Practice Profile

• Senior partner in McLennan Ross
• Alberta’s most experienced management-side labour and employment lawyer, with more than 45 years of experience
• Has advised and acted on behalf of employers in most of Alberta’s industries, including construction, natural resources, utilities, manufacturing, broadcasting, retail, grocery, health care, education, forestry and transportation
• Particularly experienced in respect to construction labour relations matters, having handled numerous precedent-setting cases in this area

Courts and Tribunals

• Experienced before all levels of court, including the Supreme Court of Canada

Education

• Bachelor of Laws, University of Alberta, 1960

Professional Associations and Affiliations

• Founding President, Canadian Association of Counsel to Employers (C.A.C.E.)
• Created C.L.R.A., Merit, P.C.A.C. in Alberta

Community and Volunteer Activities

• Board of Governors, Junior Achievement
• Committee for Rio Terrace Church

Awards and Recognition

• Leading practitioner, Labour and Workplace Human Rights Law, Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory
• Recognized as one of the leading 500 lawyers in Canada and as a leading practitioner in Labour (Management) and Workers' Human Rights law by the Lexpert/American Lawyer Guide 
• Listed in Best Lawyers in Canada under Labour and Employment Law
• Awarded Martindale-Hubbell’s highest rating (AV Preeminent), which shows that a lawyer has reached the height of professional excellence – has usually practised law for many years, and is recognized for the highest levels of skill and integrity
• Appointed Queen’s Counsel in 1981

Representative Work

• For more than 45 years, Dave has represented employers in virtually all aspects of management-side labour and employment law. His work includes:

• Providing strategic guidance to organizations regarding corporate structure from a labour relations standpoint
• Regularly defending and challenging decisions of administrative tribunals in the Court of Queen’s Bench and Court of Appeal
• Representing and advising employers regarding matters such as union certification and revocation, unfair labour practice complaints, strikes and lockouts, and successorship and common employer applications before the Alberta Labour Relations Board and the Canadian Industrial Relations Board
• Representing employers in mediating and arbitrating disputes arising under collective agreements
• Acting as employer nominee on rights and interest arbitration boards
• Negotiating collective agreements and has conducted interest arbitration hearings
• Advising federal, provincial and municipal public sector employers, as well as the Province of Alberta, including the Premier and provincial cabinet ministers
• Assisting in drafting the labour legislation currently in place in Alberta
• Advising and representing organizations regarding wrongful dismissals, human rights concerns, Occupational Health & Safety complaints, administrative law, and miscellaneous employment-law matters