Adam Chamberlain > Gowling WLG > Toronto, Canada > Lawyer Profile

Gowling WLG
1600 – 1 FIRST CANADIAN PLACE
100 KING STREET WEST
TORONTO, ONTARIO, M5X 1G5
Canada

Position

Partner

Certified Specialist – Environmental Law;

Certified Specialist – Indigenous Legal Issues (Corporate and Commercial)

Career

Adam Chamberlain is a partner in Gowling WLG’s Toronto office, and leader of the firm’s Climate Change and Environmental Law Group. He is also active in the firm’s Indigenous Law and Canada North groups.

Certified as a specialist in both environmental law and Indigenous legal issues (corporate and commercial) by the Law Society of Ontario, Adam has a broad practice with work related to these areas at its heart.

Issues that he addresses regularly include: climate change, GHG and other emissions regulation and transactions, impact assessment, defense of environmental prosecutions, corporate commercial and other relationships involving Indigenous owned and operated entities, natural resource regulation and related business relationships, as well as litigation related to and arising from aspects of his practice.

Adam’s work is geographically diverse, and he is an active member of the bar in all three of Canada’s territories, in addition to his home province of Ontario. Sectors in which he has project and other experience include: waste management, energy (renewable generation, distribution and transmission), mining, infrastructure development, water and wastewater, contaminated land management, as well as municipal infrastructure.

Adam’s practice has long been centred on matters now described as “ESG” (environmental, social and governance). He has advised corporate officers and directors on such matters for more than 25 years. Adam has a unique blend of experience and a pragmatic approach to relationship building and problem solving that equips him well to provide strategic legal advice and to assist a wide variety of different clients that include Indigenous organizations (Inuit, Métis, and First Nations), governments, agencies of government, and private companies of various sorts in several sectors.

Adam is non-Indigenous, but has lifelong relationships and experience with Indigenous Canadians. He considers himself an ally of his Indigenous friends, colleagues, clients, and business acquaintances.

Memberships

Year of Call, Ontario (1994)
Year of Call, Nunavut (2011)
Year of Call, Yukon (2016)
Year of Call, Northwest Territories (2017)

Lawyer Rankings

Canada > Environment

During 2023/24, Gowling WLG’s environmental law team handled a slew of high-stakes litigation cases. Among its recent highlights in this space, Toronto-based Jennifer Danahy represented the Responsible Plastic Use Coalition on its successful challenge of the decision to add ‘plastic-manufactured items’ to the toxic substances list in the Canadian Environmental Protection Act. Toronto-based Adam Chamberlain steers the climate change and environmental law practice and is admitted in all three of Canada’s territories as well as in Ontario, positioning him well to advise on environmental and Indigenous law issues. Toronto-based Rodney Northey is a seasoned environmental law expert and is highly regarded for his regulatory expertise.