Charles Birchall
Canada Guide 2024
Band 4 : Environment
Email address
[email protected]Contact number
(613) 761-2424Share profile
Band 4
About
Provided by Charles Birchall
Practice Areas
Environmental Law, Indigenous Legal Issues, Energy Law, and Northern Law.
Career
Charles Birchall is a Partner at Willms & Shier Environmental Lawyers LLP. He practices in the firm’s Ottawa office. He has over 30 years’ experience devoted exclusively to environmental law with particular expertise in regulatory approvals and compliance, brownfields and contaminated land site remediation, species-at-risk, as well as environmental impact assessment.
Charles counsels environmental boards and tribunals about environmental assessment issues that arise from mining, oil and gas, and energy and infrastructure projects. He also advises about Indigenous law and consultation in the mining, infrastructure and energy sectors.
Charles has acted for Joint Review Panels conducting environmental impact assessments of oil sands projects in northern Alberta. He defends clients being investigated by government authorities and prosecuted by environmental regulators for alleged breaches of environmental laws.
Chuck also has extensive experience in preparing submissions and appearing on behalf of clients before Parliamentary Committees in Canada’s House of Commons and Canada’s Senate on proposed environmental legislation.
Professional Memberships
Canadian Bar Association (CBA), County of Carleton Law Association (CCLA), Law Society of Northwest Territories, Law Society of Nunavut, Law Society of Ontario (Certified Specialist in Environmental Law), Mining Association of Canada (MAC), Ontario Association for Impact Assessment (OAIA), Ontario Bar Association (OBA), and Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC).
Publications
Various articles are posted on our website - www.willmsshier.com.
Personal
Education - B.A. (Hons.), Political Science, University of Toronto, 1976, LL.B., Faculty of Law, Queen’s University, 1979, Alternative Dispute Resolution Workshop, University of Windsor Law School, 2000, and LL.M., Common Law, Faculty of Law, University of Ottawa, 2006.
Rankings - The Best Lawyers in Canada - Peer selected annually for Environmental Law and Aboriginal Law, The Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory - Peer selected annually for Environmental Law (Most Frequently Recommended) and Aboriginal Law (Consistently Recommended), The Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory - Listed in the Special Edition on Energy and the Special Edition on Infrastructure, and Who's Who Legal - Listed as a Global Leader (Environment 2022) and a National Leader (Canada - Environment 2021).
Charles Birchall is an Environmental Law Specialist certified by The Law Society of Ontario.