Join us in celebrating Joelle Walker, Merle Alexander, KC, and Myles Brown for their well-deserved recognition as 2024 Benchmark Litigation Stars and MT + Co’s Litigation + Dispute Resolution Group’s recognition as a Benchmark Recommended Firm for 2024. 

Benchmark Litigation is the only publication on the market to focus exclusively on litigation. Since its inception, Benchmark has grown and become the hub for in-depth analysis of the folks shaping the practice of litigation. The research for the awards is conducted through interviews with litigators, dispute resolution specialists, and their clients to identify the leading litigators and firms. Recent casework and professional opinions from peers and practitioners within the practice area are also taken into consideration. 

Joelle Walker is an experienced litigator and the Practice Group Leader of MT+Co.’s Litigation + Dispute Resolution Group. Joelle practices in the areas of contractual transactional disputes, corporate governance, business torts, regulatory matters, and Aboriginal rights and title. Joelle has appeared as counsel at all levels of court in BC and the Federal Court of Appeal. 

 Joelle also has extensive experience before administrative bodies, including acting as counsel for the Law Society of British Columbia and the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada and appearing as counsel before the BC Securities Commission, the Canada Energy Regulator, the BC Utilities Commission, and the Environmental Appeal Board. 

 In her Indigenous Law practice, Joelle 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 consultation and negotiation with the Crown and industry. Joelle has significant experience in complex litigation involving the Crown with a focus on the advancement of reconciliation and the full implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) as part of the Canadian legal landscape. 

 Joelle also acts for clients through alternative dispute resolution processes such as mediation and arbitration and is often consulted for strategic and results-driven advice as part of ongoing negotiations. In addition to her work, Joelle is a steadfast advocate for women in law, consistently pushing for gender diversity in the workplace and championing efforts for a more diverse, inclusive, and equitable legal profession. 

Merle Alexander, KC, is a principal lawyer in our Indigenous Law Group. Merle practices First Nations resource law, empowering Nations through title and rights affirmation, sustainable economic development, and environmental conservation.

Merle’s clients are looking for righteous advocacy, angular thinking, and relentless diplomacy. They want to be treated with the dignity of Governments, not as warrior activists. His clients are Nations that uplift their jurisdiction and take their rightful seat at the negotiation, economic, and political table.

He holds the Hereditary Chief name, Lagax’niitsk, of Kitasoo Xai’xais First Nation. He will begin his Chiefmanship upon following traditional protocols.

Merle is a ‘life of project’ lawyer assisting with negotiations of all stages of impact benefit agreements, joint ventures, regulatory engagement, traditional knowledge collection, and other corporate and tax-related advice. He supports clients in emerging government-to-government negotiations in all resource areas, including mining, oil and gas, forestry, pipelines, run-of-river, and hydro projects.

As a member of the co-development team for the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act in BC, a major component of Merle’s practice currently involves the ongoing legislative implementation of UNDRIP.

Myles Brown is a principal lawyer in our Litigation + Dispute Resolution Group. Myles is a commercial and business litigator. Myles’ practice encompasses a broad range of complex commercial and civil litigation including contractual disputes, shareholder and transactional disputes, professional negligence, property disputes, business torts, and insolvency. 

Myles has extensive experience in class actions and financial services disputes from working for over 10 years in London, UK, and Australia. While in the UK, Myles was part of a team representing the Royal Bank of Scotland Group in defending actions brought by shareholder and investor groups in connection with its £12 billion rights issue in 2008 – one of the most complex and highest profile pieces of litigation in the UK in recent years. 

MT+Co. has also been recognized as a Benchmark Recommended Firm for 2024. 

MT+Co.’s 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, the development of strategic approaches to the participation of First Nations in consultation and negotiation with the Crown and industry and UNDRIP implementation.

Learn more about the Litigation + Dispute Resolution Group.

Find our profile on Benchmark Litigation’s website.