Mark G. Underhill, KC* Partner

Telephone: 604.283.2912
E-mail:  munderhill@arvayfinlay.ca Pronouns: he/him/his Administrative Support/Paralegal: Nicoleta Badea (604.283.9374)

Mark G. Underhill is a 1995 graduate of the Faculty of Law, University of Victoria, and was called to the Bar of the Law Society of British Columbia in 1996. He practised with Arvay Finlay for ten years before establishing his own firm in 2005. In 2017, Mark reconstituted Arvay Finlay with Joseph J. Arvay O.C., O.B.C.,Q.C., and other former members of the firm.

Mark maintains a broad general civil litigation practice, with particular expertise in Aboriginal, administrative, constitutional and environmental law. He has appeared at all levels of Court, including the Supreme Court of Canada, where he most recently acted for Rick Desautel in the landmark decision in R. v. Desautel, which established a constitutionally protected right to hunt in British Columbia for the Sinixt people, declared “extinct” by the Canadian government in 1956.

Mark has acted for a number of administrative tribunals and independent officers of the Legislature, including the Environmental Appeal Board, Farm Industry Review Board, Hospital Appeal Board, BC Review Board, the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner and the Ombudsperson. He has also acted as an Inquiry Officer in inquiries under the Expropriation Act.  

Mark is a regular speaker at legal educational conferences in a variety of areas, and has published widely, including articles in peer-reviewed academic journals. He is recognized as leading counsel in a number of publications, including Best Lawyers in Canada,  L’Expert, and Chambers Canada, and in 2023 was honoured with the designation of King’s Counsel.

Among other community activities, Mark was President and Chair of the Board of Directors of West Coast Environmental Law, is the founding Vice-President of the Pacific Centre for Environmental Law and Litigation, and is a long time volunteer coach with the North Shore Baseball Association and the North Vancouver Football Club.

*A professional law corporation