Biographical Information – Chair and Tribunal Members

William Hopkins is a senior civil litigation lawyer with extensive experience in commercial litigation and mediation. His present practice focuses on construction, professional negligence, insurance, securities and commercial disputes. Mr. Hopkins was educated at the University of Calgary, where he obtained a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics, and the University of British Columbia where he obtained a Bachelor of Laws. He was admitted to the Alberta Bar in 1979, the British Columbia Bar in 1983 and the Ontario Bar in 1986. Mr. Hopkins has appeared as a trial and appellate counsel in courts in Alberta, Ontario, the Yukon and British Columbia. He has also appeared as counsel before a variety of administrative tribunals, including the Alberta Energy Conservation Board, the Alberta Public Utilities Board and the Ontario Securities Commission. He is a member of the Law Society of BC and the Canadian Bar Association.

Mr. Doan is a partner in the law firm Cleveland & Doan in White Rock, BC. He has practiced business law for over 24 years, with a preference for secured transactions. Mr. Doan has taken secured transactions cases through all level of courts in Saskatchewan and British Columbia, and has appeared a number of times before the Supreme Court of Canada. Mr. Doan has published widely in areas of secured transactions, business and enforcement law, and was a contributing editor of The British Columbia Personal Property Security Act Practice Manual. He has taught Bar Admissions courses for 19 years, and lending law courses for the Canadian Banker’s Association and Credit Union Central. In addition, he designed and taught a university law course at Simon Fraser University.

Dr. Stanley W. Hamilton is the Philip H. White Professor Emeritus of Urban Land Economics, Sauder School of Business, University of British Columbia and a member of the Finance Division. Dr. Hamilton has extensive teaching and research experience in the areas of real estate investments and financing, real property assessment and pensions, and is the author of several books, monographs and articles relating to real estate investments and pension investments.

Dr. Hamilton was Chair of the Board of Trustees of the UBC Faculty Pension Plan for 14 years and is past Director of the Bureau of Asset Management at the Sauder School of Business. He continues to act as a consultant in both public and private sector matters relating to real estate and pensions. 

Dr. Hamilton is actively engaged in a number of community organizations including the Vancouver Economic Development Commission, the Investment Advisory Committee for the Public Guardian and Trustee of British Columbia and the Arts Club Theatre Company.

Helen Ray del Val is the former Regional Commissioner representing the regions of British Columbia and the Yukon for the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC).

Immediately before her appointment, she practiced law with the Vancouver firm of Koffman Kalef in the corporate/commercial and real estate areas. Prior to that, Ms. del Val was Senior Counsel at BC TEL and an Associate at Bull Housser & Tupper. Committed to community service, Ms. del Val served as a director of Vancouver's Chinese Cultural Centre, a director of S.U.C.C.E.S.S. (United Chinese Community Enrichment Services Society), treasurer of St. Pius X School Parents' Education Committee and a director of Wen Wei Dance Society.

Ms. del Val was born and raised in Hong Kong, and moved to Canada at age 15. She attended the University of British Columbia and was awarded the University Medal in Arts and Science for graduating with the highest standing in the Arts Faculty. In addition to her Bachelor of Arts in Linguistics, Ms. del Val also holds her Bachelor of Laws from the University of British Columbia. She also teaches telecommunications regulation internationally.

Margaret Ostrowski, Q.C. is a former member of the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada.

She has practiced law in BC for 25 years and been a member of the Employment and Assistance Appeal Tribunal, Crime Victims Assistance Appeal Tribunal, and the Law Society of BC 's quasi judicial panels regarding discipline matters. She was President of the Canadian Bar Association of BC and a Bencher of the Law Society of B.C. Ms. Ostrowski was the recipient of the Touchstone Award in 2007, an award given by the Canadian Bar Association, for her accomplishments in promoting equality in the Canadian legal profession. Active in her community, she has served as Chair of the College of Dental Technicians and Denturists of BC and is the Vice-President of the BC Council of Administrative Tribunals and the Law Courts Education Society.

Ms. Ostrowski holds an Honours Bachelor of Science from the University of Toronto, a Master of Arts in Social Psychology from the University of Western Ontario and a Bachelor of Laws from the University of British Columbia. Ms. Ostrowski holds an Advanced Commercial Mediation Certificate and a Family Law Mediation Certificate. She formerly was a BC Registered Psychologist