Shea assists public and privately held companies with complex business to business, shareholder, governance, and regulatory disputes. Shea has led a wide-range of business disputes in numerous sectors, including the forest products, mining, transportation, technology services, real estate, liquor, hospitality, and cannabis industries. He has dealt with disputes arising out of transactions (representations and warranties, share claw-backs and earn-out disputes, material adverse effect, material breach, and complex damages assessments), financings, commercial supply and services agreements, agency agreements, business valuations, complex partnership and JV structures, and corporate fraud. He advises public issuers in a range of industries with disputes arising out of capital markets financing and assists Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization regulated investment banks with a variety of regulatory and commercial matters. Shea also advises businesses and governmental entities who create, deploy, or use artificial intelligence, with respect to AI governance, risk management, regulation, compliance, and related litigation.
Shea is recognized for his work in constitutional and administrative law and has acted for governments, agencies, and private enterprise in a wide range of complex public law disputes, enforcement, and advisory work. This includes experience in transportation, infrastructure, education, health, real estate regulation, insurance regulation, and securities regulation. Shea is a thought leader on issues involving the administratization of justice, constitutional / administrative procedural fairness protections, and the use of artificial intelligence in administrative decision making, having acted in constitutional cases involving the creation of new administrative regimes designed to improve efficiency in matters traditionally addressed by criminal law or the courts. Shea formerly taught constitutional remedies at UBC's Peter A. Allard School of Law.
Shea is a leader in DLA Piper’s Chambers Band 1 rail transportation practice, and acts regularly for shippers and users of Canadian railways in arbitrations under the Canada Transportation Act and regulatory proceedings before the Canadian Transportation Agency relating to rail freight rates and service issues. Shea also acts for shippers and terminals in related commercial disputes.
Shea has been ranked as a “Litigation Star” in commercial and constitutional litigation by Benchmark Litigation each year since 2019. Shea began his career as a law clerk for two justices of the British Columbia Court of Appeal.
