Kuan Foo

B.A. (UBC), LL.B. (UBC)

Telephone: 604.331.1155
kuan@ngariss.com 

Kuan is an associate with the firm. His practice focuses on research, litigation strategy and preparation, and developing internal governance policies for professional regulatory bodies and other organizations, including conflicts policies, privacy policies and codes of conduct.

Kuan graduated from UBC Law School in 1992 and articled at the Vancouver office of Bull, Housser & Tupper before being called to the bar in 1993. Prior to coming to Ng Ariss Fong, Kuan worked 12 years at the Law Society of British Columbia, including 9 years as a staff lawyer in Policy and Legal Services.

Depth of Knowledge: Kuan has extensive experience in the field of regulatory policy development acquired from years of both serving on governing boards and committees of various organizations and acting as staff legal support to the Benchers of the Law Society. He has particular expertise in equity, diversity and physical access issues and helped develop the Law Society’s model workplace policies and guidelines on workplace equity, anti-harassment, accommodation, flexible work arrangements and respectful language use. He also developed a diversity audit program for the Law Society’s operations. Kuan believes in taking an intersectional approach toward diversity that integrates issues such as race, gender, disability and sexual orientation. He has worked with a broad spectrum of multicultural, diversity-oriented and human rights community organizations both in a professional and volunteer capacity.

Kuan has been invited to speak on diversity issues by many organizations including the CBC, Vancouver Asian Film Festival, Outlaws (the gay and lesbian law students association of UBC), the First Nations Law Students Association of UBC, the Indigenous Bar Association and the Canadian Race Relations Foundation.

Representative legal work in recent years:

  • Provided a variety of legal services for professional regulatory bodies, including policy and regulations development, governance support, research and litigation support.
  • Developed internal governance policies for regulatory and non-profit organizations including policies on workplace equity, flexible work arrangements, disability accommodation, respectful language use, confidentiality and conflict of interest.
  • Researched and assembled legal arguments for a variety of legal issues and cases including Constitutional, Contract, Employment, Family Law, Human Rights and Tort law.
  • Developed diversity audits for large organizations, including designing surveys, conducting policy and system reviews, conducting key informant interviews and developing monitoring indicators.
  • Developed and executed a series of educational public forums on topics pertaining to human rights and the law.

Educational Background: Kuan studied English literature and music history, and graduated with a B.A. from the University of British Columbia in 1989. He obtained his LLB at UBC Law School in and was called to the bar in British Columbia in 1993.

Legal Publications: Gavin H.G. Hume, Q.C. & Kuan Foo, Law Society of British Columbia Model Policies (Vancouver: Continuing Legal Education Society of British Columbia, November 2008); Gerry Ferguson & Kuan Foo, Addressing Discriminatory Barriers Facing Aboriginal Law Students and Lawyers (Vancouver: Law Society of British Columbia, April 2000)

Professional and Community Activities:

  • Member of the Canadian Bar Association British Columbia Branch
  • Member of the Chinese Canadian Historical Society
  • Member of the Racial Equality Implementation Committee – Canadian Bar Association National (2003-2004)
  • Volunteer with Vancouver Asian Canadian Theatre (2003)
  • Founder and Editor of Bambooda.ca, an Asian Canadian webzine (2002-2004)
  • Managing Editor of Banana Magazine, an Asian Canadian lifestyle magazine (2001-2002)
  • Member of the United Way of the Lower Mainland, Agency & Community Services Committee (1998-1999)
  • Board of Governors and Chair of the Policy Committee of Vancouver Community College (1997-2002)
  • President of Vancouver Association of Chinese Canadians (a human rights organization) (1997-2002)
  • Producer, writer and host, of Up From Under, a weekly radio show on human rights, Vancouver Co-op Radio, CFRO, 102.7 FM (1996-1997)
  • Director, National Board of the Chinese Canadian National Council (a national human rights organization) (1995-2002)
  • Founding Editor of Rice Paper, the newsletter of the Asian-Canadian Writers Workshop (1994-1995)
  • Volunteer and Performer with the Powell Street Festival, a Japanese-Canadian Festival (1991-present)

Personal Interests: Since 2003, Kuan has been a writer and performer with the critically acclaimed sketch comedy troupe Assaulted Fish and has performed locally and in the US. He is also an avid writer particularly in the area of the arts, diversity issues and humour and his articles have appeared in Fuse, Rungh, The JCCA Bulletin, The Nikkei Voice, Schema and The Tyee. He enjoys yoga and badminton but doesn’t go nearly as often as he should.