Ryan Phillips

Ryan Phillips has been a Partner at JSS Barristers since 2020. He is an experienced advocate in commercial litigation and administrative law, including: 

• commercial and contract disputes

• appeals

• public law and judicial reviews

• construction

• professional negligence

• insurance

Ryan has acted in many high stakes commercial and public law disputes throughout his career. In 2023, Ryan was named the Emerging Talent Alberta Litigator of the Year by Benchmark Litigation Canada Awards.

Education

Ryan graduated from law school at the University of Saskatchewan, achieving a Dean’s List standing for academic excellence. In law school, he competed in the Gale Cup criminal-constitutional moot, and he studied abroad for a semester at Bond University on the Gold Coast of Australia. He was called to the British Columbia bar in 2012 before he moved to Calgary and joined JSS Barristers in 2014. Since 2021, Ryan has been a guest lecturer for the civil procedure law class at the University of Calgary.

Civil Litigation Career

Ryan has successfully represented clients in complex commercial arbitrations and a wide range of litigation at all levels of courts in Alberta, in the Federal Court of Canada, and in the superior courts of British Columbia and Saskatchewan. Ryan has successfully defended against many leave applications to the Supreme Court of Canada and was recently granted leave to appeal Auer v Auer, 2022 ABCA 375, which will be heard by the Supreme Court of Canada in 2024. He acts for a broad range of individuals, public and private companies, and administrative bodies, including for the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Alberta in judicial reviews.

Experience

Some of Ryan’s notable reported decisions include:

0678786 BC Ltd v Bennett Jones LLP, 2020 ABQB 115, 2021 ABCA 62 (leave to SCC denied), 2021 ABCA 197, 2022 ABQB 599

Fitter International Inc v British Columbia, 2021 ABCA 54 (leave to SCC denied)

Brown-Forman Corporation v Charton-Hobbs Inc., 2024 ABKB 261

Parker v Canada (Attorney General), 2021 FC 496, 2022 FC 1244

Just Freehold Energy Corp. v Doef's Greenhouses Ltd. et al, 2023 ABKB 137 

Calgary (Police Service) v Alberta (Information and Privacy Commissioner), 2019 ABQB 109 

Alberta Health Services v Information and Privacy Commissioner of Alberta, 2018 ABQB 467 

Carter v Alberta (Ministry of Justice and Solicitor General), 2019 ABQB 491

Mohamed v College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta, 2019 ABQB 657

Bechir v Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP, 2017 ABQB 214, 2017 ABQB 667 

Rudichuk v Genesis Land Development Corp., 2017 ABQB 119, 2019 ABQB 132, 2020 ABCA 42 

Goldring v Blue Cross Life Insurance Company of Canada, 2017 ABQB 618 

Awards and Recognitions

In 2023, Ryan was named Emerging Talent Alberta Litigator of the Year by Benchmark Litigation Canada Awards. In 2022, Ryan was recognized for his Corporate and Commercial Litigation Practice by Best Lawyers. Since 2020, he has been named Future Star, every year, by Benchmark Litigation, and named on Benchmark Litigation’s Top 40 & Under Hot List. 

Publications 

"Release the Goods: Court Finds Liquor Agent Acted in Bad Faith by Withholding Inventory From Supplier After Termination"

JSS Barristers.ca, September 26, 2024 
Co-Author (with David J. Marshall & Emily Amirkhani)

"Interpretation of the "Resulting Damage" Exception to Coverage Exclusions"
JSSBarristers.ca, August 9, 2022

"Protecting Privacy in the Era of AI"

National Magazine, Canadian Bar Association, March 16, 2021
Co-Author (with Matthew Scott)

"Contractual Interpretations and the 'Surrounding Circumstances' - Six Years After Sattva"
JSSBarristers.ca, June 9, 2020
Co-Author (with Kaila Eadie)

"Is My Business Covered for Insurance Losses Caused by COVID-19?"

JSSBarristers.ca, April 17, 2020
Co-Author (with Maureen McCartney-Cameron)

"Forum Shopping for Limitation Deadlines"

Statute of Limitations in International Commercial Claims, by David Franklin (Toronto, Ontario: Thomson Reuters, 2016), pp. 839-846
Co-Author (with Bryan Duguid QC, FCIArb)

"Third Party Claims in Construction Disputes"

CBA Construction Law Section, October 2019
Co-Author (with Geoff Boddy and Andrea MacLean)

Speaking Engagements

 Interviewee
"Alberta Health Services sues Calgary mayoral candidate for $1.3M over threats to health-care workers", Global News Calgary (https://globalnews.ca/video/rd/5f0d7008-cbee-11eb-bf7e-0242ac110007/?jwsource=cl), June 12, 2021.