Lawyers

S. Michelle Blendell is an associate at Young, Anderson practicing in the area of workplace law with an emphasis on labour relations, collective agreement interpretation and negotiation, grievances, human rights, employment law, and freedom of information and protection of privacy matters. Michelle also advises not-for-profit organizations on matters related to their status as registered societies.

Before joining the firm, Michelle worked for a boutique union-side labour law firm for more than seventeen years. She is dedicated to putting her deep knowledge of labour law to work in helping clients take proactive and effective action to avoid costly disputes.

Michelle's skill in researching and analyzing legal issues, seeing issues from all sides, and in distilling the applicable legal principles into practical and strategic legal advice have assisted clients to successfully resolve grievances, and other complaints, often without the need for litigation.

Michelle's legal analysis and written arguments have been relied upon in cases before the BC Supreme Court, the BC Court of Appeal, the Labour Relations Board, Labour Arbitrators, and the Human Rights Tribunal.

Michelle has co-conducted a workshop and given presentations on the topics of workplace investigations and the duty to accommodate, at conferences on Human Rights and Accommodation, and Labour Arbitration. She has also written conference papers on topics such as the duty to accommodate, privacy issues, and the protection of documents from disclosure.

Michelle obtained a Bachelor of Commerce degree from McGill University, with a focus on labour-management relations. She completed her law degree at the University of British Columbia.

Michelle is a member of the Canadian Bar Association, with memberships with the Labour Law, Human Rights Law, Privacy Law, and Employment Law subsections.

Outside of work, Michelle loves to spend time with her family, and when time permits she enjoys gardening and attending yoga classes.