Directors

Madam Justice Mary Ellen Boyd
Madam Justice Mary Ellen Boyd, a former lawyer with Bull, Housser and Tupper was appointed to the County Court of Vancouver in 1985, and since the Superior Courts’ merger in 1990, has been a member of the Supreme Court of British Columbia.  Born in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, on December 15, 1950, Justice Boyd obtained her LL.B. from the University of British Columbia in 1974 and was called to the Bar in 1975.  She has been very active in the legal community, serving as Director of the Vancouver Bar Association from 1980 to 1981, as a Committee member of the Professional Services Committee of the Canadian Bar Association from 1981 to 1982, as Vice-Chairman of the Civil Litigation Section of the Canadian Bar Association and as a regular contributor to seminars organized by the Continuing Legal Education Society of B.C.

Sherman Chan
Mr. Chan is Director of Settlement Services, MOSAIC.  He has a Master's Degree in Applied Social Studies and is a registered social worker and clinical counsellor with over 26 years of social service experience in Canada, Hong Kong, the United Kingdom and the United States.  Among his many volunteer roles, Mr. Chan is Treasurer of the Canadian Immigrant Settlement Sector Alliance; a co-chair of the Canadian Council for Refugees on Immigration and Settlement Working Group; and he is also a past Board member of the Affiliation of Multicultural Societies and Service Agencies of BC (AMSSA).

Angus M. Gunn, Jr.
Mr. Gunn is a partner at the Vancouver office of Borden Ladner Gervais LLP.  He was admitted to the British Columbia Bar in 1995, after a judicial clerkship with the Court of Appeal for British Columbia.  He was also admitted as a Solicitor, Supreme Court of England and Wales, in 1998.  Mr. Gunn pursued professional training at both the University of Cambridge (Master of Law, 1998) and the University of Toronto (Bachelor of Laws, 1993).  He previously obtained a Bachelor of Arts in History from the University of British Columbia in 1990.  Mr. Gunn has also taught as an adjunct professor at the Faculty of Law, University of British Columbia, since 1999.

William Jackson, Treasurer
Mr. Jackson is Administrative Crown Counsel for Dawson Creek.  He is a Bencher of the Law Society and also serves on the Criminal Justice Branch's Policy Revision subcommittee.  Mr. Jackson is a founding member of the Peace Energy Co-op which has the license to develop a wind-power generating facility near Dawson Creek; an instructor in Criminology and History at the Northern Lights Community College; a member of the Dawson Creek Violence Against Women in Relationships committee; a member of the Dawson Creek Elder Abuse Committee; and a past director of the BC Crown Counsel Association. 

Tish Lakes
Patricia “Tish” Lakes is the Executive Director of the Okanagan Advocacy and Resources Society in Kelowna.  She has extensive lay advocacy and non-profit administration experience and has worked in poverty law advocacy for over twenty years, both managing and providing direct services.  Tish has assisted in setting up lay advocacy services in three BC communities and has joined in several provincial systemic advocacy efforts to improve administrative justice processes.

Warren Milman, President and Chair
Mr. Milman is a partner with McCarthy Tétrault practising in the Litigation Group and the Class Action Litigation Group.  His practice is primarily focused in the areas of civil and criminal litigation.  He is a member of his firm’s Pro Bono Committee, and is currently on the board of King David High School in Vancouver.

Cyndi Stevens
Cyndi Stevens is Executive Director of the Port Alberni Friendship Centre.  She has been with the Centre since 1986, and prior to becoming Executive Director 11 years ago, worked in the areas of community health, legal advocacy, youth and accounting at the Centre.  Ms. Stevens has served on several boards and committees on a community, provincial and national level, and is currently on the Board of the National Association of Friendship Centres, the Board of the BC Association of Friendship Centres, the Board of the M’Akola Housing Society, is the Vice-Chair of the Port Alberni Non-Profit Housing Association, and serves on the Family Court Committee.  She is of Nuu-chah-nulth ancestry from the Ahousaht First Nation and was adopted to the Hesquiat First Nation.  She has life experiences with the Foster care system – personally as a foster child, as well as being a foster parent for over 25 years.

Kay Vinall, Vice-President
Ms. Vinall practices in the areas of wills and estates and family law, in association with another sole practitioner. She has a lengthy history of volunteer work with not-for-profit groups providing assistance to persons with mental illness and their family members, and a keen interest in the provision of pro bono services.

Officers

Caroline Nevin

Caroline Nevin is the Executive Director of the Canadian Bar Association BC Branch, one of the founding partners of Pro Bono Law of BC.  Ms. Nevin has more than 22 years of experience in communications, business and association management in British Columbia and Alberta, and has served on a variety of non-proft boards in both provinces. 

Charlotte Ensminger, Secretary
Ms. Ensminger is Staff Lawyer with the Law Society’s Policy and Legal Services Department.  She undertakes legal and policy analysis and policy development for the Law Society’s Board of Governors (Benchers), and its committees, task forces and departments.  Ms. Ensminger has played a key role in special projects such as The Unbundling Legal Services Task Force and the Joint Initiative on Pro Bono.  She served as Pro Bono Law of BC’s first Executive Director and is a past member of the CBA (National) Pro Bono Committee.  Ms. Ensminger has volunteered with a number of community agencies and boards including Battered Women’s Support Services’ Pro Bono Pilot Project; the Women’s Addiction Foundation; the Aurora Society; Aurora Advisory Council to the Women’s Health Centre, BC Women’s Hospital; and the Vancouver Food Bank.