Dan H. Griffith

Dan H. Griffith is a partner at ATAC LAW and a litigator whose work is conducted in the courtroom, in civil and criminal matters alike, and carried to appeal where the result requires it. He acts for individuals, privately held businesses and their shareholders, strata corporations, beneficiaries and personal representatives of estates, and professionals answering to their regulator. He founded ATAC LAW with Mike Stewart, and has practised in civil litigation and in criminal defence since his call to the bar, appearing also before administrative tribunals in tenancy, driving, and immigration matters. That combination is uncommon, and it informs how he prepares, since a criminal trial teaches the discipline of proving a fact and a civil trial the discipline of proving a loss.

His civil practice is conducted principally in the Supreme Court of British Columbia. He acts in estate and trust disputes, among them contested probate, the setting aside of settlements, and claims concerning the dissipation of estate assets, and in shareholder disputes brought as oppression or derivative proceedings or resisted upon a petition for liquidation. He advances and defends claims in contract and tort, acts for strata corporations, conducts injury and coverage claims against insurers, and applies for and opposes interim injunctions and orders for contempt. He carries a matter through pleadings, document production, examinations for discovery, applications, and summary or full trial.

In criminal matters he appears in the Provincial Court of British Columbia, obtains and presses for Crown disclosure, conducts voir dires on the admissibility of evidence, including the continuity of exhibits and the product of surveillance, negotiates resolution with Crown counsel, and makes submissions on sentence. His appellate practice follows from both sides of that work. He drafts factums and appears in chambers before the Court of Appeal for British Columbia, applies for and resists stays of execution, and has argued appeals concerning dismissal for want of prosecution.

Dan appears as counsel in commercial and statutory arbitration, including under the underinsured motorist provisions, drafting notices to arbitrate, conducting the pre-hearing process, and making submissions on costs once an award has issued. He attends mediation with clients and prepares the brief upon which it turns, and is a Qualified Arbitrator with ADRBC. He defends professional engineers before Engineers and Geoscientists British Columbia and lawyers under investigation by the Law Society of British Columbia, attending the regulator's interview alongside the client and negotiating the terms of a consent order. He forms a view early of what the evidence will bear and says so plainly, whether the answer is that a matter should be settled or that it should be tried and, if necessary, appealed.