336 THE ADVOCATE
VOL. 78 PART 3 MAY 2020
In 2012, Miller Thomson LLP recruited Nicole to join their firm with a
view to growing the Vancouver office’s labour and employment practice.
Joining a national firm presented a variety of opportunities for Nicole, but
equally important was what Nicole knew to be the strong group of women
lawyers in the firm’s Vancouver office, including Karen Dickson, Wendy
Baker, Q.C. (now Justice Baker of the B.C. Supreme Court), Sandra Enticknap,
Q.C., Jane Shackell, Q.C., and Lynn Ramsay, Q.C., all leaders in their
respective areas of practice and within the firm itself.
Within this supportive environment, Nicole flourished. She built a group
of motivated and engaged partners and associates, providing mentorship,
sponsorship and friendship to all of them. She built a stable of loyal clients
who fundamentally trust her advice and representation. She has worked
and continues to work incredibly hard. Her energy is seemingly limitless:
she is usually in the office well after everyone else has gone home, often
returning late in the evening after she attends her regular yoga classes, and
on weekends. She never, though, makes her team feel that they should
work the hours she does; in fact, she actively encourages them not to and
acknowledges that she might benefit from working fewer hours (although
we all know that is not likely to happen). One cannot help but chuckle
when learning that Nicole was chair of the CBABC’s Work Life Balance Committee
from 2005 to 2007.
Nicole’s current practice spans virtually every aspect of workplace law,
with some governance and M&A thrown in for good measure. She
approaches work for her clients with the same care and attention to detail
that one might expect from an archaeologist uncovering a priceless historical
artifact with a tiny brush. She steps back to examine the matter from a
distance, devises a strategy to achieve the desired outcome and then
methodically and precisely (her juniors might use the word “painstakingly”)
carries out her plan of attack. She carries with her the insight she gained
from her many years as in-house counsel, and she is able to see the broader
context of clients’ problems (and their solutions) in a way that this author
feels, respectfully, few lawyers in private practice can.
In 2013, Nicole was appointed Queen’s Counsel. This recognition was
undoubtedly due at least in part to the incredible amount of work that
Nicole has done for her communities, in particular for women, both inside
and outside the practice of law. The list of her contributions is long: Metro
Vancouver Board of Trade – Women’s Leadership Circle (advisory committee
2012–2014; co-vice chair 2013–2014); CBABC’s Women Lawyers Forum
(executive 2009–2016; chair 2012–2014); Law Society of British Columbia’s
Justicia Committee (2013–2017); and Minerva BC, a registered charity that