Keeping Tabs - Summer 2020

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Member that we should feature in
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email us with your suggestion.
Q. What is your
year of call?
A. 2014
Q. What is your favourite part about your practice?
A. Learning about and understanding each client’s business or industry,
and how it all works.
Q. What should lawyers elsewhere in the country know about practising in Vancouver?
A. I think we have a very tight-knit and collegial bar. I am often impressed by my peers’ dedication
and commitment, as junior lawyers, to building the legal community. It makes the practice a lot
more fun.
Q. What is the greatest extravagance in your
everyday life?
A. A toss-up between the spa and shoes.
Q. If you weren’t a lawyer what
else would you be?
A. I think I would have been a journalist.
INTERVIEW WITH SAMANTHA CHANG
Samantha Chang,
McEwan Partners
Q. What is the best advice you have
received about the practice of law?
A. Your reputation is the most important
thing you have.
Q. What is something you’ve learned about
yourself during the pandemic
A. It turns out that I am actually a pretty good
cook!
Compiled by Carlo DiCarlo, Stockwoods LLP
and Alexandra K.W. Shelley, Torys LLP
Q. How would your colleagues describe you?
A. Pragmatic, calm, and approachable.
Q. Who is your legal hero? Why?
A. In the abstract sense, I have always admired Justice Abella, as a pioneer for women in law, but
also for the importance of her work and thinking on equality rights, and of course her wit.
On a more personal level, Tracey Cohen, Q.C. is someone who has been a great mentor and
who I admire immensely. Tracey is not only one of the best litigators I have worked for, she has
developed her reputation and practice while also being involved in our local community, being a
dedicated parent, and still making time to mentor her juniors.
Q. Why did you become a litigator or advocate?
A. I very quickly fell in love with the process of commercial litigation: understanding your client’s
problem and objective, figuring out the best way to tell their story, and the adrenaline
rush of being on your feet. I have also been very fortunate to work with some of the best
litigators in not only the Vancouver market, but nationally.
Q. What is your favourite case that you have worked on? Why?
A. I spent the first five years of my practice working on the Microsoft antitrust class-action,
and that remains my favourite case. Learning about the history of Microsoft itself was incredibly
interesting, and the way in which the case was litigated was super creative. I had the
opportunity to work with and learn from some of the best litigators in Vancouver and some
of the best antitrust lawyers and economics experts in the US.
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