The bright minds working on the world’s most important challenges and interesting opportunities need more than a law firm. They need true partners and allies who understand the complexity of what they’re tackling, who can help build vision and strategy, and bring a team of experts who get it. That’s MT + Co. In 2009, we started a law firm based on some ground-breaking principles: that a law firm can care about sharing values with clients and can boldly say their purpose is to help people do good things; that important law isn’t the sole purview of Big Law and that a focused team of passionate professionals can get you as far (or further) than the large national and international firms; that you are a client with a cause, not an invoice number; and that you should like your lawyer.
Since then, we’ve worked exclusively with two types of clients: forward-thinking businesses and Indigenous organizations on the cutting edge of reconciliation. We represent leaders who dare to dream big. Our integrated team supports their game-changing work by breaking down roadblocks and building roadmaps for the large and important opportunities our clients are chasing. From vision to strategy to execution, we assemble a specialized team that gets the right things done. Because what you are doing matters—to you, to us, and the world.
MT+Co.’s Litigation + Dispute Resolution Group
Our Corporate Commercial Litigation work includes complex contractual disputes, shareholder and transactional disputes, corporate governance matters, and business torts. We also have experience representing clients before a broad range of regulatory and administrative bodies and in alternative dispute resolution processes such as mediation and arbitration.
On the Indigenous Law side of our Litigation practice, our group assists clients in the areas of Aboriginal rights and title, governance, Indian reserve issues, mutual benefit agreement interpretation and implementation, regulatory matters, and the development of strategic approaches to the participation of First Nations in consultation and negotiation with the Crown and industry.
Our Litigation + Dispute Resolution Group has a strong voice in firm management and decision-making, which means that we have the ability to structure our service offering in a way that aligns with our values and the values of our clients. While our firm began with the two fundamental pillars of Business Law and Indigenous Law, the addition of our Litigation + Dispute Resolution Group has allowed us an even greater depth of collaboration, expertise, and seamless client service.
Many law firms view Litigation as its own silo. In contrast, we work collaboratively with our solicitors across all practice groups at almost every stage to ensure issues are identified, and effective resolutions are achieved, early on. Collectively, the members of our team have the deep legal experience needed by our most forward-thinking and sophisticated clients –bringing past learning and insight to bear on their challenges. At the same time, we are diverse, progressive, and imaginative –we do not get “boxed in” by the law and instead find creative solutions that continually advance our clients’ interests.
Notable Cases:
- MT+Co. represented Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council in its intervention before the Court of Appeal for British Columbia in Servatius v. Alberni School District No. 70, 2022 BCCA 42, a Charter case involving the interplay between religious rights and Indigenous cultural representation and student safety in public schools, which resulted in the Court of Appeal dismissing the appellant’s arguments that Nuu-chah-nulth cultural demonstrations in public schools infringed her children’s religious rights;
- MT+Co., led by Joelle Walker, represented the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council as an intervenor in Ahousaht Indian Band and Nation v. Canada (Attorney General), 2021 BCCA 155, a complex constitutional law case involving Aboriginal rights to commercial fisheries; and
- MT+Co., led by Joelle Walker, was a member of the class counsel team representing Indigenous youth and family members (including First Nations, Metis, and Inuit persons) in a series of related class actions across Canada against the federal government and various provincial governments. The claims relate to discriminatory treatment of Indigenous children and families in the provision of child and family services and essential services off-reserve.
Updated April 2024
