About

Karin has over 40 years of experience in a wide range of legal fields and settings. She has been a litigator (commercial, construction, labour and employment), a labour negotiator, a public company general counsel, a board member and advisor, and a governance consultant.

She has extensive experience in handling contractual and other commercial disputes and corporate transactions, as both counsel and client. Karin has particular expertise in handling workplace disputes, having been involved as counsel and client in arbitrations, litigation, negotiations and strikes in a range of industries including retail, manufacturing and processing, aviation and telecommunications.

Karin was in private law practice at Stewart McKelvey (and its predecessor firms) in Halifax beginning in 1980. She left Stewart McKelvey in late 2002 to join Sobeys Inc. as Senior Vice-President and General Counsel. Over the years, her responsibilities increased and at the time of her retirement in 2018, she was Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of Empire Company Limited (Sobeys’ parent company) as well as Sobeys Inc. and its many subsidiaries.

Karin has been recognized for her achievements and mentorship within the Canadian legal community, including receiving the award for General Counsel of the Year in 2014, and the BLG Stephen Sigurdson Lifetime Achievement Award in 2019, both presented by the Canadian General Counsel Awards. She holds an Honours Business Administration degree from the Ivey Business School at Western University and an LL.B from Osgoode Hall Law School at York University. She has completed the Harvard Mediation Intensive course.