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, commissions, 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 regulatory law, Lisa has acted for both regulatory bodies and for professionals. This breadth of her experience gives her a depth of knowledge that allows her to serve clients with a comprehensive view of their legal issues.

Lisa has advised regulatory bodies and professional organizations on governance, continuing education, registration, inquiry, discipline, publication, reviews and appeals, and policy matters. She has conducted investigations on registration and inquiry matters, and has appeared before hearing committees as well as trained and advised such committees. Her practice has also extended to appearing on behalf of regulatory bodies before tribunals and courts.

In acting for professionals, Lisa has defended them against allegations of misconduct, incompetence, and unprofessional 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 boundary violations. Her practice has included appeals and reviews to the courts.

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.

In the area of commercial and civil litigation, Lisa is experienced in a wide range of disputes. 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 contracts, 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, 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 before the Health Professions Review Board;
  • Represented a professional in establishing pre-certification conduct disclosed in the application for certification could not be professional misconduct;
  • 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;
  • Represented professional regulatory bodies before tribunals including the BC Human Rights Tribunal and the Health Professions Review Board;
  • Represented a professional regulatory body in obtaining publication bans and search and seizure orders;
  • Advised professional regulatory bodies on procedural fairness, process, bias, costs, competence, misconduct, conduct unbecoming, conflicts, privacy, and freedom of information;
  • Advised members of professional regulatory councils and boards on fiduciary issues, bias, conflicts, and confidentiality;
  • Acted as independent legal counsel for professional regulatory hearing panels;
  • Conducted investigations for professional regulatory bodies;
  • Conducted workshops for professional regulatory bodies in areas including board governance, standards of ethical practise, extraordinary hearing processes, inquiry committee processes, disciplinary processes, and decision writing;
  • Represented employees and employers in wrongful dismissal cases before courts and tribunals;
  • Represented individuals and employers in wrongful dismissals, constructive dismissals, and cases involving aggravated or punitive damages;
  • Advised organizations including professional regulatory bodies and non-profit organizations on employment practices;
  • See Suite210, our blog on administrative and professional regulatory law for more information on the depth of Lisa and the firm’s practice in this area and educational offerings
Public Commissions and other public interest proceedings
  • Assisting Heiltsuk Tribal Council in the Enbridge Northern Gateway Project Joint Review Process;
  • Counsel for participant, Heiltsuk Tribal Council, in the Cohen Commission on the Decline of Fraser River Sockeye Salmon;
  • Counsel for participant, Community Legal Assistance Society, in Doust Commission on Legal Aid;
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;
  • Represented 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;
Aboriginal Law, Environmental Law, and Species At Risk
  • Advising First Nations on judicial reviews and constitutional challenges;
  • Advising First Nations on the Species at Risk Act;
  • Advising First Nations on environmental issues intersecting with aboriginal rights including FSC rights;
  • Represented Heiltsuk Tribal Council in the Cohen Commission on the Decline of Fraser River Sockeye Salmon and assisting them in the Enbridge Northern Gateway Project Joint Review Process;
Human Rights and Constitutional Law
  • Represented workers dismissed on basis of ethnic/religious practices;
  • Representing professional disciplined based on ethnic/religious practice;
  • Represented professional on search and seizure matter in violation of Constitution;
  • Represented professional on disability matter in violation of the Human Rights Code;
  • Assisting non-profit organizations in assessing human rights and constitutional challenges;
Construction, Leasing, and Realty Law
  • Represented landlords and tenants in commercial leasing disputes;
  • Represented owners and vendors in purchase and sale disputes;
  • 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 was an associate at Roberts & Griffin, and later a partner at Gudmundseth Mickelson LLP, both boutique commercial litigation firms.

She is the vice-president of the Board of the Community Legal Assistance Society and a member of the human rights litigation sub-committee. She is also an executive member of the CBA National Health Law section and the co-editor of the section's newsletter, the Pulse. And she is a member of the CBA National Ethics Committee which reviews professional ethics issues for lawyers.

Lisa's personal interests include travel to far-away places, and her next destination is South America where she intends on swimming with (reportedly benign) sharks in a blue grotto. She will not be taking her cats with her as they dislike sharks.