Colm practices in the areas of commercial, natural resources, environmental and products liability litigation.  In the natural resources space, his experience has been principally in the areas of mining, oil and gas (offshore and onshore) and hydroelectric development.  His mining and hydro law experience includes transactional matters and knowledge of all facets of provincial mining legislation.  Colm has also advised on and tried cases involving aboriginal rights claims.

Colm has litigated at all levels of Court in the province, and in the Supreme Court of Canada. He has also appeared before a broad range of tribunals, including the Oil & Gas Committee constituted under the Atlantic Accord legislation, the provincial Mineral Rights Adjudication Board, the provincial Public Utilities Board, and private arbitration panels.

Selected representative engagements include:

Mining:

• Lead counsel for the plaintiff in the mining royalty case of Labrador Nickel Royalty Limited Partnership v Vale Canada Limited et al, the first “hybrid/electronic trial” conducted in the province, which settled in September, 2018 at the end of the first week of a scheduled four month trial – this case was noted by Benchmark Canada to be a National Impact Case for 2018.
• Lead counsel in a significant mining royalty arbitration conducted under the International Commercial Arbitration Act (2010).
• Lead counsel in the vend-in of the Voisey’s Bay net smelter returns royalty in connection with the 2010 Initial Public Offering of International Royalty Corporation (2010).
• Counsel in numerous proceedings before the provincial Mineral Rights Adjudication Board. (1987-2019).

Environmental:

• Counsel for defendants acquitted in  v CHI Hydroelectric Company Limited and Abitibi-Consolidated Company of Canada, a Fisheries Act pollution prosecution (2000).
• Counsel in  v Ocean Choice International, a case involving the quashing of informations under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 (2017).
• Counsel for the successful plaintiff in Eagleridge International Ltd. v Minister of Environment(2018) involving a successful challenge to the Minister’s environmental assessment decision in a mining case.

Oil & Gas:

• Lead counsel for the successful plaintiff in American Reserve Energy Corporation v McDorman, Sandhurst Roxana Exploration Limited and Sandhurst Roxana Agencies Limited(1999), a civil fraud trial involving the recovery of exploration permits issued under the provincial Petroleum and Natural Gas Act.
• Counsel for offshore operators in numerous proceedings before the Oil & Gas Committee constituted under the Atlantic Accord legislation (2014-2018).
• Counsel for a publicly-traded oil and gas exploration company in the defence of an action brought by environmental interest groups challenging the jurisdiction of the C‑NLOPB to effect a surrender and exchange of an exploration licence issued under the Atlantic Accord legislation (2019).

Aboriginal Title and Rights:

• Counsel for the intervenor Abitibi-Consolidated Company of Canada in Drew v Newfoundland and Labrador(2005), a case involving aboriginal rights claims on the island of Newfoundland.

Products Liability:

• Co-counsel for the successful plaintiff in Bow Valley Husky (Bermuda) Ltd. et al v St. John’s Shipbuilding Ltd. and Raychem Canada Ltd., an offshore products liability case decided by the Supreme Court of Canada (1999).
• Lead counsel for the successful defendant in a complex multi-million product liability claim (Sobeys et al v CRA Trailers) (2008).
• Lead counsel for the successful appellant Spielo International ULC in the seminal class action case on waiver of tort decided by the Supreme Court of Canada in 2020 (Atlantic Lottery Corp. Inc. v Babstock).

NAFTA:

• Lead NL counsel for Abitibi-Bowater Inc. in its 2009 NAFTA case against the Government of Canada, resolved by settlement in 2010.