Jessica is a commercial lawyer with a passion for and specialty in forestry and natural resource law and policy. Before rejoining private practice in 2022, Jessica spent several years as in-house counsel for two of North America’s biggest forest products companies. That experience gave her a unique window into the needs of her business clients and a deep understanding of how to deliver practical legal advice that places business objectives front and centre, clarifies legal risk, and provides workable solutions shaped to each client’s unique needs.
Work Highlights
- Represented Interfor Corporation in the disposition of its coastal British Columbia business assets, with sales to-date totaling over 700,000 cubic metres of forest tenure and related assets in multiple discrete transactions.
- Represented a US-based client in CAD$70,000,000 land acquisition for a sustainable forestry and climate-smart investment project in British Columbia.
- Represented a First Nations client in negotiating a multi-decade tenure management agreement with a major forest products company, securing long term fibre supply for the buyer and steady cash flow for the client.
Her work ranges from business and asset acquisitions to corporate reorganizations to papering tenure management, fibre supply, and other business arrangements. She is often the first call for her clients when problems arise and thrives on challenges. Jessica loves to analyze an issue, identify a resolution, and bring everything together to solve problems for her clients.
Services
| Forestry law, including tenure management, attribution, log and residuals sales and purchases, replaceable and non-replaceable harvesting and road building, stumpage and pay-as-cut purchases and sales | Real property law (land leases, access agreements, rights of way, road and facility use agreements) |
| Resource development (forestry, aquaculture, energy) | Forest tenure sales and purchases |
| Impact Benefit Agreements and joint project agreements from both the resource developer and the Indigenous side | Environmental and regulatory law |
| General business (contract review and negotiation in all areas including leasing, purchasing, sales, NDAs, independent contractor and consulting agreements) |
Jessica is licensed to practice law in Washington state, British Columbia, and Saskatchewan allowing her to provide legal services to a diverse range of clients. Notably, one of the first major legal cases of Jessica’s career was on US soil (and ocean). She was part of a team that represented the State of Louisiana in the Natural Resource Damages case against BP following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010.
Outside the office, Jessica enjoys getting out and appreciating the land and nature with her two young children. She’s an avid hiker and trail runner, who has recently been dabbling in ultramarathons and met her husband hiking the 4,265 km-long Pacific Crest Trail.
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