Thomas W. Wakeling Q.C., B.A., LL.B., LL.M., Partner
Tom is one of Canada’s senior constitutional and labour lawyers and is recognized as a leading appellate counsel. He has appeared on behalf of business and governments in major constitutional, labour and commercial cases decided by the Supreme Court of Canada and other Canadian appellate courts regarding Sunday shopping, rules governing national law firms, prisoner voting, the special education rights of Catholics, judicial compensation, election spending laws, human rights, environmental review and the scope of federal labor laws. Justice Antonin Scalia of the United States Supreme Court in his recent book, Making Your Case: The Art of Persuading Judges (2008) endorsed some of Tom’s opinions on effective advocacy. Tom was a Teaching Fellow at the University of Illinois and a law professor at the University of Saskatchewan in the 1970s. He holds the Chartered Arbitrator designation and has been hearing arbitrations for over thirty years. 

Tom is listed in many rating publications, including Martindale-Hubbell, The Best Lawyers in Canada and The Canadian Legal LEXPERT Directory.

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Representative Work
Lockerbie & Hole Industrial Inc. v. The Director of the Alberta Human Rights and Citizenship Commission, 2011 ABCA 3 (on behalf of the interveners Construction Owners Association of Alberta and Construction Labour Relations – An Alberta Association successfully resisted the allegation that Syncrude was the employer of thousands of workers employed on its site by contractors)
National Oilwell Varco, Inc. v. Wenzel Downhole Tools Ltd., 2010 ABCA 381 (unsuccessful procedural appeal)
Connelly v. Connelly-McKinley Ltd., 2010 ABQB 515 (successful application for a corporate oppression remedy)
Lockerbie & Hole Industrial Inc. v. Alberta Human Rights and Citizenship Commission , 2010 ABCA 184 (successful application on behalf of the Construction Owners Association of Alberta and Construction Labour Relations – An Alberta Association for intervener statues in an important drug and alcohol case)
National Oilwell Varco, Inc. v. Wenzel Downhole Tools Ltd., [2009] S.C.C. Bull. Proc. 346 (unsuccessful application for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada against a service ex juris order)
Publications
Arbitration Decisions
Tom holds the Chartered Arbitrator designation issued by the Arbitrators’ Institute of Canada and is a member of the neutral panel of The Canadian Foundation for Dispute Resolution. He has been deciding cases for over thirty years. Tom was the alternate chair and chair of Alberta’s Public Service Employee Relations board from 1984 to 1993. Tom’s decision contains a scholarly review of the law and a detailed exposition of his reasons. He has a reputation as a first-class writer.
L3 Communications Spar Aerospace Limited v. International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (November 12, 2010) (52 pages) - reported 201 L.A.C. 4th 85 (2010)
Laboucan v. Driftpile First Nation (May 7, 2010) (9 pages)
Jenkinson v. Landtran Logistics Inc. (November 5, 2009) (2 pages)
Teaching Roles
Tom has given guest lectures on constitutional law and appellate advocacy at the University of Alberta, University of Calgary and University of Saskatchewan
Prior Speaking Engagements
Appellate Advocacy, Faculty of Law, University of Alberta, February 3, 2011, Edmonton, Alberta
Appellate Advocacy, College of Law, University of Saskatoon, February 2, 2011, Edmonton, Alberta
Appellate Advocacy, Faculty of Law, University of Alberta, February 4, 2010, Edmonton, Alberta
Appellate Advocacy, Faculty of Law, University of Alberta, 1994 to 2010, Edmonton, Alberta
Constitutional Law, Faculty of Law, University of Calgary, April 11, 2002, Calgary, Alberta
Contact Information
Edmonton
+1 780 423 7342
thomas.wakeling@fmc-law.com
Year of Call
1982 (Alberta); 1980 (Saskatchewan)
Education
University of Illinois, LL.M., 1982
Queen’s University, LL.B., 1974
University of Saskatchewan, B.A., 1971
Languages Spoken
English