Rita C. Andreone, QC

Rita advises public, public sector (Crown) and private corporations, large and small. Her varied practice requires her to keep current on many areas of law and various industries and focuses on:

• Negotiating and structuring private equity (Fund and Direct) Investments (Domestic/International),
• Advising tax-exempt entities,
• Pension plan investment,
• Debt/equity financings,
• Mergers and acquisitions,
• Corporate governance/risk management,
• Director/officer/trustee orientations, codes of conduct,
• Hospitality/hotel management franchise and lease arrangements,
• Significant real estate asset management and property management arrangements,
• Government relations, and
• Natural resources (options, joint ventures, and project development).

Rita is a founding member of Lawson Lundell’s Northwest Territories office. She has substantial experience as both a director and corporate secretary of corporations and societies.

Recognition and Ranking

• Appointed Queens Counsel in 2011
• 2011 Lexpert Zenith Award: recognized for Corporate and Law Firm Social Responsibility for her outstanding work and long-standing dedication in the area of Corporate Governance

Professional Activities

• Law Society of BC, Fourth-term Bencher (to 2014)
• 2012, Member, Governance Task Force
• 2012, Member, Ethics Committee
• 2010-2012, Chair, Audit Committee
• 2010-2012, Member, Finance Committee
• 2010-2012, Insurance Liason (Bencher)
• 2008-2011 Past Member, Acts and Rules Subcommittee, Law Society of BC
• 2009-2011 Past Chair, Practice Standards Committee, Law Society of BC
• Past Chair, 2008, Discipline Committee; Vice-Chair, 2007; Member 2003-2006; Conduct Review Panelist and Credential Hearings Panelist, Law Society of BC; Chambers Bencher
• 2006-2011 BC Member – Federal Judicial Advisory Committee – responsible for the recommendation for appointment of judges to the Federal and Superior Courts of BC
• 2006-2009 Independence and Self Governance Committee/Advisory Committee
• Regulatory Policy Committee, Vice-Chair, 2007 2007-2011 Women Lawyers Forum, Mentor
• Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation, Past, Regional Chair (4 years)
• Canadian Bar Association, Member

Community Activities

• Italian Chamber of Commerce (BC & Alberta), Member, Past Director
• Associazione Giuliani-Dalmati di Vancouver

Bar Admissions

• British Columbia (1989)
• Northwest Territories (1994 - 2012, Retired)
• Nunavut (1999 - 2012, Retired)

Education

• University of British Columbia (B.A., 1985)
• University of Victoria (J.D., 1988)

Languages

• Italian

This is not published at the request of clients. 

Rita regularly presents on such topics as: corporate governance, legal ethics, director obligations and liability issues, Sarbanes-Oxley-type impacts on private issuers, pension plan investment in real estate.

Past lectures include: mine reclamation, mine reclamation security, environmental risks, issues for travel retailers, surface and subsurface land and mining regimes in British Columbia, Northwest Territories and Nunavut, and constitutional framework of the North.