Shaun's practice focuses on construction and commercial litigation and arbitration, surety work, and contract drafting for construction projects. Shaun regularly assists owners, developers, general contractors, and subcontractors with the resolution of disputes, including those relating to the Prompt Payment and Construction Lien Act, and has provided advice on a wide range of construction-related legal issues,. Shaun also acts for surety companies providing assistance in responding to performance bond and labour and material payment bond claims and bringing claims against indemnitors for recovery.
Shaun has acted in construction and other civil litigation cases, including arbitrations, both as lead and associate counsel, on major disputes at all levels of Court in Alberta. Shaun has experience negotiating, drafting and advising on construction contracts on a variety of projects including commercial and industrial construction projects in the oil and gas sector.
Previously, Shaun worked in Financial Services where he regularly advised lenders and borrowers with respect to commercial and syndicated lending transactions including project financing, energy financing, equipment financing and real estate financing.
## PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS
- Member of the Law Society of Alberta
- Member of the Advocates' Society
- Member of the Calgary Bar Association
- Member of the Canadian Bar Association
- Member of the Construction Law Section, Canadian Bar Association
## REPRESENTATIVE WORK
### Litigation & Dispute Resolution
- Regularly acts for owners, contractors, subcontractors, developers, and sureties with respect to construction and surety litigation and arbitration.
- Acted for oil sands owner in arbitration related to the termination of the lump sum EPC contractor and the subsequent owner claims of approximately $1.3 billion for the costs to complete the project, liquidated damages, and unjust enrichment.
- Acted for electrical transmission company in a $40 million claim for the replacement of defective transmission line equipment on multiple Alberta transmission lines, including claims against the contractor, manufacturer and distributor of product.
- Acted for energy infrastructure and pipeline companies in numerous multi-million-dollar arbitrations related to change order disputes with contractors over HDD work and ground conditions.
- Acted for surety bond provider in relation to $50+ million contractor default and related indemnity actions.
- Acted for lead counsel for the owner of a construction project in successfully setting the lien fund in a significant multi-party builders’ lien application.
- Acted for numerous owners and contractors to reduce builders' liens and to negotiate security for such liens to be deposited with the Court.
- Acted as lead counsel on numerous trials at the Provincial Court of Alberta.
### Contract Strategy & Negotiation
- Regularly provides strategic advice, direction, and legal opinions to a variety of contractors and surety providers with respect to surety bonds issued on Canadian construction projects.
- Acted for multifamily home developer in relation to numerous balcony deficiencies and finding a novel approach for resolution.
- Acted for energy infrastructure company in a dispute between co-owners related to the operation of a fractionation facility near Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta.
- Acted for a western Canadian oil and gas producer in the drafting and negotiation of multiple contracts related to construction of an Alkaline Surfactant Polymer facility in southern Alberta.
- Acted as associate counsel on a team acting for a major mining company in the drafting of engineering, EPCM, construction and procurement contracts.
- Acted as associate counsel for a major international lender and a syndicate of other lenders with respect to a $252 million project financing for the development, construction, ownership, and operation of a 138.6MV wind power generation facility in Quebec.
## PUBLICATIONS, APPEARANCES AND TEACHING ROLES
- Speaker, How to Make a Bad Situation Better: Recovery Actions against Principals and Indemnitors, Canadian Surety Claims Conference, Toronto, Ontario, October 12, 2023
- Speaker, Prompt Payment and Adjudication: the Ontario Experience Foreshadowing What's in Store for Alberta?, Canadian Bar Association, Construction Law (South), May 15, 2023
- Speaker: Six Months into a New Era: Status Update on Alberta's Prompt Payment and Adjudication Legislation, The Canadian Institutes' 15th Annual Conference on Managing Risk in Construction Contractors and Projects, Edmonton, Alberta, January 26, 2023
- Speaker: Builders' Liens for Young Lawyers, Canadian Bar Association, Construction Law (South), September 21, 2020
- Co-Chair of the Advocates' Society Fall Forum Conference, The Litigator of the Future, in Collingwood, Ontario, October 19-20, 2018
- Co-author of "Alberta Builders' Lien Case Law Update", Canadian College of Construction Lawyers Legal Update, L.U. #142, May 20, 2017
- Co-author of "The Collision between Federal and Provincial Occupational Health and Safety Regimes on Energy and Resource Projects", (2013) 51:2 Alta L. Rev. 313, presented at the 2013 Canadian Energy Law Foundation Conference in Jasper, Alberta
- Teaching Assistant (2009) for Corporate Finance and Securities Law, University of Calgary
## COMMUNITY
- Current Chair of the Alberta Regional Advisory Committee of The Advocates' Society (2022 to present)
- Member of the Alberta Regional Advisory Committee of The Advocates' Society (2016 to present)
- Former two-term Board Member of the Calgary Construction Association as representative for Construction Law Section of the Canadian Bar Association (2015-2019)
- Former two-term Representative on the Young Advocates' Standing Committee of The Advocates' Society (2015 to 2019)