Benedict Wray

Benedict is an English- and Ontario-qualified lawyer. His practice includes international arbitration, constitutional and administrative law matters, and a range of business and human rights issues.

Benedict has experience representing and advising clients on modern slavery and business & human rights issues in Canada and globally. He is regularly consulted on issues concerning Canada’s Fighting Against Forced Labour and Child Labour in Supply Chains Act, as well as relation to the Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise. In 2019, Benedict participated in consultations by the Canadian Government regarding modern slavery legislation and regularly gives webinars on these topics. He guest lectures on modern slavery and business and human rights topics at the University of Ottawa and has also given guest lectures at the Nova School of Law in Lisbon, Portugal.

In his disputes practice, Benedict advises and represents parties in both commercial and investor-state arbitration and has acted on matters involving the rules of UNCITRAL, the ICC, LCIA, the ADR Institute of Canada, ICDR, and VanIAC, as well as ad hoc arbitrations under various Canadian statutes. He also regularly advises clients on conflict-of-laws and jurisdictional issues, and has appeared before a range of courts in Canada and the UK.

In addition to his practical experience, Benedict holds a Ph.D. in international law from the European University Institute, which focused on global issues around business and human rights, jurisdiction, and transnational corporate liability. His thesis examined in detail the development of the UN Guiding principles, corporate policies and codes of conduct, and various forms of transnational dispute resolution to draw conclusions about the transnational regulation of business and human rights. During his time in academia, Benedict was part of an EU working group which examined issues around mining in conflict areas and supply chain issues.

Benedict is a member of BLG’s Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) steering committee and international arbitration practice group.