Kate's bilingual practice is devoted to supporting employers in effectively managing all aspects of the human resources side of their organizations. From contract to courtroom, Kate provides real-world advice to a broad range of Canadian and international businesses to allow them to effectively navigate and manage workplace labour and employment issues, in a responsive and pragmatic way.
Kate's clients are a diverse range of employers, with a particular focus in the healthcare, technology, legal, and energy industries. She also works extensively for numerous embassies and various non-profits in the charitable sector. She provides strategic advice, representation, and counsel regarding labour, employment, human rights, health & safety, and other employment-related areas of the law, including employment aspects of mergers and acquisitions.
Kate manages all aspects of direct advocacy for employers, including negotiations, litigation, arbitration, collective bargaining, and mediation. She also advises large scale multinational enterprises regarding how best to operationalize the human rights and social factors components of their responsible business conduct and/or ESG frameworks. She has conducted comprehensive compliance reviews that involved tailoring supply chain management and due diligence processes, as well as providing guidance on specialized human rights impact mapping. She is known for crafting practical bespoke solutions for clients that enhance risk mitigation and competitive business strategy, while meeting the evolving mandatory Canadian reporting requirements, including those set out by the recent Fighting Against Forced Labour and Child Labour in Supply Chains Act.
Kate is known to be an experienced and dynamic presenter who is regularly called upon to speak at conferences, universities, and law schools, and to lead seminars for employers on a range of labour, employment and human rights topics.
Prior to joining BLG, Kate practised labour and employment law with an elite national firm as well as civil litigation and insurance defence at a top Ottawa litigation firm.
Before pursuing a career in law, Kate also worked with various local and national non-profit and healthcare organizations in disability program delivery and crisis management. She later worked in disability adjudication for national insurers and was engaged by class action adjudicators to advise on medical appeals and threshold issues.