Paul T. McGivern, Q.C.

Partner

Well known in the medical legal community, Paul McGivern, Q.C. is a senior litigator who acts exclusively in plaintiff’s medical negligence and infant injury litigation cases. For the past 35 years, his practice has been focused on complex catastrophic cases, especially infant birth trauma cases. Paul is one of the founding members of the Birth Injury Lawyers Alliance of Canada.  He has been a member of the Western Canadian Medical Malpractice Association since its inception.

Paul brings to his practice a unique background of 17 years as a medical malpractice defence counsel which provides him with unique insights into defence strategies and approaches.  He has been involved in hundreds of medical malpractice claims involving a myriad of complex medical and legal issues. He has litigated numerous high-profile precedent setting cases. In his career he has appeared as a lead counsel before every court level in British Columbia and also in the Supreme Court of Canada.

With a reputation for understanding the technically intricate medical and legal issues of complex malpractice actions, Paul is consistently recommended in the Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory as a leader in the area of medical malpractice litigation. He was also selected for inclusion in the 2007 inaugural edition of The Best Lawyers in Canada publication, and he has been included in each annual issue since then. In 2016 and 2019 Paul was named Vancouver’s “Lawyer of the Year for Medical Negligence”.   In 2020 he was named Vancouver’s “Lawyer of the Year for Personal Injury”.

In addition to his work as an advocate for clients of Pacific Medical Law, Paul is frequently invited as a speaker at numerous continuing medical/legal education programs and has been involved in the organizing and chairing of continuing medical and legal education programs focusing on medical legal issues. Paul also served as an adjunct professor of law at the University of British Columbia, where he taught civil procedure for 18 years.

A former director of the Medical Legal Society of B.C., he is a member of the Trial Lawyers Association of B.C., as well as belonging to the Plaintiff’s Medical Negligence Litigation Group. He is also a member of the American Association of Justice and their Birth Trauma Litigation Group.  In addition to his other professional involvements, Paul is active in the community, serving as a director of the Advisory Committee of the Cerebral Palsy Association of B.C.

Paul is married and has 3 daughters. In his “off hours”, he coached his daughters’ teams in both soccer and basketball, from grade 8 through high school.

Classes/Seminars

• Adjunct Legal Professor, University of British Columbia
• Speaker, Continuing Medical Legal Education Programs

Honors and Awards

• Fellow of the Litigation Counsel of America
• The Best Lawyers in Canada – recognized from 2006 to 2020
• Best Lawyers – Lawyer of the Year, Medical Malpractice – 2016, 2019
• Best Lawyers – Lawyer of the Year, Personal Injury – 2020
• Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory – recognized as a Leading Practitioner in Medical Malpractice – 2015 to 2019
• Martindale-Hubbell – achieved a Very High Rating in Legal Ability & Ethical Standards – 1997 to 2014, 2017

Professional Associations and Memberships

• Law Society of British Columbia
• Medical Legal Society of B.C., Past Director
• Trial Lawyers Association of BC, Member
• Advisory Committee of the Cerebral Palsy Association of BC

Publications

• Causation – Application: The Difficulties Associated with Applying the “But For” Test by Lindsay McGivern and Paul McGivern for the Verdict Issue 168 Spring 2021
• Causation – Basic Principles: The Murky Waters of Causation in Medical Negligence by Lindsay McGivern and Paul McGivern for the Verdict, Issue 167, Winter 2020
• The Role of Genetics in Birth Injury Claims by Andrea Donaldson and Paul McGivern for the Verdict, Issue 158, Fall 2018
• The Financial Burden of Medical Malpractice Lawsuits by Lindsay McGivern & Paul McGivern for the Verdict, Issue 155, Winter 2018
• Do ties always go to the defence? by Paul McGivern & Lindsay McGivern for Lawyers Weekly, February 6, 2015
• Establishing or Challenging the Standard of Care in the Medical Malpractice Context by Brenda Osmond & Paul McGivern for the Verdict, Issue 143, Winter 2015
• Risk and consequences – Supreme Court shapes law on informed consent, scope of disclosure by Paul McGivern & Natalia Ivolgina for The Lawyers Weekly, November 22, 2013
• Proving Causation in Birth Trauma Cases: Navigating the Twilight Zone Between Factual and Legal Causation by Natalia Ivolgina & Paul McGivern for the Verdict, Issue 136, Spring 2013

Reviews