K. Michael Stephens
Michael Stephens was the Gold Medallist at Dalhousie Law School
before obtaining his Master of Laws degree from Harvard Law School in
1999. Before beginning the practice of law, Michael was a Law Clerk to
the Honourable Mr. Justice Charles Gonthier of the Supreme Court of
Canada.
While his practice embraces all aspects of civil litigation, Michael
has a particular interest in constitutional and administrative law.
These subjects constituted the focus of his graduate studies at
Harvard Law School, where he wrote his Master’s thesis on the Canadian
Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Michael appeared as counsel with John
Hunter QC in one of the leading cases on section 7 of the Charter,
Blencoe v. British Columbia (Human Rights Commission), [2000] 2
S.C.R. 307, and published a paper on section 7 entitled “Fidelity to
Fundamental Justice: An Originalist Construction of Section 7 of the
Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms”.
Education
B. Com., Queen’s University, 1992
LL.B., Dalhousie University, 1996
LL.M., Harvard Law School, 1999
Clerkship
Supreme Court of Canada, 1996-1997
Bar Admission
British Columbia, 1998
Publications:
"Civil Procedure -- Court Rules" in the Continuing Legal Education's Annual Review of Law and Practice (2005), by Mike Stephens, Mark Oulton and Jasmine MacAdam.
"Civil Procedure -- Court Rules" in the Continuing Legal Education's Annual Review of Law and Practice (2004), by Mike Stephens, Stephanie McHugh and Jasmine MacAdam.
"The Myth of Compensation", by Peter G. Voith, Q.C., K. Michael Stephens and Stephanie McHugh, for the The 5th Annual Forestry Summit, InSight Conferences, May 17 – 18, 2004.
"Defining the Forestry Land Base", by Peter Voith with the assistance of Mike Stephens, for the Continuing Legal Education Forestry Law Conference, held in Vancouver on Friday, January 31, 2003.
"Fidelity to Fundamental Justice: An Originalist Construction of
Section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms", (2002), 13 N.J.C.L. 183