Owen Nicholson obtained a law degree from the French Common Law program at the University of Ottawa. During law school he advocated in French a leading precedent case on extenuating circumstances at the Employment Insurance Commission of the Social Security Tribunal of Canada, in Ottawa, Ont. He holds a political science degree from the University of Alberta and is currently completing the Harvard University computing science for lawyers certificate. In this respect, Owen has worked with leading legal technology companies to develop Artificial Intelligence generated content from a Large Language Model.
Owen’s commercial litigation and dispute resolution practice focuses on construction law. He has significant background in the heavy construction, transmission powerlines and underground utilities industries that complement his legal work in that field. Owen has been involved in major construction projects across Canada, in various roles for over 15 years, such as construction of Edmonton’s Roger’s Place and Ice District, Eastern Alberta Transmission Line (EATL), the Northwest Transmission Line (NTL), the Shell Scotford refinery and petrochemical complex. Notably, he was lead independent counsel on a multi-week American Arbitration Association hearing at the International Centre for Dispute Resolution Canada in Vancouver, B.C. in relation to a mechanical subcontract for a water treatment facility at a Yukon mine.
Owen is also experienced on a wide range of contractual, corporate, insurance, employment, defamation, intellectual property, wills and estates, real estate, and municipal and administrative law matters. He has appeared successfully before the Alberta Court of Justice and Court of King’s Bench as well as the Alberta Land and Property Rights Tribunal and Alberta Human Rights Commission. Owen is passionate about finding effective and creative solutions for his clients and strives to uphold the highest standards of professionalism and ethics in his practice. Owen welcomes French-speaking clients to provide legal services in their preferred language.
Outside the office Owen can be found enjoying the beach or hiking the North Shore, playing hockey, and cheering on the Edmonton Oilers.
University of Alberta (B.A. Political Science) 2016
University of Ottawa (J.D.) 2020
Harvard University (Computing Science for Lawyers Certificate) 2024
Alberta (2021)
British Columbia (candidate 2024)
Alberta Construction Safety Association (ACSA)
Association des juristes d’expression française de l’Alberta (AJEFA)
Association des juristes d’expression française de la Colombie Britannique (AJEFCB)
Association des juristes d’expression française de l’Ontario (AJEFO)
Canadian Bar Association
Edmonton Bar Association
Monika Sulentic
msulentic@mcleanarmstrong.com