Rose Keith, Q.C. is associate counsel with Harper Grey. Her multi-faceted practice focuses on workplace law assisting both employers and employees, in a full range of issues including wrongful and constructive dismissals, human rights matters, workplace investigations, and policy and procedure developments. Rose is a skilled mediator and her broad subject matter expertise is used to help resolve disputes through mediation in other areas including wills and estates, personal injury, and breach of contract. She is well known across the province for her legal acumen and sound judgment. On top of maintaining a busy practice, Rose makes time for the causes she is passionate about both inside and outside of the legal community. Among other things, she is the chair of the CBABC’s Women Lawyers Forum, former president of the TLABC, author of the Employment Update and Mediation Moment columns for The Verdict, editorial board member of CIVJI, and a prolific Workplace Law blogger. She is passionate about initiatives supporting women most recently becoming an advisor and blogger with Life in Law, a support forum for women in law by women in law.
Cheryl S. D’Sa, Chair, Law Society of BC Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Committee and Managing Partner, Narwal Litigation LLP
Cheryl was called to the bar in 2008, is a mediator and currently the managing partner of Narwal Litigation LLP, a downtown Vancouver firm devoted to matters where liberty and reputation are at stake, particularly Canadian & international criminal defence, professional regulation and securities litigation.
First elected a Bencher in the May 2020 by-election, Cheryl is currently Chair of the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Committee and a member of the Credentials Committee and Mental Health Task Force. She is also a Bencher representative on the Board of the Continuing Legal Education Society and is the Bencher appointment to Justicia.
She is a former president of the Vancouver Bar Association and the first visible minority female to hold that role. She has held seats on several Canadian Bar Association committees, including the Business of Law and Automobile Committees, and was chair of the Solo & Small Firm Section. She has been an active volunteer in the legal profession and community: as a mentor for Allard Law first-year students, Women Lawyers Forum members and through Federation of Asian Canadian Lawyers BC; and as a guest speaker for the CBA, BC Branch, the Trial Lawyers Association of British Columbia and the Advocates’ Society, among others.
Cheryl was named one of the Top Forty Under 40 by Business in Vancouver in 2019 and in 2021 was awarded an Excellence Award in the category of Female Trailblazer of the Year by Canadian Lawyer Magazine’s Canadian Law Awards.
Tamara Napoleon, Co-Lead and Principal, Indigenous Law Group, Miller Titerle
Tamara is a member of Saulteau First Nations and among a handful of Indigenous female solicitors in Canada. Her vision and initiative is focused in her identification of Indigenous law as an instrument of change for not only empowering Indigenous peoples but returning Indigenous women to their respected place of equality, respect, and prestige in their communities.
Tamara is a well-established advisor focusing on Indigenous economic development, corporate structuring, Indigenous governance, and natural resource stewardship. Tamara’s practice involves negotiations with resource companies and government-to-government negotiations with both levels of Crown, drafting and advising on a range of project agreements and reconciliation agreements. Throughout her work, it remains an important objective that the legal orders of the Indigenous clients she serves are fundamentally integrated and upheld.
Tamara shares her skills with the BC Cancer Foundation, the Victoria Foundation and her own Nation’s economic development corporation, Mistahiya Development Corp. She is also a former Vice President of Aboriginal Mothers’ Centre Society, director of Vancouver Native Health Society and Governor of The Justice Institute of BC.
Tamara is a 2020 Lexpert Rising Star, Leading Lawyers under 40, a recipient of UVic Distinguished Alumni Award in 2018 and a nominee for the YWCA Women of Distinction Awards in 2017.