Nancy Rubin

Partner

“If you want to run with the big dogs, you’ve got to learn to pee in the tall grass.”
- Mark MacDonald, 1997

Specialized expertise.

Media clients want access to information. Developers want shovels in the ground. Industrial companies want to manage electricity costs. There are legal problems and there are business problems – Nancy understands both. Due to the nature of her practice, accessibility, responsiveness and judgment are critical.  It’s better to call her before than to regret it later. 

Representative matters

Nancy’s diverse group of clients includes print and broadcast media, developers, insurers, electricity consumers and renewable energy generators. Nancy has:
  • Acted for the media in striking out unconstitutional sections of legislation that closed disciplinary proceedings, confirmed a qualified privilege in defamation law, resisted publication restrictions on a Ministerial audiotape and secured access to information and court documents.
  • Defended a District Health Authority against a $19 million claim for environmental illness.
  • Represented an international tobacco company in defense of actions by governments to recoup billions in health care costs.
  • Acted for clients before the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board in matters including electricity rates, efficiency programs, feed-in tariffs, expropriations, municipal annexation/amalgamation and development appeals.

Areas of practice

  • Insurance
  • Litigation
  • Energy and Natural Resources
  • Privacy
  • Energy – Electricity Regulatory
  • Environmental
  • Health
  • Litigation – Defamation and Media Related
  • Litigation – Public Law
  • Property Development (Real Estate; Property Land Use Planning/Municipal
  • Litigation – Corporate-Commercial
  • Litigation – Class Action
  • Class Action

BAR ADMISSION(S)

Nova Scotia, 1992

LAW SOCIETY(IES)

Nova Scotia Barristers' Society

EDUCATION

University of Ottawa, LL.B. (magna cum laude), 1991
Dalhousie University, B.Sc., 1987

ACTIVITIES

  • Member, Canadian Bar Association
  • Member, Supreme Court Liaison Subcommittee (Civil), Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society,  2002-present
  • Member, Media Liaison Committee, Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society, 2005-present
  • Standards Council, Advertising Standards Canada, 1999 to present
  • Secretary/Treasurer, Ad Idem/Canadian Media Lawyers Association
  • Past chair, Municipal Law Section, Nova Scotia Branch, Canadian Bar Association
  • Member, Canadian Defence Lawyers
  • Part-time faculty, Civil Trial Practice, Dalhousie Law School, 1998-2001
  • Guest lecturer, Media Law, School of Journalism, University of Kings College, 2003-present
  • Past member Marketing Committee, Students Committee, Strategic Planning Committee, Stewart McKelvey
  • Mentor, Schulich School of Law, 2009-2010

LANGUAGE(S)

English, French

LEXPERT RATINGS

Energy - Electricity Regulatory
Litigation - Corporate Commercial
Litigation - Defamation and Media Related

MARTINDALE-HUBBELL RATINGS

BV

EXTERNAL RATINGS

  • Best Lawyers: Corporate and Commercial Litigation, 2009-2012
  • Best Lawyers: Defamation and Media Law, 2006, 2008-2012
  • Best Lawyers: Energy Regulatory Law, 2008-2010, 2012

Publications

  • “Court Reporting – Keeping the Media in the Loop”, The Society Record, Vol. 23, No.5, October 2005

Presentations

  • Co-Presenter on access to court records, pub bans and privacy issues for journalists and media lawyers, CMLA/Ad Idem National Conference, 2012
  • Seminar, Privacy Issues for Educators, School Insurance Program, 2012
  • Co-presenter with Ernst & Young, Getting the Information Needed to Quantify Business Losses for Damages, NSBS, March 2011
  • Presenter, Cyber-Libel:  How to Take a 17th Century Tort into the 20th Century, NSBS, May 2008
  • Volunteer Chambers Judge, Discovery Practice, Nova Scotia Barristers' Society Bar Admission Course, 2005-present
  • Privacy Seminar, Insurance Brokers of Nova Scotia, November 2003
  • Zoning and Land Use in Nova Scotia, Jurisdictional Issues - What Council Can Regulate And What The NSUARB Is Permitted To Do On Appeal, Lorman Seminar, August 2003
  • Freedom of Information and Municipal Practice, Canadian Bar Association, Professional Development Conference, January 1999
  • Volunteer Member of The Speakers Bureau, Nova Scotia Public Legal Education.  Presented topics including nursing liability, officers’ and directors’ liability and issues relevant to the Epilepsy Association, 1992-1997
  • Prepared papers and presented at the annual Stewart McKelvey Insurance Day Seminar.  Topics included "How to Advance a Small Claim in Court," "Section B Expenses," "Occupier’s Liability," and “Fatal Injuries Actions”, 1992-present

Suite 900
Purdy's Wharf Tower One
1959 Upper Water Street
Halifax, NS, Canada
B3J 3N2

P 902.420.3337
F 902.420.1417
C 902.488.8727

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LEGAL ASSISTANT(S)

Leona Clements

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