Clarke Hunter, Q.C.
Clarke has practised exclusively in the areas of litigation and dispute resolution since 1980, with emphasis most recently on disputes in the corporate/commercial, oil and gas, aboriginal and governmental areas. He has represented clients in domestic and international arbitrations, mediations, at all levels of the courts in Alberta, in the courts of two other provinces, and in the Federal Court, the Tax Court and the Supreme Court of Canada.
The disputes on which Clarke has acted have involved a broad range of subject matters, including aboriginal, contractual and joint venture, oil and gas, corporate securities, director and officer liability, shareholder remedies, professional negligence, products liability, environmental, and tax.
The 2007 and 2008 editions of Chambers Global identify Clarke as one of the leading individuals in Alberta in the field of dispute resolution. He is identified as one of the "Best Lawyers in Canada", and by the Canadian Lexpert Legal Directory as "repeatedly recommended" in the field of corporate and commercial litigation, as well as being recognized in the area of directors and officers liability.
- Supreme Court of Canada, Clerk to Chief Justice Laskin, 1979-80
- University of Alberta, LL.B., 1979
- University of Lethbridge, B.A. 1975
- Alberta, 1981
- Member, Supreme Court of Canada Advocacy Institute
- Member, Law Society of Alberta
- Member, Canadian Bar Association
- Member, Calgary Bar Association.
- "Contractual Misrepresentation - A Remedies Quagmire"
Annual Review of Civil Litigation (Carswell: 2006), co-authored with Julie Whitaker - Risk Analysis as a Dispute Resolution Tool
- Business Valuation in Shareholder Agreements and Minority Shareholder Disputes
- Confidential Information and Joint Ventures
- Represented the Government of Canada in the defence of two multi-billion dollar oil and gas related claims brought by two Alberta First Nations, involving a four-year trial and appeals to the Federal Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Canada.
- Represented Deer Creek Energy Limited, an Alberta oil sands company, on the determination of "fair value" for its shares, after minority shareholders dissented from a second-stage squeeze-out following a successful takeover bid by the Canadian subsidiary of Total S.A.
- Advised various companies on the Alberta Government's 2008 royalty review and the imposition of higher royalties on the oil and gas industry.
- Advised and assisted an oil and gas company to a successful resolution of a continuous disclosure review by a securities commission.
- Advised corporate boards or special committees in responding to allegations of improper manipulation of historical stock option grants.
- Represented the participants in one of Alberta's largest oil sands projects in the arbitration of disputes relating to the calculation of pipeline tariffs for synthetic crude oil.
- Represented the Canadian subsidiary of B.J. Services in the Tax Court of Canada, successfully establishing the right of a hostile takeover bid target to claim investment banking advisory fees and white knight break fees as deductions for income tax purposes and as input tax credits for GST purposes.
- Represented a junior oil and gas company at trial and appeal in establishing a right to damages for trespass and non-disclosure against a senior producer who had acquired deep rights from the junior after first penetrating those rights with a well drilled in its shallow rights.
- Represented an Alberta energy facilities manufacturer in several international disputes, including an arbitration in Warsaw against the Polish state oil and gas company, and a contractual mediation in Brussels with a large Belgian company.
- Represented the Government of Alberta in an arbitration against the Government of Canada concerning entitlement to several hundred million dollars in fiscal stabilization.
- Designated as a "Best Lawyer in Canada", 2007 - 2009
- Corporate and Commercial Litigation
- Cited as one of the "leading individuals" in Alberta dispute resolution by Chambers Global
- Recommended for dispute resolution in western Canada by international rating agency The Practical Law Company, 2008
- The Canadian Legal Lexpert® Directory identifies Clarke as:
- repeatedly recommended as a leading lawyer in corporate commercial litigation
- recognized in the area of directors and officers liability
- Designated as a "Best Lawyer in Canada", 2007
- consistently recommended in the area of directors and officers liability
- YMCA Calgary Board of Directors, 2007 forward
- Law Society of Alberta Professional Responsibility Committee, 2006 forward
- Past Board member, Calgary Kiwanis Music Festival
- Pro bono work for various non-profit organizations
- Instructor of advocacy skills to Alberta lawyers through the Legal Education Society
