S. MICHELLE BLENDELL joined Black Gropper in March, 2002. She provides strategic legal advice and representation to public and private sector unions with respect to:
- BC Labour Relations Code matters;
- collective agreement interpretation issues and grievances;
- human rights complaints;
- privacy law matters; and
- workers' compensation issues.
Michelle also provides legal advice and representation to unions in respect of
the negotiation of collective agreements, the drafting of union constitutional
documents, and the maintenance of corporate and society records. In addition,
she represents teachers in professional governance matters before the BC
College of Teachers.
The focus of Michelle's practice is on legal research and written advocacy.
She has prepared legal opinions on a wide range of labour relations topics,
and her legal arguments have been relied upon in cases before labour
arbitrators, the BC Labour Relations Board, various other administrative
tribunals, the BC Supreme Court, and the BC Court of Appeal.
Michelle obtained a Bachelor of Commerce degree from McGill University with a
focus on labour - management relations. She completed her law degree at the
University of British Columbia. Prior to joining Black Gropper, she articled
and practiced at another union side labour law firm in Vancouver, BC.
Michelle is a member of the Canadian Bar Association (the "CBA"), the CBA's
Administrative Law, Human Rights, and Labour Law sub-sections, and the
Canadian Association of Labour Lawyers. She has co-authored conference papers
on the duty to accommodate and privacy issues.