Lawyer, Mediator, and Family Arbitrator

Nancy Merrill, Q.C.

Nancy is a veteran legal counsel with over 30 years’ experience as an accomplished barrister, an effective advocate and a successful mediator in the areas of family law, civil litigation, wills and estates. She is the former president of the Law Society of British Columbia. She was the first woman elected as a Bencher in the Nanaimo County. She was appointed as Queen’s Counsel for her outstanding contribution to the community and practice of law. Nancy has served as a full-term governor of the Law Foundation of British Columbia. She is a graduate of the University of Waterloo, the University of Windsor Law school, where she was awarded the Access to Justice designation, and she is a graduate of Osgoode Hall earning her Master’s at Law degree there. She continues to be a legal scholar, having been a teacher and a lecturer at Royal Roads University, and a sessional Family Law course instructor at the University of Victoria Law School. She is an active and valued member of a number of executive boards and organizations within the Vancouver Island community as well as her contribution to the legal profession in British Columbia. She continues to develop an advanced legal practice in selected subject areas. Her current emphasis is mediation and arbitration in all civil matters. She is a formally certified family mediator and arbitrator. She has an accomplished career as a mediator and arbitrator who continues to be popular with practicing legal counsel and participants alike. She is known for her skill, her empathy and her ability to bring about effective settlement and agreement in the most challenging of circumstances.

Nancy is a certified family law mediator and arbitrator by the Law Society of British Columbia. Originally from Ontario, Nancy holds degrees from the University of Waterloo, the University of Windsor and obtained her Master of Laws at York University’s Osgoode Hall. She was called to the Bar in Ontario where she earned membership in the Law Society of Upper Canada. Her practice includes a strong family law focus in addition to matters dealing with estates and planning. She is an active member of a number of community organizations and Boards of Directors.

As a federal prosecutor in Windsor, Ontario, she dealt with matters pertaining to customs and immigration which coincided with her previous career as the first female Canada Customs Intelligence Officer in Canada.

Nancy is an active sports enthusiast, a lifetime member of the British Columbia SPCA, an amateur archaeology buff and an accomplished international traveller.