Chilwin Cheng

Chilwin is a business litigator with extensive experience in complex commercial litigation and regulatory and white collar defence. He is a former Chief Counsel of the regulator of Canada's public equities markets and trading systems, a former prosecutor with the BC securities commission, and a former Crown Counsel.

Chilwin is a thought-leader in the profession, especially B.C.’s regulatory defence and white-collar field. He was the Chair of the Continuing Legal Education Society of British Columbia Regulatory Proceedings and Criminal Offences 2022 conference, a convening of leading practitioners in the province. He is a frequent conference chair, panel speaker, and guest lecturer at conferences, professional development panels, and training for law students and young lawyers.

Chilwin was awarded his B.A. (Honours) from Simon Fraser University in 1994 and earned his LL.B. at the University of Toronto in 1997. He was called to the Bar in 1998. He went on to complete his M.B.A. from Simon Fraser University in 2005.

The Honourable Thomas Cromwell cc

The Honourable Thomas Cromwell, c.c., received law degrees from Queen’s and Oxford, practised law in Kingston and Toronto and taught law at Dalhousie University. ​

After serving as Executive Legal Officer to the Chief Justice Canada from 1992 – 1995, Mr. Cromwell was appointed a judge of the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal in 1997, serving there until his appointment as a judge of the Supreme Court of Canada in 2008. He retired from the Supreme Court of Canada on September 1st, 2016. A member of the Bars of Nova Scotia, Ontario and British Columbia, he now serves as senior counsel with Borden Ladner Gervais LLP in Ottawa and Vancouver.

Mr. Cromwell was the first recipient of the Canadian Bar Association’s Louis St. Laurent Award of Excellence and is an honorary fellow of Exeter College, Oxford and of the American College of Trial Lawyers. A holder of four honorary doctorates in law, he has also had an award established in his name at the Queen’s Faculty of Law, The Honourable Thomas Cromwell Award for Public Service. He is the chair of the Action Committee on Access to Justice in Civil and Family Matters, a director of the International Centre for Criminal Law Reform and Criminal Justice and of Access Pro Bono British Columbia. ​

Mr. Cromwell was awarded the Canadian Institute for the Administration of Justice’s Justice Medal and, in 2017, was named a Companion of the Order of Canada for his “illustrious service as a Supreme Court justice, and for his leadership in improving access to justice for all Canadians.”

Distinguished Professor Emeritus Gerry Ferguson

Gerry Ferguson is an Emeritus Professor, having retired in 2022 as a University of Victoria Distinguished Professor of Law.  He is also a senior associate with the International Centre for Criminal Law Reform and Criminal Justice Policy in Vancouver.  Professor Ferguson is a member of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime Anti-Corruption Academic Development Initiative (ACAD) under whose auspices he has published his open access e-book, Global Corruption:  Law Theory and Practice (4th ed. 2022).  He is also the co-author, with Professor Michelle Lawrence and Justice Dambrot, of the annually updated two-volume book, Canadian Criminal Jury Instructions and he is the Canadian Overseas Reporter for the Australian Criminal Law Journal.  Professor Ferguson is the author of many articles and book chapters with special focus on the access and discriminatory aspects of various criminal justice topics including codification of the criminal law and he has taught criminal law as a Visiting Professor at the University of Hong Kong, the University of Auckland, Monash University, the University of Malaya and the University of Airlangga in Indonesia.

ACE Associates

Dr. Moira Aikenhead

Moira Aikenhead is an academic specializing in victim-centered legal responses to technology-facilitated gender violence. She holds a PhD and LLM from the Peter A Allard School of Law, and a JD from the University of Victoria Faculty of Law. Moira and has taught courses related to Canadian criminal and civil law at the law school and undergraduate levels. Moira is an active member of the Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund’s (LEAF) Technology-Facilitated Violence Advisory Committee, and has assisted with legislation and policy development as well as Supreme Court of Canada case interventions in this role.

Dr. Amanda Butler

Amanda Butler is an Assistant Professor at Simon Fraser University’s School of Criminology. She holds a PhD in Health Sciences from Simon Fraser University (SFU), an MA in Criminology from SFU, and BA (Hons.) in Criminal Justice and Public Policy from the University of Guelph. Her key research interests include improving outcomes for justice-involved people with mental and substance use disorders, complex comorbidity, continuity of care, and criminal justice diversion. She has published several academic articles, book chapters, and technical reports on issues at the intersections of health and justice, and was awarded the SFU Dean's Convocation Medal for her PhD work. She is a founding member of the Health and Justice Applied Research Collaborative (HJ-ARC).

Dr. Tamil Kendall

Tamil Kendall (she/her) has more than twenty-years experience working as a community-based and academic health researcher and policymaker focused on public health and human rights, particularly women’s sexual and reproductive health. She has worked with government, the United Nations, universities, and local and global non-profit organizations. She is the Director of the Partnership for Women’s Health Research Canada (www.pwhr.org), an alliance of Canada’s leading women’s health research institutions, and works internationally as a consultant. Tamil is an adjunct professor at the School of Population and Public Health and an associate member of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia.

Tamil hold’s a Master’s degree in Communication from Simon Fraser University and a doctoral degree in Interdisciplinary Studies (Anthropology and Health Sciences) from the University of British Columbia. She completed her post-doctoral research fellowship (2013-2015) with the Women and Health Initiative at the Harvard School of Public Health where she was also a Takemi Fellow in International Health.

Dr. Andrew Pilliar

Andrew Pilliar is an Associate Professor at the Thompson Rivers University Faculty of Law, located in Kamloops, BC, within unceded Secwépemc'ulucw. His research interests focus on access to justice issues, including advice-seeking behaviour, alternative institutions of remedy, research methodologies and systemic change, and self-representation. He teaches courses on access to justice, the business of practicing law, family law, civil procedure, and business associations. He holds degrees in law from the University of British Columbia (PhD and LLM) and the University of Toronto (JD). He has received research grants from SSHRC, the Law Foundation of British Columbia, and the Canadian Bar Association Law for the Future Fund.

ACE Research Fellows