Andrew Gay, KC

Exceptional calibre, strategic insight, and complex and high‑stakes matters are evident in Andrew’s work. He has been advising clients in complex disputes for almost 30 years, with a practice defined by exacting preparation, strategic insight, and results.

Clients describe him as smart, thoughtful, highly capable, and a lawyer they return to for their most important work. He builds enduring relationships based on trust, results, and a deep understanding of his clients’ environments.

He maintains a broad litigation practice with an emphasis on public law. He is widely recognized for his expertise in administrative law, including regulatory, licensing, and professional discipline matters. He is also an advisor to professional regulators and tribunals in British Columbia.

Andrew has successfully argued numerous significant cases before the Court of Appeal. His work on the landmark case British Columbia (Director of Civil Forfeiture) v. Qin culminated in a successful appeal, securing the release of $2 million in cash seized by police. The decision is the leading authority in Canada on the relationship between Criminal Code section 490 and provincial civil forfeiture legislation, clarifying how the two regimes can operate side‑by‑side.

His broader practice includes commercial and tort litigation, government liability, constitutional matters, civil forfeiture, negligence, civil fraud, defamation, property disputes, and civil sexual assault cases. This experience allows him to identify arguments and strategic opportunities that more narrowly focused counsel may overlook.

Recognized as a leading advisor and litigator on British Columbia liquor law, he acts for restaurants, bars, arenas and private liquor stores in disputes with the Liquor and Cannabis Regulation Branch and advises on regulatory compliance.

For many years he was an Adjunct Professor at the University of British Columbia and co‑authors a chapter in Canada’s leading textbook on government liability.

• British Columbia (Attorney General) v. McDermid, 2025 BCCA 455. Counsel to the Director of Civil Forfeiture in a successful appeal upholding the constitutionality of a provision of British Columbia’s Civil Forfeiture Act.
  
  
• Johnson v. British Columbia (Attorney General), 2022 BCCA 82. Counsel to the Province of British Columbia in a leading case on the intersection of tort law and Charter law concerning the availability of Charter damages against government. The client was successful at trial and on appeal.
  
  
• British Columbia (Attorney General) v. Provincial Court Judges’ Association of British Columbia, 2020 SCC 20. Co‑counsel for the Attorney General of British Columbia in a successful appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada concerning the obligation to produce confidential Cabinet records in litigation.
  
  
• Hunt v. The Owners, Strata Plan LMS 2556, 2018 BCCA 159. Counsel on a successful appeal overturning an arbitration award due to reasonable apprehension of bias, now the leading authority in British Columbia on bias arising from private communications between adjudicators and counsel.
  
  
• Counsel to Engineers and Geoscientists BC in one of British Columbia’s largest and most complex professional discipline cases involving the collapse of the tailings dam at the Mount Polley Mine.

• Appellate
• Commercial disputes
• Dispute resolution
• Government and regulatory
• Tort litigation
• Government liability
• Civil forfeiture

• Food and beverage
• Government and public policy
• Other

• LL.B., Osgoode Hall Law School, 1996
• Master of Environmental Studies, York University, 1996
• B.A., University of British Columbia, 1992

• King’s Counsel (appointed by the British Columbia Attorney General), 2016
• BC Civil Resolution Tribunal, 2017
• National Executive Committee of the CBA Administrative Law Section, 2014
• Appellate Law Subsection of the Canadian Bar Association – BC Branch, 2015