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Robert B. White, Q.C.
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Biographie

Robert White, Q.C. has been engaged as counsel in litigation for the entire length of his distinguished career. He has represented clients and cases ranging from the Alberta Government, on a number of cases of considerable complexity; Canada's largest integrated oil company; one of the world's largest car manufacturers; the largest oil sands company in Canada; one of Canada's largest chartered banks; one of Canada's largest life insurance companies; Canada's largest communications group of companies; the Alberta Human Rights Commission; a school board; a bio-technology company; and lawyers, doctors, accountants and engineers before professional discipline tribunals.

He has been lead counsel in intricate and important major criminal cases in murder, arson, conspiracy, and fraud; medical and legal malpractice litigation; municipal property taxation appeals; complex estate litigation; cases concerning the meaning of the Constitution; cases in numerous aspects of environmental law; international child custody disputes; construction law cases; public inquiries and inquiries under the CCAA; shareholders' disputes; utility arbitrations; royalty arbitrations and the negotiation of specialist fees for medical doctors. Mr. White has been frequently consulted by other law firms concerning aspects of their cases, has sat as a labour arbitrator, and looks forward to these and any other new, interesting, challenging or worthy cases and clients.

Mr. White believes in access to justice for all, which was the reason he became a trial and appeals lawyer--an advocate. He has represented many who have had a meritorious case and were in need. These include a family without funds in the first case in Canada in which a court ordered a school board to make accommodation for a physically challenged child, an appeal for a group of neighbors who had been seriously let down by their municipal government, and an indigent hospital orderly charged with the murder of two patients.

Mr. White's practice has taken him to:

• the Provincial Court of Alberta;
• the Court of Queen's Bench of Alberta;
• the Alberta Court of Appeal;
• the Supreme Court of The Yukon Territory;
• the Supreme Court of Saskatchewan;
• the Federal Court Trial Division;
• the Federal Court Appeal Division;
• the Supreme Court of Canada; and
• many administrative tribunals , municipal councils, professional discipline boards, and arbitration panels.

His practice defines that of the classical advocate: everything that can be done in any court or other tribunal, and the settlement or negotiation of any problem or issue.

Parcours professionnel

• Lead defence counsel for a multi-national corporation in the longest civil jury trial in Alberta history;
• Cases with highly technical evidence such as nuclear physics, computer and other mathematical modeling. Boiler and generator engineering; brain surgery; the source and causes of fire; medical procedures and diagnostic processes; automobile and automobile component design and operation; the operation chemical and petroleum processing trains; the derivation of one invention from another; the protection and use of trade names; technical accounting concepts and practices; economic modeling; causes of equipment failure or the failure of consumer goods; the analysis of complex fraudulent transactions and schemes; the existence and effect of psychiatric illness and neurological deficit; dam construction and hydrology; environmental impact studies; and the causes of land slides and, not to be forgotten, whether a competitor was using "The Colonel's Secret Blend Of Herbs And Spices". On occasion, he is invited into a case solely to handle the expert evidence, whatever it may be.
• Mr. White was appointed by the Chief Justice Of Alberta to argue a constitutional reference before the Alberta Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Canada.
• The Chief Justice of Alberta appointed him to represent an indigent and troubled convicted murderer in a highly controversial and complex appeal.
• He was appointed by the Court of Queen's Bench of Alberta to represent 63,000 investors in the failed Principal Group of Companies involving court hearings, appeals, and one of the longest inquiries conducted in the province in which he and his team were successful in recovering over 90% of the funds the investors had lost.

Recognition

• Appointed Queen's Counsel, 1986
• Lexpert and Best Lawyers in Canada have recognized Mr. White as one of Canada's top lawyers, and an American rating service has also listed him as one of Canada's top lawyers

Associations professionnelles

• Member of the Law Societies of Alberta, The Northwest Territories, and Nunavut
• Lecturer in errors and omissions avoidance for the Law Society of Alberta.
• Past President of the Alberta Advocates Society
• Member of the Canadian Bar Association
• Member of the J. Reuben Clarke Law Society and founding chair of the Edmonton Chapter

Publications & séminaires

• In addition to journal articles, Canada Law Book published five of Mr. White's books including The Art of Discovery, The Art of Trial, The Art of Using Expert Evidence, and The Appeal Book. A second edition of The Art of Discovery is in preparation
• Wrote scripts for two published instructional videos
• Taught as a sessional lecturer in the University of Alberta Faculty of Law for eighteen years and has lectured at legal education society seminars in Alberta and British Columbia
• Taught in the Bar Admission Course and in a head-start program for First Nation students

Travail bénévole

• He has filled significant leaders positions on church boards and service organizations
• He has volunteered in federal, provincial and municipal politics
• He has given legal advice on emerging issues during a Federal Parliamentary campaign

Autres activités

• Mr. White pioneered the use of computers in litigation (and wrote the seminal book on the subject), and of paralegals in Alberta

Parcours académique

• LL.B. (with Distinction and Silver Medal), University of Alberta, 1971
• B. Comm., Finance, (with Distinction), University of Alberta, 1969

Inscription au barreau

• Nunavut, 1999
• Saskatchewan, 1980
• Northwest Territories, 1978
• Alberta, 1972

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