CURRICULUM VITAE
Lawyer and legal affairs writer and speaker. Member of the Law Society of British Columbia.
• PRESENT POSITION •
► Barrister & Solicitor
Duhaime Law (prev. Duhaime & Company)
345 Vancouver Street, Victoria, BC V8V 3T3 (250) 920-4001
Since December of 1997
Achievements: family law, real property law, commercial and contract law, employment law, residential tenancy law, civil liability and personal injury law, wills and estate law; past contributor to the Law Society of British Columbia’s annual practice update for the Family Law section; webmaster of Canada’s premier legal information website at www.duhaime.org.
• PAST POSITIONS •
► Law Professor (business law, family law and wills and estates)
Camosun College
Victoria, BC (2006-2007)
► Senior Reciprocity Office
Ministry of the Attorney General of British Columbia (Victoria, 1995-1998)
Senior administrative office with the government re international and interprovincial child support; liaised with Courts, lawyers and other jurisdiction peers; redesigned program reducing PY from 4 to 2, eliminating the need for my own position. Reduced the REMO file turnover time from six months to a matter of weeks. Reconstructed the entire program; doing away with time-intensive word-processing tasks and other changes to speed the process (completed in spite of management pressure not to simplify!). Took the plunge and left the Government in 1998 to open my own firm, a lifelong goal, Duhaime Law (formerly "Duhaime & Company").
►Director of Policy and General Counsel
Standards Council of Canada (Ottawa)
1993-1995
Chief Standards Council of Canada/National Standards System representative on the Canadian negotiating team for a conformity assessment mutual recognition agreement with the European Union (negotiations led by Foreign Affairs); led negotiations with the Canadian Association of Environmental Analytical Laboratories leading to a comprehensive cooperative agreement and the entry into the National Standards System of over 100 laboratories; developed and supervised the implementation of a policy manual for the Council; revised and reformed the By-Laws of the Council; revised and standardized the terms of reference of Council advisory committees; federal/provincial government and industry organization senior liaison director (Canadian Federation of Municipalities, the Canadian Exporters Association and the Canadian Manufacturers Association) including representing the Council on the federal government's Interdepartmental Committee on Standards Policy; supervised a national consultation on a new Canadian certification mark and developed the proposal leading to the implementation of that mark; completed negotiations with the USA Occupational Health and Safety Administration for a cooperative agreement with the Council; spearheaded a National Standards System awareness campaign targeted at the federal government; designated by the Executive Director as the senior staff officer responsible for strategic planning implementation; served as general counsel to the 57-member board of directors (i.e. Council) and to the 9-member Executive Committee of the Council as well as to a permanent staff of 70 particularly international, administrative, federal, procedural, employment and contract law.
► Founder and President
Canadian Legal Information Association and the wwlia.org (World Wide Legal Information Association)
In consultation with the Carleton County Law Association computer users group, wrote, programmed and implemented a Canadian Legal Information Bulletin Board System in Ottawa in 1994 using Wildcat! 4 software. Founder and President of the Canadian Legal Information Association, a not-for-profit organization conceived to provide Canadian legal information on the Internet. Reconstituted as the World Wide Legal Information Association in September 1995
►Senior Constituency Advisor to the Right Honourable Brian Mulroney, PC
House of Commons, Ottawa (1993)
As constituency administrator to a retiring prime minister, the responsibilities included virtually all Member of Parliament constituency responsibilities and required the supervision of a staff of seven and the daily case-management receiving, reviewing, presenting and managing a variety of constituency requests ranging from several multi-million dollar federal assistance to individual unemployment insurance cases.
►Legislative Assistant
Office of the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada
Ottawa, Ontario (1993)
Negotiating, organizing and coordinating the passage through legislative committee and the House of Commons of seven bills during the 3rd Session of the 34th Parliament, more than any other department of the federal government; sustained excellent relationships and communications with the Office of the House Leader, P.C. Caucus and their staffs, and justice critics of the Liberal Party of Canada and the New Democratic Party of Canada; wrote several speeches for the Minister and coordinated speaking material provided by the department for the House; administered and supervised, on behalf of government, numerous debates in the House of Commons; coordinated, with the Chief of Staff, cabinet submissions related to legislative initiatives; wrote or reviewed all letters for the signature of the minister, to Parliamentary colleagues or to the general public, on matters related to Justice Canada's legislative agenda. Security clearance: Top Secret.
►Secretary and General Counsel
Standards Council of Canada
Ottawa, Ontario (1987-1993)
Founded and chaired the Senior Management Committee, comprised of Directors, meeting weekly to review corporate operations; co-founder and occasional chair of the Management Committee, comprised of directors and managers, meeting monthly to review corporate issues of common concern; prepared a comprehensive review of the terms of reference of advisory committees and supervised a consolidated revision package designated by the Executive Director as senior staff director responsible for strategic planning - 1992; served as chief drafting consultant on quality systems criteria document (CAN-P-10) structured under the ISO 9000 series of quality system standards; general counsel to the 57-member board of directors (i.e. Council) and to the 9-member Executive Committee of the Council as well as to a permanent staff of 70 particularly international, administrative, federal, procedural, employment and contract law; acted as senior negotiator for several international agreements; liaison officer with the Office of the Privy Council, Department of Justice, the Office of the Minister of Consumer and Corporate Affairs, the Office of the Auditor General and the Commissioner of Official Languages corporation; negotiated and drafted several agreements with international and foreign standards organizations; supervised all logistical details of meetings including setting and administering of $½-million meeting budget, selection of venue, general supervision of meeting site, preparation and distribution of agendas and supporting papers, writing, publishing and distribution of minutes, and the supervision of post-meeting policy implementation; custodian of the Corporate Seal and official signatory authority of the corporation; supervised and registered appointments to the Council and to advisory committees of the Council, providing information and advice to chairpersons, the President, the Office of the Minister of Consumer and Corporate Affairs or the Privy Council of Canada, as the case might be, on the status of appointments; administered and published a variety of corporate documents including the Standards Council of Canada Act, The By-Laws of the Standards Council of Canada, the Members Guide, the Calendar of Meetings and the terms of reference of all advisory committees; monitored the proceedings of the House of Commons and prepared corporate responses to governmental enquiries or initiatives; policy columnist for the Council's corporate magazine Consensus (circ. 13,000).
►Free-lance writer and author
Columnist with several specialized or general interest publications including the Montreal Gazette, Toronto Computes! newspaper (Toronto), the Hill Times (Ottawa) and the Canadian Bar Association's The National (Ottawa).
► President
Jurisfax Canada Inc.
Incorporated Jurisfax Canada Inc. in March 1988 in an effort to establish a single distribution centre for published Canadian legal information, in particular, laws and jurisprudence. The concept was to provide low-cost access to legal information, from urban centres to isolated communities, through facsimile. Company sold in 1992.
► Publisher and Editor
The Canadian Barrister
The Canadian Barrister, a national legal affairs and public policy publication (eight page newsletter), was published from March, 1990 to January, 1991.
►National legal affairs columnist
Journal le Barreau
Columnist for the Québec Law Society's newspaper. Reporting on current Canadian legal affairs issues of interest to Québec lawyers.
►Legal and Policy Adviser
Office of the Minister
Consumer and Corporate Affairs
Hull, Québec (1985-1987)
Achievements: provided ongoing legal and political advice to the Minister on caucus liaison, Urea Formaldehyde Foam Insulation Removal Program, Superintendent of Bankruptcy and Bankruptcy Act amendments, the Director of Corporations, Canada Post and general legal or policy assignments as from time to time required. Security clearance: Top Secret.
►Legislative Assistant
Office of the Minister of National Defence
Ottawa, Ontario (1985)
Maintained ongoing political liaison between the Department and the Minister; briefed the Minister as to ongoing House of Commons defence issues; obtained Top Secret security clearance; attended regular Chief of the Defence Staff briefings as to Defence initiatives domestically and around the world.
►Associates Counsel
Savard, Nadeau, Francoeur et associés
Baie-Comeau, Québec (1984-1985)
Articled and subsequently hired as nominal partner in Baie-Comeau, Québec; specialized in family, commercial and criminal law; on December 10, 1985, successfully argued for leave to appeal before the Supreme Court of Canada on behalf of appellant in Gagnon v. La Commission de l'emploi et de l'immigration du Canada; taught business law at the Université du Quebec (Rimouski Campus).
► Staff journalist
Journal le Plein Jour sur Manicouagan
Baie-Comeau, Québec
Staff journalist for the Baie-Comeau community weekly newspaper.
• EDUCATION •
►Ecole du Barreau
Québec City, Québec
Followed and passed the Québec law society's academic program prior to articling.
► Université de Montréal
Montréal, Québec (1980-1984)
LL.B. program. Winner of the 1984 Québec Law Schools Moot Court championship (hosted at McGill University, Facuilty of Law).
► Champlain College, Saint Lawrence Campus
Ste-Foy, Québec (1978-1980)
Diploma of Collegiate Studies (Economics and Political Science).
• WRITINGS •
- Legal information articles at www.duhaime.org
- The Musket and the Cane, a history of the Duhaime family in North America (aka Lemaître, Duheme and Duhame)
- Hear! Hear! - 125 Years Of Debate in Canada's House Of Commons, published by Stoddart Publishers, Don Mills, Ontario (ISBN 0-7737-2644-6), 205 pages.
- De Puissance Comblée Editions Nordiques, 1987, 192 pages.
- Almanac Régional, Editions Nordiques, 1988, 324 pages.
- National Hockey League Québec Nordiques columnist, 1983-1984
- Canada As We Know It May Become History, Ottawa Citizen, November 6, 1990.
- How Ex-Boxer Almost Kayoed The Court System, The Toronto Star, December 22, 1990.
- Software Piracy - Stemming The Tide Of Illegal Copying, The Ottawa Business Magazine, November/December, 1991.
- An Ounce Of Prevention: Standards Help Minimize Product Liability Risks, Consensus Magazine, Autumn, 1990.
- The Impact of the Free Trade Agreement on Technical Standards, Canada/US Free Trade.
And many other articles. Portfolio available upon request.
• PERSONAL •
Professional affiliations, past and present: Barreau du Québec (called 1985 (#185508-5)) and the Canadian Bar Association (#204589). Law Society of British Columbia since May 23, 1997. Law Society of Alberta (2000) and the Trial Lawyers’ Association of BC.
Married, two children.
Languages spoken and written: English and French.
Born in Baie-Comeau, Québec.
• SOMMAIRE FRANCAISE •
Lloyd Duhaime est avocat.
Né à Baie-Comeau en 1959, Me Duhaime a pratiqué le droit pendant 11 ans à Baie-Comeau, à Hull et à Ottawa avant d'arriver à Victoria en juin 1995.
Entre 1985 et 1993, il a oeuvré en tant que conseiller politique aupres du Premier ministre du Canada et de quelques-uns de ses ministres dont le Ministre de la justice et celui de l'Industrie.
De 1986 à 1995, il a occupé les postes de secrétaire corporatif, avocat-conseil général et directeur des politiques du Conseil canadien des normes à Ottawa.
Durant ses temps libres, il a écrit cinq livres dont De Puissance Comblée (l'histoire de Baie-Comeau) et Hear! Hear! (une histoire de la Chambre des communes), en plus de contribuer plus de 200 articles, à titre de pigiste, pour plusieurs publications juridiques ou générales, dont le Toronto Star, le Montreal Gazette, le Ottawa Citizen et la revue de l'Association du Barreau Canadien. En 1994, il a fondé www.duhaime.org vouée a l'accès à l'information juridique. Il demeure dans le district Cook Street Village de Victoria. Il est un fervent partisan de la protection de l'environment et de l'unité canadienne.