Kevin Westell

Kevin Westell is a founding principal at Pender Litigation. In addition to his criminal and regulatory defence work, he is often retained to act as Crown Counsel, counsel for witnesses in criminal proceedings and as amicus curiae (counsel for the Court). He has represented clients and the Crown in jurisdictions across Canada on matters at of all levels of seriousness.

Mr. Westell was elected a Law Society of British Columbia (LSBC) Bencher for Vancouver County on November 16, 2020 and began his first term on January 29, 2021. He sits on the LSBC Discipline Committee and serves both as the Vice-Chair of the LSBC Lawyer Development Task Force and as the LSBC’s representative on the Canadian Bar Association, BC Branch (CBABC) Provincial Council.

He has represented professionals subject to proceedings before the BC Securities Commission and Office of the Police Complaints Commission, the LSBC, the College of Physical Therapists of British Columbia, and patients subject to proceedings before the British Columbia Review Board, and amateur athletes and athletic organizations subject to proceedings before the Sports Dispute Resolution Centre of Canada.

In the past he has represented lawyers subject to professional disciplinary proceedings and lawyer organizations(Criminal Defence Advocacy Society and Canadian Bar Association) before the Cullen Commission of Inquiry into Money Laundering in British Columbia (the “Cullen Commission”).

Mr. Westell teaches trial advocacy skills and ethics to law students and junior lawyers at programs that include the Allan McEachern Course in Trial Advocacy, the Vancouver Bar Association’s Inns of Court Program, the CLEBC Winning Advocacy Skills Workshop, and the Osgoode Hall Intensive Trial Advocacy Workshop. He has also chaired and presented at many continuing legal education conferences, including the Canadian Bar Association (CBA) National Criminal Law Conference and various programs put on by the LSBC, the Advocate’s Society, and the Continuing Legal Education Society of BC.

He is a former (and now “Honourary”) Chair of the Canadian Bar Association (CBA) National Criminal Justice Section. In the past, he has chaired the Criminal Law Section of the Uniform Law Conference of Canada (ULCC), the TLABC Criminal Law Committee, the Advocate’s Club, and the CBA’s Vancouver Criminal Justice Subsection.

Outside of law he has served on the board of directors for both the Strathcona Community Centre Association (as Secretary) and the Crisis Intervention and Suicide Prevention Centre of BC.

​​Education

• University of Manitoba, Bachelor of Arts, 2004

• Robson Hall at the University of Manitoba, Bachelor of Laws, 2008

• Admitted to the British Columbia Bar, 2009

Positions

• Pender Litigation, Partner, July 2017 – Present

• Sutherland Jetté Barristers, Partner, June 2013 – July 2017

• Student and Associate Counsel, Glen Orris, Q.C.: May 2008 – May 2013

• Sessional Instructor, University of the Fraser Valley: Spring, 2018

Professional Training Programs Completed

• Professional Legal Training Program (PLTC), Law Society of B.C., Vancouver, July 2009

• 11th Annual CLEBC Winning Advocacy Skills Workshop, Vancouver, 2011

• National Institute for Trial Advocacy Teacher Training Course, San Francisco, October 2016

• Advocate’s Society 2017 Teacher Training Workshop, Toronto, September 2017