Biography

Richard Bereti is the firm's Managing Partner. Richard has served on, and Chairs, the Executive Committee and Harper Grey’s environmental law group and is an active member of our commercial litigation group.

Richard is the author of the textbook British Columbia Environmental Management Legislation & Commentary. He teaches environmental law at the University of British Columbia Faculty of Law and often speaks at continuing education and industry conferences.

Businesses and industry across Canada count on Richard to represent them in some of their most significant environmental cases. He negotiates with provincial and federal agencies and where necessary argues before the courts and Environmental Appeal Board. Richard handles cases in BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan and the Yukon Territory, and acts for clients across Canada and outside our borders.

Originally from Regina, Richard usually spends part of his summer vacation with his young family at their lakeside cabin in Saskatchewan.

Education

• University of British Columbia, LL.B., 1992
• University of Regina, B.Ed., (Distinction), 1989

 Bar Admissions

• British Columbia, 1993
• Saskatchewan, 1996

 Leadership

• Member, British Columbia Expropriation Association
• Member, BC Environmental Industry Association (BCEIA)
• Member, National Brownfields Association
• Member, Canadian Bar Association - BC Branch, Aboriginal Law, Civil Litigation (Vancouver), Environmental Law, Law Practice Management and Natural Resources Law Subsections
• Member, Canadian Urban Institute
  
• Adjunct Professor, UBC Faculty of Law, Environmental Law
  
• Guest Lecturer, UBC Faculty of Engineering
  
• Attendee, Cambridge Environmental Law Forum (Whistler), 2011
• Presenter, Canadian Brownfields 2011 - Canadian Urban Institute (Toronto), 2011
• Chair, Pacific Business and Law Institute Contaminated Sites Conference, 2010
• Presenter, Western Canada Contaminated Sites Conference (Calgary), 2009

Client Work

Work on behalf of the environmental industry

• Acting for environmental consultants alleged to have been negligent
• Advising consultants on legal aspects of remediation of contaminated sites, from initial investigation through risk assessment, pilot studies and implementation of remedial measures
• Preparation of expert witnesses
• Drafting and providing advice regarding consultants' contracts, access agreements, indemnities and releases

Work on behalf of corporations

• Share and asset transactions
• Director and officer liability
• Parent and subsidiary liability
• Negotiation on behalf of corporations to determine environmental liability, risk and responsibility 
• Negotiating issues related to contaminated land on Aboriginal territory
  
• Advice regarding air, water, soil and other pollution issues
• Legal matters relating to oil spills
• Real estate transactions
• Environmental risk as it relates to corporate governance and structure
  
• Environmental provisions in contracts, leases, indemnities and releases
  
• Landowner/tenant issues as they relate to contamination
  
• Criminal and quasi-criminal environmental offences
• Government ordered remediation

Significant cases

• Lead counsel for CN Rail in a matter considered one of the most influential decisions regarding "responsible person" status of historic owners/operators of contaminated sites; Beazer East Inc., et al. v. British Columbia
• Acting for various parties following judgment in the leading case on allocation of costs of remediation; Gehring.
  
• Acting for an international distributor in defence of various charges under the Ozone Depletion Regulation
  
• Representing an energy company in a matter before the Environmental Appeal Board regarding the responsibility of individual directors, officers and employees for corporate liability; Lawson v. Deputy Director Waste Management et al
• Representing an energy company in litigation that addressed the preconditions to cost recovery actions; No. 158 Seabright Holdings Ltd. et al v. Imperial Oil Limited et al
• Counsel for a pension plan that owns significantly contaminated property on Vancouver Island.
• Co-counsel for a corporation dealing with quasi-criminal environmental offences
• Conducting appeals before the Environmental Appeal Board
  
• Conducting Judicial Review proceedings before the British Columbia Supreme Court
  

 

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