Kelsey works collaboratively with her clients to develop innovative and practical litigation strategies that advance her Indigenous clients’ real-world interests, as defined by her clients. She is committed to continuously improving her cultural competency and delivering services in a culturally safe, trauma-informed way.

Kelsey has successfully advocated for Inuit and Indigenous peoples in a variety of cases, including proceedings for breach of treaty, breach of fiduciary duty, breach of the honour of the Crown, Aboriginal rights and title. She has frequently acted for Inuit and Indigenous peoples in complex litigation in natural resource disputes. She also defends clients in regulatory prosecutions.

Kelsey has appeared as lead counsel at all levels of court in BC, as well as the Ontario Court of Appeal and Alberta Court of King’s Bench. She has also appeared at the Federal Court in Iqaluit and in Vancouver, and at various tribunals, including the Specific Claims Tribunal, BC Forest Appeals Commission, BC Securities Commission, Health Professions Review Board, and the College of Physicians and Surgeons of BC.

Kelsey has a background in complex civil litigation, including commercial, administrative, and health law. She has acted for both plaintiffs and defendants in a variety of commercial matters, including contractual disputes, employment issues, disputes surrounding confidential information, claims against directors and officers, and shareholders disputes. She is experienced in cross-border litigation, having worked on many cases dealing with jurisdiction and the enforcement of foreign judgements in Canada. She provides free advice to sexual assault survivors through the CLASBC Stand Informed service.

Prior to joining JFK, Kelsey acted as Commission counsel for the Commission of Inquiry into Money Laundering in BC (colloquially, the “Cullen Commission”), and practiced for several years at a leading Vancouver litigation firm. She also clerked for the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in 2014-2015.

At law school, Kelsey participated in the Global Environment and Resource Law Externship Program, the International Law Journal, the Environmental Law Group, and represented UBC at the Jessup International Law Moot.  She also spent a summer interning for the United Nations Environment Programme in Washington, D.C.  Prior to law, Kelsey studied Environmental Policy, Political Science and English at the University of Toronto.

Bar affiliations and Education:

Law Society of British Columbia, 2016
Law Society of Ontario, 2016
Law Society of Alberta, 2022
University of British Columbia, Faculty of Law, J.D., 2014
University of Toronto, Hon. B.A., 2011

Publications

1. Kelsey Rose, “When Immunity means Impunity: Lessons for Canada from Recent Cases on State Immunity from Execution,” Canadian Yearbook of International Law (Ottawa: Cambridge University Press, 2018).
2. Kelsey Rose, “Compulsory Psychiatric Treatment in the MHA: When is it Legitimate?”, CBA Bar Talk, February 1, 2018, page 21 (Vancouver: CBABC).
3. Kelsey Rose, “Small Business Could Benefit from NAFTA Arbitration Overhaul,” Business in Vancouver, September 29, 2017.
4. Jennifer Woznesensky and Kelsey Rose, “Expertise, Not Advocacy: Recent Judicial Consideration of the Role of the Expert in B.C.”, Canadian Journal of Insurance Law, Volume 34, Number 6 (Toronto: Lexis Nexis, November 2016).