Associate
Catherine George
Office
Victoria
Key Practice Area
Advocacy & Litigation
Year of Call
2015
Qualifications
British Columbia Bar (2015)
Ontario Bar (2015)
Education
University of Victoria (J.D., Gold Medallist, 2013)
University of British Columbia (B.F.A., 2006)
Catherine joined Farris as a litigation association in the autumn of 2015. Prior to joining Farris, she clerked for Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin at the Supreme Court of Canada (2014-2015) and for six judges of the British Columbia Supreme Court (2013-2014). She maintains a broad litigation practice and has acted for clients in public law matters, including on constitutional, administrative, municipal and environmental issues, as well as in a wide range of corporate and commercial disputes. She has a particular interest in appellate work, media and defamation law, judicial review, and injunctive relief.
Catherine has represented clients before all levels of trial and appellate court in British Columbia, as well as in the Federal Court and the Supreme Court of Canada.
Catherine obtained her Juris Doctor from the University of Victoria in 2013, graduating as the gold medallist. She completed her Bachelor of Fine Arts (Creative Writing) at UBC in 2006 and spent a number of years working as a newspaper reporter before entering law school. In her spare time, she writes speculative short fiction and her work has been published in some of the leading science fiction and fantasy magazines.
She was called to the British Columbia and Ontario bars in 2015.
- Acted (with Ludmila Herbst, K.C.) for participant in the Cullen Commission of Inquiry into Money Laundering in Canada.
- Acted for environmentalists in a challenge to a municipality’s proposal to build a highway through Bear Creek Park. Successfully obtained an interlocutory injunction (Force of Nature Society et al v. Surrey (City), 2021 BCSC 1676) which was upheld on appeal (2021 BCCA 394).
- Represented statutory tribunal on appeal dealing with requirements of procedural fairness on reconsideration of decision: R.N.L. Investments Ltd. v. British Columbia (Agricultural Land Commission), 2021 BCCA 67.
- Represented petitioners in constitutional challenge to municipal sign bylaw: Kaps v. City of Surrey, 2022 BCSC 1191.
- Appeared on behalf of an intervener in Supreme Court of Canada in Groia v. Law Society of Upper Canada, 2018 SCC 27, concerning the standards of discipline applicable to lawyers for conduct in court.
- Successfully argued for stay of proceedings in favour of arbitration clause and setting aside of Mareva injunction, Northwestpharmacy.com Inc. v. Yates et al, 2017 BCSC 1572 and 2018 BCSC 41.
- Counsel for third party in complex insurance litigation, with argument on points of procedure, pleadings, and case management in British Columbia Supreme Court and Court of Appeal, Swiss Reinsurance Company v. Camarin Limited, 2017 BCSC 1586 and 2018 BCCA 122.
- Counsel for respondents in petition by Attorney General of British Columbia to have certain documents declared subject to solicitor-client privilege, British Columbia (Attorney General) v. Lee, 2016 BCSC 707, 2017 BCCA 219; successfully argued for special costs to be paid by government, 2016 BCSC 974.
- Co-author, Chapter 16 (Privilege), in Introducing Evidence at Trial: A British Columbia Handbook, 4th ed (CLEBC, 2020).
- Co-author (with Ludmila B. Herbst, K.C.), “Misrepresentation,” in British Columbia Business Disputes (CLE BC, 2016).
- Co-author, “Fundamentals of FIPPA for Administrative Law Practitioners” (CLE BC, Administrative Law Conference 2015).
- The “Ones to Watch” Best Lawyers in Canada for 2024
- Member of the Law Society of British Columbia
- Member of the Canadian Bar Association