Lisa C. Fong

B.A. (UBC), LL.B. (Queen's)

Telephone: 604.331.1155
  lisa@ngariss.com 

Lisa’s practice is a blend of commercial and administrative litigation, and advising regulatory bodies. She has appeared as counsel before tribunals, in arbitrations (both commercial and labour), in the British Columbia Supreme Court and Court of Appeal, and in various levels of the Federal Court.

Lisa has a special interest in creative and novel solutions, addressing undeveloped areas of law, and grappling with difficult legal or policy issues.

Depth of Knowledge: In the area of professional disciplinary law, Lisa has defended professionals against allegations of misconduct, incompetence, and off duty conduct. She has addressed diverse areas including culpability where the professional is suffering from a disability, discrimination based on race, competing methodologies of practice, freedom of speech, privacy rights of the professionals in the public sphere, and ethical boundary violations.

Lisa has also assisted professionals with certification applications and appeals. Her work in this area includes enforcing human rights, addressing pre-membership conduct issues, and fitness to practice issues.

Lisa has advised regulatory bodies and professional organizations on controversial policy areas including the boundaries of “conduct unbecoming”, privacy rights of professionals, and the meaning of “competent” practice. Lisa also conducts disciplinary and certification investigations, is assisting a regulatory body in designing and redesigning their disciplinary and certification processes, and provides advice to council members regarding governance matters.

Lisa is experienced in a wide range of commercial disputes, and in civil disputes with commercial components. She has acted as counsel in large-scale and small-scale cases involving multiple parties as well as single plaintiffs and defendants. Her range of practice has included a variety of contract disputes (e.g. leases, employment conracts, requests for proposal agreements, purchase and sale agreements, and shareholders’ agreements), and tort disputes (e.g. negligence, economic interference, and interference with property).

Representative legal work in recent years:

Professional Regulatory, Labour, Employment, and Non-Profit Law
  • Defended professionals against allegations of misconduct or incompetence before employers’ boards, professional regulatory bodies, and courts;
  • Represented professionals in disciplinary investigations before employers’ boards, and professional regulatory bodies;
  • Represented professionals in certification investigations and defended professionals at fitness hearings before professional regulatory bodies;
  • Represented professionals in seeking injunctive relief from courts;
  • Represented a professional in an appeal reversing a tribunal finding. This is the first case in the teaching profession to establish that involuntary behaviour cannot constitute professional misconduct or conduct unbecoming;
  • Represented professionals on publication issues at the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal:
    • First case to establish a fundamental right to appeal anonymously when anonymity is the very issue;
    • Cases establishing the parameters of when publication of a professional’s name is not appropriate;
  • Advised professional regulatory bodies on procedural fairness, process, bias, costs, competence, misconduct, conduct unbecoming, and conflicts;
  • Advised members of professional regulatory councils on fiduciary issues, bias, conflicts, and confidentiality;
  • Conducted investigations for professional regulatory bodies;
  • Represented unions and members on labour and disciplinary issues including external hiring rights, and bad faith practices;
  • Advised unions on policy matters;
  • Represented non-union employees and employers in wrongful dismissal cases before courts and tribunals;
  • For non-profit organizations, advising on conflicts, confidentiality, and membership policies;

Defamation and Privacy Law

  • Advised group of professionals on multi-party, large-scale defamation cases;
  • Represented a group of professionals and members in a community in an internet defamation case;
  • Represented a union in a newspaper defamation matter;
  • Advised on defamation and privacy law in relation to professional disciplinary issues;
  • Advised professionals on publication bans

Commercial and Corporate Governance Law

  • Represented minority shareholders in oppression and derivative actions;
  • Represented commercial tenants in multiple leasing disputes ranging from arbitration to court cases at varying levels;
  • Represented venture financiers in a dispute concerning competition rights and fiduciary issues;
  • Representing venture financiers in a RFP dispute against Her Majesty the Queen;
  • Advising professionals and executives on their fiduciary obligations in beginning or ending contractual relationships;

Human Rights and Constitutional Law

  • Represented workers dismissed on basis of ethnic/religious practices;
  • Representing professional on search and seizure matter in violation of Constitution
  • Representing professional on disability matter in violation of the Human Rights Code;
  • Assisting non-profit organizations in assessing human rights and constitutional cases (see Community);

Construction Law

  • Represented strata councils in construction disputes;
  • Represented strata councils in internal disputes;
  • Defended professionals in construction negligence disputes.

Background: Lisa studied music and philosophy, and graduated with a B.A. (Hons.) from the University of British Columbia in 1993. She obtained her LLB at Queen’s University in 1996, and was called to the bar in British Columbia in 1998. Lisa has been an associate at Roberts & Griffin, and later a partner at Gudmundseth Mickelson LLP, both boutique commercial litigation firms.

Lisa's personal interests include travel to far-away places, and her next destination is the Antarctic, when she finds someone to look after her cats.