Darren assists a wide variety of clients with respect to their advocacy needs, including large multinational corporations, medium and small sized corporations, businesses, and individuals. He has experience as lead and co-counsel in complex multi-party disputes.
Darren's interests and practice lie in all areas of corporate and commercial and real property litigation and dispute resolution, including mediations and arbitrations. Darren has appeared as counsel before all levels of Court in Alberta and the British Columbia Supreme Court; he has also appeared as counsel in regulatory hearings in Alberta before the former Energy and Utilities Board, the Alberta Utilities Commission and the Alberta Securities Commission, and in complex mediated and arbitrated commercial disputes. Darren has also prepared an Application for Leave to Appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada which included a motion to adduce further evidence in that Court.
Darren obtained his Bachelor of Arts (Advanced) from the University of Regina, majoring in Anthropology. As part of his undergraduate studies, Darren undertook a one semester exchange at York St. John College in York, England. After completing his undergraduate degree in 1996, Darren held a number of different employment positions in his quest to save money to travel in the U.K. and Europe, working, among other things, as a bingo caller, bartender, private investigator, process server and bailiff. Darren later returned to the United Kingdom to work as a trainee manager/duty manager for a pub company, obtaining his National Licensee's Certificate in 2000. He returned to Canada in late 2000 and began law school in 2001.
Darren obtained his Bachelor of Laws with Great Distinction from the University of Saskatchewan in 2004. Among the numerous scholarships and awards he received, he was awarded The Law Society of Saskatchewan gold medal for achieving top academic standing in his year. He was also elected valedictorian for his graduating class. While at the University of Saskatchewan, Darren was elected the second year faculty council representative and the Canadian Bar Association representative. He also volunteered with Campus Legal Services and Pro Bono Students Canada.
Darren articled with the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal in Regina, which included two one month secondments, one with a private Regina firm and the other with Regina City Legal Aid. He moved to Calgary in 2005 and began working as an Associate with a large national firm for whom he had worked as a summer student in 2003. Darren was called to the Saskatchewan and Alberta Bars in May and July 2005, respectively. Darren joined JSS Barristers in September, 2006 and was welcomed to the Partnership in January of 2012.
In July of 2005, Darren successfully completed the Osgoode Hall Intensive Trial Advocacy Workshop in Toronto.
Darren was a sessional lecturer at the University of Calgary Law School, teaching Law 505 - Civil Procedure, to second year students in the fall of 2012.
Darren was a finalist in the 2011 and 2012 Lexpert Competitions, "Rising Stars - Leading Lawyers Under 40", and as a result will be listed as one of the "Litigators to Watch" in the 2012 Lexpert® Guide to the Leading US/Canada Cross-border Litigation Lawyers in Canada (US Litigation Guide) published in November 2012.
Darren has been recommended in the 2nd edition of Benchmark Canada, the Guide to Canada's Leading Litigation Firms and Attorneys, as a general commercial litigation "Future Star" in Alberta.
Since 2007, Darren has been a regular volunteer facilitator and competency evaluator with the Legal Education Society of Alberta's "CPLED" Bar Admission Course.
Darren donates time to the University of Calgary, College of Law by volunteering annually for the McGillivray Moot and the first year property law moots as a judge.
In 2011 and 2012, Darren was a guest instructor for the University of Calgary Dispute Resolution III: Adjudication Course. He was a team leader in the 2013 session of that couse.
Darren has for the last four years, volunteered as a Judge in the Law Day High School Mock Trial competitions.
Darren is a member of the Canadian Bar Association and currently sits on the executive for the South Alberta Civil Litigation subsection of that Association.
In his spare time, Darren enjoys time with his family (and dog), biking, hiking, occasional downhill skiing, wilderness canoe tripping, SCUBA diving, classic cars (especially Mustangs), travel and cooking.
Darren has hiked to Mt. Everest base camp in Nepal on an unguided trip with friends, is working on a fiction novel, and is an unqualified, but avid, aficionado of beer.
Please contact Darren J. Reed at reedd [at] jssbarristers [dot] ca if you are interested in receiving a copy of any of the following:
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