William B. Smart KC

Practice Areas

William Smart is a senior litigator who has over 45 years of experience primarily in the areas of criminal, administrative and regulatory law. This includes representing clients under investigation or charged pursuant to various federal and provincial Acts such as the Income Tax Act, Canada Labour Code, Fisheries Act, Customs Act, Excise Act, Workers Compensation Act, Mines Act, Securities Act, Police Act, Gaming Enforcement Act and Elections Act, as well as representing lawyers, teachers, and health care professionals before their respective regulatory bodies. He has appeared for both the defence and Crown in all levels of court in British Columbia and the Yukon Territory, as well as before the Supreme Court of Canada. He is peer rated by Martindale-Hubbell with its highest level of professional excellence, Pre-eminent Counsel (AV).

Mr. Smart was appointed King’s Counsel in 1996, and was the 2001 Milvain Visiting Chair in Advocacy at the University of Calgary Faculty of Law. He was inducted as a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers in 2002 and a Fellow of the International Society of Barristers in 2005.

He has been a regular contributor to continuing legal education programs for over forty years, including as a faculty member of the Federation of Law Societies National Criminal Law Program for 34 years. He was co-chair of the McEachern Advanced Trial Advocacy Course at the UBC Faculty of Law and continues to participate in the Course. He was a member of Canada’s 1972 Olympic Track and Field team.