Firm News

For the second year in a row Susanne Raab and Brenda Osmond are teaching the course in Medical Negligence Law as adjunct professors at the University of British Columbia.  Representing patients who have been injured as a result of medical negligence is the only work we do at Pacific Medical Law and we are excited to share our knowledge and experience with the students.

This year, over 20 second and third year law students are registered in the course, which walks students through issues of professional negligence concerning physicians, other health care professionals and hospitals. The classes focus on helping students develop an understanding of the components of a medical malpractice action. It focuses on issues of the doctor-patient relationship, consent, standard of care, and causation, and explores practical issues that arise in medical malpractice actions including the nature and function of expert witnesses, the use of documentation and difficulties of proof.  At the end of the course, students write a comprehensive exam to demonstrate their ability to identify legal issues relating to physicians, other health care professionals and hospitals.

Although some of the students in the class have a background in health care, most enroll to broaden their exposure to different areas of the law.  Given we are one of the very few law firms in Canada that practices exclusively in the field of plaintiff medical malpractice and birth injury, Susanne and Brenda are happy to share their expertise with law students. Our goal in teaching the course is to provide the students with some insight into this unique and specialized area of practice, and maybe even inspire future medical negligence lawyers!

We are very pleased to announce that both partners at Pacific Medical Law have been recognized as “Leading Practitioners” in the 2018 Canadian Legal Lexpert® Directory in medical malpractice. This designation is a significant acknowledgment of their expertise in this very specialized and complex area of law.

Susanne Raab has been selected as a leader in medical malpractice litigation by The Canadian Legal Lexpert® Directory. Susanne’s practice focuses on representing individuals and families who have suffered injuries as a result of medical malpractice, with a focus on birth injuries and catastrophic brain and spinal cord injuries. Susanne has appeared before the Supreme Court of BC, the BC Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Canada. Prior to joining Pacific Medical Law, Susanne represented physicians in complex medical malpractice actions.

Susanne is actively involved in advocating for individuals living with disabilities, and serves as the President of the Board of Directors as well as Chair of the Advisory Committee of the Cerebral Palsy Association of British Columbia.  She is also on the Board of Governors of the Trial Lawyers Association of BC which is committed to improving access to justice for all British Columbians. She is a member of BILA, the Birth Injury Lawyers Alliance and a Fellow of the Litigation Counsel of America, an honorary trial lawyer society whose membership is limited to less than one-half of one percent of North American lawyers, judges and scholars. Susanne is also an adjunct professor at the UBC Allard School of Law where she teaches the medical negligence course to 2^nd and 3^rd year law students.

We are very pleased to announce that both partners at Pacific Medical Law have been recognized as “Leading Practitioners” in the 2018 Canadian Legal Lexpert® Directory in medical malpractice. This designation is a significant acknowledgment of their expertise in this very specialized and complex area of law.

Paul McGivern has been selected as a leader in medical malpractice litigation by The Canadian Legal Lexpert® Directory. Paul is a senior litigator acting exclusively on behalf of plaintiffs in medical negligence cases, with an emphasis on complex catastrophic cases such as birth trauma, spinal cord and brain injury cases. He is frequently consulted by counsel throughout Canada for his expertise in this area. He has a unique background of 17 years as medical malpractice defence counsel and a reputation for understanding the medical and legal issues of complex malpractice actions. Paul has been lead counsel in hundreds of medical malpractice cases, has litigated legal precedent setting cases and has appeared as lead counsel before every level of court, including the Supreme Court of Canada (most recently in Ediger v. Johnston 2013 SCC 18 and Cojocaru v. British Columbia Women’s Hospital 2013 SCC 30).

In addition to being an advocate for the clients of Pacific Medical Law, Paul has been an adjunct legal professor at the University of British Columbia where he has taught civil procedure for 18 years. He is a sought after speaker and has organized and chaired a number of continuing education programs focusing on medical legal issues. Paul was a Director of the Medical Legal Society of B.C. and is a member of the Trial Lawyers Association of BC. In addition, Paul is a founding member of BILA, the Birth Injury Lawyers Alliance.