Martin Taylor is an associate counsel who assists the firm’s litigators and whose services are also available generally to the profession as consultant, arbitrator and mediator.

Mr. Taylor practised for 15 years as counsel in commercial and private litigation, advisor and counsel to the provincial government in public utility, energy and related matters, and counsel to two public enquiry commissions, prior to appointment to the British Columbia Supreme Court, on which he sat for 11 years. He served for six years on the British Columbia Court of Appeal and thereafter part-time on the Court of Appeal for the Cayman Islands, a United Kingdom overseas territory and international banking centre. Since his retirement from the British Columbia courts he has served also as special prosecutor, special referee, arbitrator, mediator, and commissioner, including Ethics Commissioner for the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games, has provided advice for the Parliament of Canada, carried out a number of assignments for the provincial government and frequently advised members of the profession.

Matters with which Mr. Taylor has dealt as sole arbitrator, or chair or member of domestic or international arbitration panels, special referee or commissioner, include: motor carrier regulation, railway operating rights, deep-sea oil drilling, enforcement of fishing agreements, landlord – tenant issues, inter-local government land-use arrangements, personal injury claims, ICBC underinsured motorist protection coverage, sale of forest industry assets, development of novel technologies and equipment, shareholder rights, allocation of litigation costs, family law disputes, professional, university faculty and judicial remuneration, contract logging rates and various other contractual issues. He is a member of the arbitration panels of the International Chamber of Commerce, BC International Commercial Arbitration Centre and Japan Arbitration Association, and a Canadian Accounting Board hearing officer.

Mr. Taylor has written for legal publications and spoken at professional, judicial and academic gatherings on a variety of legal topics. He was involved in production of the television docu-dramas The Paisley Snail, featuring the famous case of Donohue v. Stevenson, and Though the Heavens Fall, celebrating the 2010 centennial of the British Columbia Court of Appeal. He serves or has served as chair or member of boards or committees of the BC Law Society, BC Law Institute, BC Justice Education Society, Vancouver Bar Association, Law Courts Inn, UBC Faculty of Law, and Winston Churchill Society of BC.

In 1998 Mr. Taylor received the BC Law Society’s Begbie Award for exceptional service, and in 2009 the UBC Law Alumni Association Lifetime Achievement Award.

Education
LL.B., University of British Columbia, 1962

Bar Admission
British Columbia, 1963