunction matters, involving issues such as land use regulation, building standards, and licensing requirements. She has a special interest in overlapping jurisdictional matters, including constitutional issues, cannabis regulation, agricultural land reserve regulation, foreshore and riparian management cases, and aboriginal law issues. She has appeared in all the courts of British Columbia, as well as the Federal Court of Canada.
Elizabeth also assists clients with the review and drafting of regulatory policies and bylaws, and has assisted with the development of comprehensive bylaws in novel areas of local government jurisdiction such as retail cannabis and short-term rental regulation.
She was called to the BC Bar in 2011 after obtaining her LL.B from UVic Law School in 2010, and practiced with a leading full-service business law firm before joining Young, Anderson in 2013. She was awarded the David W. Roberts Prize in Legal Writing from UVic Law.
Elizabeth regularly speaks at and authors papers for conferences, including the Licensing and Bylaw Officers’ Association, Government Finance Officers’ Association, and Lower Mainland Local Government Association. She has served as a guest lecturer for the Justice Institute of British Columbia’s Bylaw courses and the Municipal Law course at Capilano University’s Public Administration program, and also volunteers her time as a director on select non-profit community boards.
Selected Cases and Publications:
- Surrey (City) v Singh, 2022 BCSC 1455 https://canlii.ca/t/jrjx
- BC/Yukon Association of Drug War Survivors v Surrey (City), 2022 BCSC 855 https://canlii.ca/t/jpbz7
- Este v District of West Vancouver, 2022 BCSC 584 https://canlii.ca/t/jnp3m
- Wan v British Columbia, 2022 BCSC 106 https://canlii.ca/t/jlxnm
- West Kelowna (City) v Black Crow Herbals Association, 2019 BCSC 1082 https://canlii.ca/t/j19mx
- Benevolent Grandfathers and Savage Beasts: Comparative Canadian Customary Law, 2010 15 Appeal: Review of Current Law and Law Reform 3, 2010 CanLIIDocs 217, https://canlii.ca/t/2bx2