Meet your professional team at Pacific Medical Law						Linda Wong Paul McGivern
	Firm History Pacific Medical Law carries on the traditions of Nathan Smith Law and its predecessor firm MacLeod Smith. Those are the traditions of only representing patients and their families, not defending doctors or hospitals, and of offering professional advice with compassion.
	Linda Ann Wong Linda Wong is a senior medical malpractice lawyer at Pacific Medical Law. She handles medical negligence and wrongful death cases. She was one of the original lawyers at Nathan Smith Law. She was called to the bar in 1983 and has concentrated on civil litigation. She has represented clients at every level of Court in British Columbia. Linda only practices in the area of plaintiff’s medical malpractice. She was co-counsel in a hard fought victory for Travis Strachan, a child who was severely brain damaged during his birth, and his family. She also was co-counsel at the trial and appeal of another hotly contested and successful lawsuit for Benjamin Fullerton, another child who suffers from catastrophic brain damage that occurred during his birth, and his family. Linda believes in contributing to her legal community. She is chairing the legal seminar on the Health Care Costs Recovery Act in October, 2009. She lectures for the Trial Lawyers Association of BC, the Law Society of BC Continuing Legal Education, the Professional Legal Training Course in BC, and the Vancouver Hospital & Health Sciences Centre Lunch and Learn. She is the chair of the Trial Lawyers of British Columbia’s medical negligence litigation group. She has written for the Verdict, a magazine published by the Trial Lawyers Association of British Columbia. Linda is a member of two specialized AAJ litigation groups -Birth Trauma Litigation and Medical Negligence. Linda brings to her clients’ cases firsthand knowledge about many of the challenges facing families who have a child with a disability She organized Vancouver’s first school-based group for families of special needs children. She was the spokesperson for a Vancouver group that fought to preserve services and funding for schoolchildren; carrying their message to radio, television, and newspapers as well as to the Education Minister and other officials in Victoria. She co-chaired a high level advocacy group producing educational resource material distributed to every school district in BC.					Linda Ann Wong
	Paul McGivern Paul McGivern is a medical malpractice lawyer with more than 20 years experience. His particular area of interest is infants catastrophically injured at birth. Paul is well known in the medical legal community. He has been selected to be included in the 2010 edition of The Best Lawyers in Canada in the area of Personal Injury Litigation. He has an impressive reputation for understanding the technically intricate medical and legal issues of complex malpractice actions such as the birth cases. After carefully listening to the infant's family, reviewing the medical information, and assessing the medical and legal issues, Paul will assess and explain the case with a view to maximizing the recovery and minimizing the risk to the child and his family. Paul has been lead counsel in hundreds of medical malpractice claims, many of which have involved claims of over $3 million. He has litigated a number of high profile and legal precedent setting legal cases, and has appeared as lead counsel before every court level in B.C. and in the Supreme Court of Canada. In addition to being an advocate for the clients at Pacific Medical Law, Paul is an adjunct legal professor at the University of British Columbia where he has taught civil procedure for 18 years. He is also a sought after speaker at continuing medical legal education programs. He has organized and chaired a number of continuing medical and legal programs focusing on medical legal issues. Paul is a Director of the Medical Legal Society of B.C. and a member of the Trial Lawyers Association of BC and the Plaintiff’s Medical Negligence Litigation Group.					Paul McGivern
	Ann Howell Ann Howell is an associate lawyer at Pacific Medical Law. She has experience as a plaintiff and as a defence lawyer in personal injury and malpractice cases. After graduating with a South African law degree she articled at a boutique firm that handled medical malpractice and catastrophic personal injury cases. She then moved to Vancouver and completed her Canadian law degree. She qualified to practice as a lawyer in British Columbia in 2005 and began working as a defence lawyer. She joined Pacific Medical Law in 2008 and only acts for plaintiffs. She participates in the "Law and Medicine" program conducted through the Faculty of Medicine at UBC, where she tutors medical students on issues relating to law and ethics.					Ann Howell
	Suite 1510, PO Box 11535, 650 West Georgia Street, Vancouver, BC, V6B 4N7 Local calls: 604-685-2361 Toll free calls: 1-888-333-2361 Fax: 604-669-3477
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