Lisa Chamzuk,

Sources consider Lisa "very attentive and knowledgeable," emphasising her "prompt responses and feedback." Her practice includes a focus on multi-employer pension plans.

- Chambers Canada, 2021 Guide

Lisa is a partner in the firm’s Pensions and Employee Benefits Group and Protection of Privacy and Freedom of Information Group.

Pension and Employee Benefits

Lisa’s pension and employee benefits practice has a particular emphasis on multi-employer pension plans and health and welfare trusts, usually sponsored for specific industries. Lisa represents dozens of board of trustees and corporate plan sponsors in both the public and private sector and in a wide variety of industries.

Lisa provides advice and strategic support to boards of trustees, sponsors of pension and employee benefits plans and administration teams in respect of the interpretation and amendment of plan texts, the application of the governing legal principles and provincial and federal legislation and also on the day to day issues that arise with these plans. Through her pension practice Lisa works regularly with the BC Financial Services Authority and other regulatory agencies.

Lisa manages and provides strategic support and risk assessment to her clients on complex pension and employee benefit litigation, including class actions.

Privacy Law

Lisa is the firm’s privacy law and document retention lawyer and works regularly with clients to comply with applicable privacy legislation and to find and implement creative solutions to privacy issues as they arise. Lisa works regularly with the Personal Information and Protection Act (British Columbia), the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (Canada), and the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (British Columbia).

Lisa clerked for the Supreme Court of British Columbia before joining Lawson Lundell LLP.

• The Law Society of British Columbia, Member
• Canadian Bar Association: Pensions and Benefits, (Former Chair/ Former Secretary)
• Canadian Pension and Benefits Institute, Member
• International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans, Member; Canadian Legal/Legislative and Public Sector, Committee Member

• Chambers Canada: Pensions & Benefits - Nationwide (Band 4), 2024-2025
• Best Lawyers in Canada:
  • Employee Benefits Law, 2019-2025
  • Lawyer of the Year - Employee Benefits Law (Vancouver), 2022
• Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory: Pensions and Employee Benefits - Employer (Leading Practitioner), 2023-2024
• Martindale-Hubbell International Law Directory: BV Peer Review rated

Lisa’s pensions and employee benefits experience includes:

• Advising various clients on changes in BC and AB pension plan legislation to ensure compliance with new regulations.
• Negotiating investment management agreements
• Negotiating a buy-in annuity purchase on behalf of a pension plan sponsor
• Establishing and overseeing governance of a multi-employer, non-collectively bargained pension plan
• Merging pension plans sponsored by one corporate entity
• Acting for a company determining whether changes can be made to the program of post-retirement group benefits
• Representing a multi-employer pension plan recover withdrawal obligations from a former participating employer
• Acting for a company seeking to add new members to an existing pension plan
• Advising a health and welfare trust on a range of privacy issues, drafting requisite forms and negotiating with service providers
• Negotiating trust and custodial agreements and obtaining necessary regulatory approvals
• Drafting opinions on the tax rules that apply to pension plans and health and welfare trusts
• Representing trustees and other administrators in litigation matters including disputes among competing beneficiaries
• Drafting and amending plan texts for pension plans and health and welfare plans
• Drafting policies for plan administrators, including conflict of interest policies and other governance policies
• Drafting legal opinions on a variety of topics including: vesting, fiduciary, obligations, and privacy issues
• Negotiating group benefit arrangements

Lisa’s recent services in the area of privacy law and document retention include:

• Drafting and finalizing privacy policies for numerous clients in both the private and public spheres
• Drafting consent language and authorization forms to permit the collection, use and disclosure of personal information
• Responding to specific privacy questions and concerns
• Drafting and finalizing document retention policies that comply with applicable law
• Representing clients in applications to the Privacy Commissioner of BC
• Consideration and application of Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL)