Partner
Mike Wagner *
Office
Vancouver
Key Practice Area
Advocacy & Litigation
Year of Call
2002
*A LAW CORPORATION
Practice Areas
Advocacy & Litigation Appellate Advocacy Arbitration Class Actions Construction Law Corporate & Commercial Corporate & Commercial Litigation Defamation & Media Litigation Estate Litigation Intellectual Property Privacy Law Mining Law Shareholder Disputes and Securities Litigation TransportationQualifications
British Columbia Bar (2002)
Education
University of British Columbia (LL.B., 2001)
University of British Columbia (B.A., International Relations, 1994)
Mike has been a litigator and dispute resolution lawyer for over 20 years. He has been repeatedly recognized as a leading lawyer and litigation star by peer ranking services including Benchmark, Best Lawyers in Canada, and Lexpert. In 2018 he became a member of the Litigation Counsel of America, an invitation only fellowship of highly experienced lawyers across North America. Mike is a member of the firm’s Strategic Committee.
For years Mike has lectured on professionalism and ethics in the Inns of Court program for junior barristers. Mike also chairs the Air & Space Law section of the Canadian Bar Association – BC, supporting Farris’s aviation and transportation law clients.
Mike’s litigation practice has four major components: company and shareholder litigation, private wealth disputes, class actions, and government / constitutional / environmental litigation.
Mike’s company litigation practice deals with internal deadlock and dysfunction among shareholders and management, as well as external disputes between companies and outsiders. His cases have involved disputed assets worth hundreds of millions of dollars, engaging complex legal and factual issues including corporate, shareholder, governance, trust, fiduciary, executive employment, valuation and tax.
Mike’s class action practice spans issues in contract, misrepresentation, negligence, product liability, business practices and consumer protection. Unlike most class action litigators, Mike does not confine his practice to just the plaintiff side or the defence side. Instead, Mike is equally comfortable and effective at acting for clients who find themselves on either side of a class action litigation matter.
Mike’s government, constitutional and environmental litigation practice includes representing various levels of government, and also at times acting for private parties. These cases have involved issues in contract, tort, land use, mining, environmental (contaminated sites and waste management), class action, and constitutional (Charter of Rights) matters.
Mike’s private wealth litigation practice includes dealing with disputes and discord within multigenerational families, and handling complex estates matters arising after the head of a family has passed away. Mike is counsel to the court-appointed Administrators of the Estate of Gang Yuan – which is British Columbia’s most notorious and high profile estates matter in recent memory.
Mike is adept at handling all manner of complex cases including the examples referred to above, and driving those cases forward to a conclusion.
Not all problems can await a trial. Because of that, Mike is also capable of moving quickly and decisively to protect his clients’ interest on an urgent basis, when the circumstances require. His skill set includes Mareva (asset freezing) Anton Piller (civil search warrant), and Norwich Pharmacal (third party disclosure) applications. He is also experienced with interlocutory injunctions, publication bans, and sealing orders, which often arise in the course of high stakes corporate litigation, intellectual property disputes and in employment litigation.
Awards & Recognition:
Benchmark Litigation
Mike is the 2021 winner of Benchmark Canada’s “Emerging Talent Litigator of the Year” Award. Benchmark described Mike’s practice portfolio as follows:
“…an extraordinarily diverse portfolio of practices ranging from estate litigation to arbitration to a class action practice that straddles both defense and plaintiff positions.”
In 2022, Benchmark described Mike as follows:
“Michael Wagner has risen to become noted as “the entrepreneurial litigation magnet of that firm,” by a peer, who goes on to marvel, “I think he’ll be doing this for the next 25 years, he’s just at that sweet spot. The amount of work that comes in for him is just staggering, and it’s all really interesting work! All of his cases seem to have a story behind them.””
Other professional and peer rankings:
2017-2025: Best Lawyers in Canada, Corporate Commercial Litigation, Employment Law, and Privacy and Data Security Law.
(2024, 2023 and prior) Benchmark Canada Litigation Star.
2021: Benchmark Canada’s “Emerging Talent Litigator of the Year”.
2018: admitted to Litigation Counsel of America, an invitation-only fellowship of highly experienced trial lawyers and attorneys with members throughout North America.
2013: named by Lexpert as a “Cross-Border Litigation Lawyer to Watch”
2012: named one of Lexpert Canada’s 40 Leading Lawyers under 40.
- Nine-figure (over $100 million) claim alleging fraud and misrepresentation. Mike was lead British Columbia counsel to the defendants, who were the vendors of a business (see here).
- Eight-figure litigation matters involving a group of closely held family companies: Mike acted for the largest shareholder, obtaining a liquidation order for the company and its real estate holdings (see here), defeating a second, $30 million damages lawsuit brought against our client (see here), upholding that result on appeal (see here), and obtaining a subsequent award of special costs (see here).
- Eight-figure Estates matter, involving nine civil lawsuits and ongoing claims by multiple would-be beneficiaries. Mike acts for the court-appointed Administrators of the Estate: see here and here.
- Acting for a Canadian Airline, successfully defending a complex and high-profile oppression matter commenced by its former majority and controlling shareholder (see here). Obtained orders sealing the court file and banning publication of commercially sensitive information, to address the shareholder’s “flagrant breach” of its confidentiality obligations to the airline (see here).
- Class Proceedings – various cases, some acting for defendants and some acting for plaintiffs.
- Litigating open court issues for the National Post, CBC, and Global TV.
- Representing businesses and government entities in the resolution of complex contract and tort claims, valued in the seven-figure to nine-figure range.
- Shareholder Disputes – litigation and arbitration of disputes among shareholders, directors and management involving substantial publicly and privately held corporations.
- Mareva Injunctions and Anton Piller Orders.
- Norwich Order applications involving domestic and foreign entities.
- Advising companies on key employee (mass departure) and related fiduciary / non-competition and non-solicitation obligations.
- The Best Lawyers in Canada (2025)
- Benchmark Canada Litigation Star (2024)
- 2021 national winner – Benchmark Canada “Emerging Talent Litigator of the Year”
- Fellow of the Litigation Counsel of America (member since 2018)
- Lexpert “Cross-Border Litigation Lawyer to Watch” (2013)
- Lexpert Rising Star Winner – Leading Lawyer Under 40 (2012)
- Member, Law Society of British Columbia
- Fellow, Litigation Counsel of America (2018 to present), an invitation-only fellowship of experienced trial lawyers in Canada and the United States.
- Chair – Air & Space Law Section, Canadian Bar Association – BC (2023 – 2025)
- Member, Canadian Media Lawyers Association – the CMLA is dedicated to the protection and enhancement of free expression in Canada and abroad. It intervenes in important Supreme Court of Canada cases, and it promotes improved laws and policies for free expression and openness of courts.
- Member, Advocates Club (2008 – 2012) – this group meets monthly with invited guest judges. Members present papers on topics of interest to the legal profession.
- Contributor to The Advocate, with highly regarded articles on internet privacy (particularly as it pertains to children) and defamation.
- Inns of Court program, guest instructor (2018-present), re: “Lawyers Talking: Dealing with the Media; Contempt of Court; Freedom of Expression; Defamation; Marketing; Corresponding with the Court”.
- Guest lecturer, Langara College journalism school, re: the open court principle.
- Presenter at numerous conferences including on Class Actions, Injunctions, and Cyber Security.