Mark Weintraub K.C.

Business-Minded

We are a multifaceted firm with a strong track record of being highly integrated into our clients’ businesses. Known for our industry insight, entrepreneurial culture and strategic networks, we actively seek to connect our clients with the people, resources and solutions they need to succeed.

We are proud of our long history serving clients in core sectors of the business community, including in the constantly evolving technology industry, the rapidly expanding real estate sector as well as in energy and natural resources, consumer goods and services, infrastructure and construction, finance and venture capital and economic development on First Nations lands.

Tangible evidence of the work achieved by our clients and the legal support we provide is all around us—Vancouver’s skyline, transit line and airport as well as many of the companies and brands that we encounter every day. We are proud to be involved with the developments, industries and infrastructure that define our city, our province and our market.

As active and engaged members of the corporate community—our lawyers are members of business and community boards, directors of industry associations and sought-after speakers on trending topics—we are recognized as leaders in the market with strong relationships to business.

Vancouver-Based, Globally Connected

Our lawyers help Canadian companies grow their business internationally, protecting their domestic interests and ensuring that, when it is needed, they are connected with the best resources in other jurisdictions. Similarly, we regularly are called on by international companies and their foreign legal representation to assist them in successfully expanding their businesses into British Columbia and Canada. Our strong profile has earned us consistent recognition as one of Western Canada’s leading law firms.

Service-Oriented

Our clients count on us to achieve results and provide value quickly and efficiently. We have created in-house technologies and innovations that streamline processes, facilitate collaboration and communication, and support our clients in managing their business and legal projects. At times, delivering value lends itself to different forms of alternative fee arrangements and other innovative options. We welcome the opportunity to speak with clients about their needs and how we can best work together to support them in achieving their goals.

Show more +

As Clark Wilson LLP’s most senior estate and trust litigator, Mark Weintraub, Q.C., gives strategic direction to some of the most complex estate files, representing both individual and institutional clients, including personal Executors and Trustees, trust companies, non-profit organizations, charities and committees.Mark excels at moving files through the “litigation pipeline” with perseverance based on an extensive knowledge of the law and hard-fought experience.

Services

•          Wills variation claims
•          Passing of Executor and Trustee accounts
•          Undue influence and incapacity claims
•          Committeeship applications
•          Unjust enrichment claims
•          Construction of wills applications
•          Breach of fiduciary cases
•          Abuse of Powers of Attorney claims
•          Breach of trust claims

Mark’s career has been highlighted by his long standing contributions to continuing legal education to ensure the highest standards for both new and experienced practitioners, including:

• Contributing to the Bar Admission Practice Materials on mental incompetency
• Since 2007, writing and coordinating the authorship in various chapters of the Continuing Legal Education Society’s (CLE) BC Probate and Estate Administration Practice Manual and undertaking a similar role for the CLE Estate Planning Manual for the previous 13 years. Both of these publications are acknowledged as authoritative resources for estate matters in the Province
• Contributing author to the British Columbia Law Society Wills and Estates Practice Checklist Manual (2016) and LexisNexis Online Practice Advisor – Estate Litigation – British Columbia Modules (2016; 2017; 2018; 2019)
• Presenting at numerous forums related to estates trusts and elder law for various professional groups including CLE, Pacific Business and Law Institute, Canadian Association of Gift Planners, Canadian Bar Association and Trial Lawyers Association of British Columbia
• Designated author for LexisNexis Text on Estate Litigation in British Columbia (expected publication date 2019)

Recognizing the importance of bringing in allied professionals, Mark works to break down professional compartmentalization. Examples include:

• Building our now high-profile Estates & Trusts group, which functions as a large integrated team of litigation, solicitor and mediation practitioners
• Providing commentary on an important cognitive capacity decision re-published by Risk Management Canadian Health Care permitting a legal analysis to reach a large Canadian audience of health practitioners
• Leading symposia designed to bring together medical and legal professionals to better deal with cognitive incapacity issues

His interest in cross-disciplinary work and seeking collaborative solutions for our clients goes back several decades when he sought early training in mediation.

Mark is also called upon to assume positions of leadership in the general and Jewish community. Examples include:

• Becoming both a provincial and national spokesperson on behalf of the Jewish community to media, government, business, religious and ethnic communities on issues of social justice. His articles and interviews number in the hundreds on issues dealing with civil discourse and human rights
• Serving on the Board of Directors of Canadian Jewish Congress, the Vancouver Talmund Torah School and the Vancouver Jewish Federation, the first Law Society Multiculturalism Committee and co-chairing the BC Cancer Society’s Planned Giving Committee
• Serving on the Parks Board Foreshore Use Committee for the fair allocation of park resources
• Through media interviews, public forums, and sustained political advocacy, providing the leading and consistent voice of the community on such issues as race-based attacks on persons and property; advocating for anti-terrorist measures while maintaining civil liberties; seeking media exposure and police response for the desecration of churches, mosques, synagogues and other places of worship and exposing discrimination against persons because of their sexual orientation, religion or ethnicity.
• In a major advocacy initiative drawing international attention, providing pivotal leadership in bringing sustained awareness to the genocide unfolding in the Darfur Region of Sudan
• Keynoting the Justice Institute’s 2005 Hate Crime Symposium
• Coordinating CJC Human Rights Tribunal complaints and proposals to the CRTC for combating hate on the Internet
• Acting as a representative to the Vancouver Forum to protect Chinese minorities in Indonesia
• Advocating for Indigenous rights, including coordinating responses to the BC Land Claims Referendum and the Nisga’a Treaty
• Moderating many federal, provincial and municipal election forums
• By reason of his presentations on the Holocaust, and other anti-genocidal advocacy and educational initiatives, he was invited as the keynote speaker at the 1999 Tokyo Conference on Japanese War Crimes committed against the Chinese population. His presentations in Tokyo were included in the published work Japanese War Crimes: The Search for Justice (2003)

His estate litigation practice has encompassed litigants residing in the UK, Australia, Hong Kong and in various Canadian and US jurisdictions. His first reported estate decision was as co-counsel in the 1991 Brammall decision long considered a high-watermark in wills variation claims.

In recognition of his expertise and contributions, Mark was appointed Queen’s Counsel. It is Mark’s privilege to promote the goodwill of many charitable organizations and foundations through both his professional and community work.

Awards & Distinctions

• Queen’s Counsel, 2015
• Lexpert, Accredited Estate Litigator
• Distinguished category in Martindale-Hubbell’s peer-rated compendium
• A CLE BC Continuing Legal Education Societies prolific contributor - 30 plus contributions 1996-2016

 

Show more +