Birch is the Practice Group Leader of the Blakes Calgary Employment & Labour group. She practises in the areas of employment and privacy and cybersecurity law.
In her employment practice, Birch provides advice to clients in respect of all laws relating to workplace issues, including recruiting, hiring, discipline, terminations, employment and labour standards, human rights, disability and benefits, and alcohol and drug testing. In addition, Birch assists clients with drafting and reviewing employment and privacy-related documentation, ranging from employment and independent contractor agreements, severance packages and confidentiality agreements to non-competition and non-solicitation agreements, as well as workplace policies and handbooks. She is also well versed in litigation, tribunal and arbitrations matters, including wrongful dismissal, provincial and federal privacy commission, employment and labour standards and human rights commission matters.
In her privacy and cybersecurity practices, Birch advises private and public sector organizations with respect to: compliance, policies, training, complaints and investigations relating to the collection, use and disclosure of personal, health, sensitive, technological and other types of information, including the application of provincial and federal privacy and anti-spam legislation; developing and implementing strategies to minimize cyber threats and data breaches, including legal risk assessments, compliance, due diligence and data breach preparedness; and responding to data breaches and other cybersecurity incidents.
Birch has extensive transactional experience, regularly advising on the privacy, cybersecurity, labour and employment aspects of mergers and acquisitions.
Birch is a member of the Canadian Human Rights Reporter Advisory Legal Panel.
Prior to joining Blakes, she was a partner at another international law firm.
