KSA executive board puts hold on legal cases
Board fires long-time lawyer David Borins; suit against Reduce All Fees party members ‘paused.’
By Matt DiMera
[news editor]
The Kwantlen Student Association (KSA) has fired their long-term legal counsel, moving their business to two different law firms.
Lawyer David Borins, a partner at Heenan Blaikie, had represented the KSA since as early as 2007, but was ordered to stop all work April 1.
The current KSA executive board moved the motion on their first day in office, directing Borins and his firm to “cease all activity pertaining to the RAF case until further notice.” The motion also instructed Borins “not to schedule a date for the case management conference until further notice.”
KSA director of operations Justine Franson alleged that there was a direct conflict of interest with Borins and former general manager Desmond Rodenbour, saying that the two went to the same high school and university together.
“With our pending legal matters pertaining to the termination of the previous general manager, it was not appropriate to keep [Heenan Blaikie] on,” said Franson.
The KSA is now represented by both Taylor Nakai Litigation and Harris and Company, according to Franson and Sandhu.
Sandhu said that after sitting down with some of the top law firms in Vancouver, Taylor Nakai seemed like the best choice for the KSA. “Taylor Nakai is known for their litigation,” she said. “Considering litigation is going to take a long time, they had the time and the energy to spend on the matter.”
Franson also expressed concerns about the amounts of money past boards had spent on legal fees, saying there seemed “to be a lot of frivolous spending.”
“Harris and Co. also made the same comment to us that as a student association we shouldn’t be spending so much money on legal,” she said.
“This executive board has not released any legal funds without every executive board member reviewing carefully the invoices,” she continued. “We’ve actually sent invoices back and asked for further detail.”
Franson explained that there were two cases on hold “until the executive board is fully aware of where we stand on all matters and has gone through all the documentation.”
