Max Collett

Partner
Norton Rose Fulbright Canada LLP

Vancouver
Canada
T:+1 604 641 4912
Vancouver
Canada
T:+1 604 641 4912
Max Collett

Max Collett

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Biography

Max Collett is a leading real property, planning and environmental lawyer with a keen interest in the development of sustainable cities.  Mr. Collett provides timely and practical advice to public and private sector clients on a diverse range of projects, including the remediation and re-development of industrial brownfield sites, development of healthcare-related facilities, complex mixed-use strata developments and commercial joint ventures on First Nations lands. He regularly assists on property, environmental and indigenous consultation-related matters for public infrastructure and institutional projects, including those undertaken pursuant to public-private partnerships. Mr. Collett advises commercial and industrial clients on all aspects of regulatory compliance with environmental laws. He is contributing editor to numerous property and environmental law publications.

Mr. Collett is an active member of the legal community, and currently is a Governor on the Board of Governors of the Law Foundation of British Columbia. He has held numerous senior management positions at the firm, including past executive, and vice-chair of the business law group. He is the chair of the environmental law national practice group and the Vancouver real estate practice group. 

Professional experience

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LL.B., Dalhousie University, 1996
Judicial Law Clerk, British Columbia Supreme Court 1996-1997
B.A., University of British Columbia, 1992
  • British Columbia 1998

Mr. Collett's experience includes:

  • Counsel (real property and environmental law) on legal team advising the province of British Columbia on the Broadway Subway Project, Vancouver, BC, and on the Surrey-Langley SkyTrain Extension Project
  • Counsel to multiple regional districts, port authorities, health authorities and municipalities in British Columbia on the procurement, finance, design and construction of infrastructure development, transport and marine shipping terminals, community care and other health care facilities and master planned, mixed use communities
  • Counsel to Providence Health Care Society on the procurement of a development partner for the design and construction of a multi-building Clinical Support and Research Centre, part of phase one of construction at the new St Paul's Hospital, located in Vancouver, British Columbia, a 600,000 square feet medical and research complex with a multi-party ownership structure
  • Counsel on environmental, social and governance (ESG) matters, including indigenous relations to Royal Bank of Canada as the joint lead arranger in the C$6.6b financing of TC Energy's Coastal GasLink Pipeline project, whose route is between Dawson Creek, BC, and LNG Canada's LNG plant in Kitimat, BC
  • Counsel to numerous shipyard, tug boat and marine terminal operators in respect of leases with the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority and Transport Canada, environmental permitting associated with expansion of operations, spill response planning and regulatory compliance
  • Counsel on multiple joint ventures with Indigenous groups, including Townline Ventures and Musqueam for phase 2 of leləm̓, which means "home" in Musqueam's Halkomelem language, a 21.4 acre master-planned community in the University Endowment Lands adjacent to the University of British Columbia on land returned to the Musqueam First Nation by the provincial government as part of a reconciliation package.  leləm̓ will house 2,500 residents within four 18-storey high-rises, several rows of townhouses and mid-rise apartment buildings, and will include rental housing, a community centre, day care, neighbourhood retail, a park and wetland area
  • Counsel to the Porte group of companies in connection with establishing and advising real estate investment limited partnerships and managing the acquisition and development of commercial real estate portfolios, as well as counsel on numerous residential developments, including the "Origin" and "Lift" on long-term leased lands at Simon Fraser University's innovative UniverCity master planned community, Burnaby, BC
  • Counsel to Tsawwassen Development Power Centre Limited Partnership in connection with a 99-year land lease from Tsawwassen Nation on treaty lands, the joint venture greenfield development of municipal and infrastructure services, and the construction, finance and lease of Tsawwassen Commons, a landmark 550,000-sq.-ft. retail development in Tsawwassen, BC, together with the related leasing program
  • Counsel to BC Pavilion Corporation in the development of the Vancouver Convention Centre West, together with an integrated development by way of ground leases for a seaplane terminal, commercial retail podiums, and construction of a marina
  • Counsel to Canada Lands Company CLC Limited in the phased development of Glenlyon Business Parkand the phased re-development of Canadian Forces Base Chilliwack into the mixed-use 153-acre Garrison Crossing development and the 43-acre River's Edge residential community, Chilliwack, BC
  • Best Lawyers in Canada: Real Estate Law, 2013-2023; Environmental Law, 2014-2023; Commercial Leasing Law, 2015-2023; Indigenous and First Nations Practice, 2016-2023 
  • Chambers Canada, British Columbia: Real Estate, Chambers and Partners, 2023
  • Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory, 2018-2023: recommended in Environmental Law; 2018-2019: Infrastructure Law (Leading Lawyer); 2022: recommended in Property Development; 2023: recommended in Aboriginal Law; 2023: recommended in Property Leasing
  • Best Lawyers in Canada: Commercial Leasing Law "Lawyer of the Year," 2022
  • Legal 500 Canada, 2014-2015: Recommended lawyer in the area of Environment
  • "Project Development Partnerships with Indigenous Groups," Lexpert Insights, November 2022.
  • "British Columbia intends to improve waste soil relocation regulations," Hazmat Magazine, March 24, 2019.
  • Contributing editor, CLE BC, Commercial Leasing Annotated Precedents, since 2016.
  • Contributing editor, CLE BC, environmental law chapter, Advising BC Businesses, since 2015.
  • Environmental law chapter for Canada (co-author) in Practical Law Company Cross-Border Environment Handbook, 2012.
  • "Buying and Selling Contaminated Lands," Pacific Business & Law Institute, Vancouver, BC, October 2019 and November 2020.
  • "Drafting the Deal: Words Matter," CLE BC Contaminated Land Clean Up Costs, Vancouver, BC, February 2018.
  • "Amendments to BC Contaminated Sites Regime," Canadian Environmental Conference & Tradeshow (CANECT), Mississauga, ON, May 1, 2017.
  • "Real Estate and Environmental Law Issues in an M&A Transaction," M&A Deal Series, Vancouver, BC, February 14, 2017.
  • "Landlord and Tenant Collaboration in Sustainable Buildings" (moderator), Vancouver Real Estate Strategy & Leasing Conference, Vancouver, BC, 2016.
  • "Partnering with First Nations," Urban Development Institute, Vancouver, BC, 2015.
  • Law Foundation of British Columbia - Governor on the Board of Governors
  • Continuing Legal Education, British Columbia – Editorial Board Member, Advising British Columbia Businesses
  • Canadian Bar Association – National Environmental, Energy & Resources Law, Real Property & Environmental Subsections, BC Branch, past chair of Environmental Law Subsection, BC Branch
  • Governance Committee, Cassie & Friends:  A Society for Children with Juvenile Arthritis and other Rheumatic Diseases
  • Canadian Environmental Law Forum
  • BC Business Council – Environmental Policy Advisory Group
  • BC Environment Managers Association of British Columbia

 

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