Clarke Hunter Quoted in the Law Times Regarding Federal Expenditure on Outside Legal Counsel
June 29th, 2009Macleod Dixon LLP partner Clarke Hunter was involved in the firm’s major file with the feds in 2008 involving multibillion-dollar oil and gas claims brought by a pair of Alberta First Nations.
The case, Buffalo v. Canada, began in 1993 and involved a four-year trial and appeal to the Federal Court of Appeal with four weeks of oral argument. The case then reached the Supreme Court of Canada in 2008, where the government received a favourable decision this February.
While there could be more issues to litigate in the matter, says Hunter, the SCC decision concluded a major phase of the proceedings and was “gratifying.”
“It was an important and challenging case, so we were pleased to be involved with it and have a good relationship with the people in the Department of Justice and the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs that we worked with defending this case over a long period of time,” says Hunter.
He adds that the case involved many oil and gas issues, as well as financial management issues, and Macleod Dixon’s corporate-commercial background likely appealed to the federal government in that context.
“This is kind of a unique case because of its size and scope,” says Hunter. “So this is not your typical government file, I would say. I think some of the other firms that bill a lot of government work, its many smaller files; this was one major file.”
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