Alison Burns, Vancouver

About Alison

Alison has a broad civil litigation and dispute resolution practice with a focus on domestic and international commercial arbitrations, construction and infrastructure disputes, lien claims and other complex commercial disputes. She has experience representing clients in a range of industries, including construction, infrastructure, energy and mining.

Alison has appeared as counsel before arbitral tribunals, the Supreme Court of British Columbia and the Supreme Court of Canada. She is an associate member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (CIArb) and a member of CIArb Canada's Young Members Group Committee. She also acts as a London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) YIAG Regional Representative for North America.

Alison joined Blakes as an articled student in 2020 and completed her articles in 2021. Prior to her articles she completed an exchange studying World Trade Organization and international trade law in Bern, Switzerland.

Select Experience

Recent representative experience includes acting as counsel to:

An owner in respect of a C$1-billion ICC arbitration claim regarding pipeline construction
A major mining company in an arbitration involving the construction of mining infrastructure
The receiver and trustee in relation to the alleged $200-million Ponzi scheme involving My Mortgage Auction Corp. and Greg Martel (My Mortgage Auction Corp. (Re), 2025 BCSC 1520)
Counsel to an owner in an arbitration regarding construction of a residential home
An intervener before the Supreme Court of Canada in Cindy Dickson v Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation, addressing Indigenous self-determination and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms
A salmon farm operator in a Federal Court judicial review which overturned the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans' decision to end aquaculture in a region of coastal British Columbia
A mining company in an arbitration regarding a pension wind-up