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Tamara Nielsen

Counsel
About

Tamara Nielsen is a member of the firm's litigation group. She practises in the areas of freedom of ‎information and privacy law, administrative law and professional regulation law. ‎

Tamara co-leads DLA Piper Canada’s Privacy, Data Protection and Security ‎practice in ‎Canada and is ‎based in the firm’s Vancouver office. She has 17 years’ experience ‎‎advising and representing clients ‎on privacy, data protection and security and on ‎access to ‎information matters.‎

Tamara has extensive experience advising on privacy compliance issues, anti-spam ‎law ‎compliance, ‎information security breaches, privacy impact assessments and has ‎conducted ‎numerous proactive ‎privacy reviews and audits (including as a global team ‎member for global ‎clients). Tamara has developed ‎and provided information security ‎breach plans (both proactive and ‎responsive), breach reports to ‎privacy regulators, as ‎well as privacy training. Examples of Tamara’s ‎client work in these areas ‎include ‎organizations such as hotel/restaurant chains, retail financial ‎institutions, retail ‎clothing chains, ‎logistics suppliers, insurance providers, medical device suppliers, ‎‎minor sport associations and ‎public utilities, as well as several educational institutions ‎and ‎professional regulatory bodies.‎

Tamara has represented numerous organizations (both private sector and public ‎sector) before ‎‎Canadian privacy regulators, including the Office of the Information and ‎Privacy Commissioner for ‎‎British Columbia, the Office of the Information and Privacy ‎Commissioner for Alberta and the federal ‎‎Office of the Information Commissioner. She ‎has been lead counsel on numerous inquiry ‎‎proceedings before the Office of the ‎Information and Privacy Commissioner for British Columbia. ‎‎Tamara has represented ‎organizations in litigation related to privacy and data protection issues ‎before ‎the ‎Supreme Court of British Columbia, the British Columbia Court of Appeal and the ‎Federal ‎Court of ‎Canada.‎

Tamara also regularly advises and represents the privacy regulator in British Columbia. ‎She has ‎been ‎named by the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner for ‎British Columbia as a ‎qualified ‎lawyer approved to act on its behalf in matters relating ‎to privacy protection law, ‎administrative law ‎and access to information law. She has ‎represented the OIPC on numerous ‎judicial review ‎proceedings in the Supreme Court ‎of British Columbia.‎

Born in New Westminster, B.C., Tamara obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree from Simon Fraser ‎University in 1988. She received the Chancellor’s Entrance Scholarship and majored in both ‎economics and business administration.‎

Tamara then attended the University of British Columbia where she received her Law Degree in 1990.

    Bar admissionsBritish Columbia, 1992

    EXPERIENCE

    • Concord Premium Meats Ltd. v. Canada (Food Inspection Agency), 2020 FC 1166
    • Workers’ Compensation Board, 2020 BCIPC 46
    • Plenary Group (Canada) Ltd. v. BC (Information and Privacy Commissioner) 2018 BCSC 444
    • University of British Columbia v. Lister 2017 BCSC 41
    • West Vancouver Police Department v. BC (Information and Privacy Commissioner) 2016 BCSC 934
    • British Columbia (Ministry of Justice) v. Maddock, 2015 BCSC 746
    • Transportation Investment Corporation, 2015 BCIPC 6
    • Transportation Investment Corporation, 2015 BCIPC 3
    • Thompson Rivers University, 2014 BCIPC 56 (CanLii)
    • Langley (Township) v. DeRaadt 2014 BCSC 650
    • Law Society of BC (Re), 2013 BCIPC 28 (CanLII)
    Languages
    • English
    Education
    • LL.B., University of British Columbia, 1990
    • B.A., Simon Fraser University, 1988

    Awards

    • Best Lawyers in Canada (Corporate and Commercial Litigation), 2017-2024 (Administrative and Public Law), 2018-2024 (Privacy and Data Security Law), 2018-2024
    • Best Lawyers in Canada, Lawyer of the Year (Privacy and Data Security Law), 2020
    • Martindale-Hubbell, Distinguished® Peer Review Rated
    • Chambers Canada (Privacy and Data Protection), 2018-2021

    Publications

    • Co-author, "Invasion of Privacy in the Context of an Investigation: Does it Render Evidence Inadmissible in Canadian Civil Proceedings?" International In-house Counsel Journal, Volume 9, No. 33, Autumn, 2015
    • Co-author, "Canada's New Digital Privacy Act: A Welcome Upgrade of the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act", Bloomberg BNA, July, 2015.
    • Republished, "Saskatchewan Employee Snooping Case: Two Privacy Wrongs Make a Right?", Risk Management in Health Care, Volume 17, No. 2, April, 2015.

    Seminars

    • Co-chair, "Privacy Update 2021: Your essential update on critical developments in the fast-moving world of privacy law", The Continuing Legal Education Society of British Columbia, June 2021
    • Speaker, "B.C. Public Bodies and Storage of Personal Information ‘Only in Canada’: Impact of the ‎USA Cloud Act”, Launching into the New Decade, Thompson Rivers University Conference, January ‎‎2020‎
    • Speaker, "How GDPR compares to Canadian privacy law and affects Canadian organizations," Privacy and Security in the Digital Age, Thompson Rivers University Conference, January 2019
    • Speaker, Access to Information and Privacy Law Symposium, Canadian Bar Association, 2017
    • Speaker, DLA Piper (Canada) LLP Canadian Employment and Labour Law Conference, 2015 and 2016

    Media Mentions

    Prior Experience

    Prior to joining the firm, Tamara was a Law Clerk to the Right Honourable Chief Justice Lamer of the Supreme Court of Canada.

    Community Involvement

    • Pro Bono Law of B.C. - Top Ten Fundraiser for 2009 "Advice-a-thon"; Top Fifteen Fundraiser for ‎‎2014 "Advice-a thon"‎
    • PEO (Philanthropic Educational Organization) - New Westminster BC Chapter
    • Fraserside Community Services Society, President (2019-2023); Board Member (2017-2023)
       

    Memberships And Affiliations

    • Governor, The Law Foundation of British Columbia, 2010-2015
    • Chair, The Law Foundation of British Columbia, 2013-2015
    • Founding Member and past Co-Chair, Freedom of Information & Privacy Law Subsection ‎
    • Member, B.C. Privacy Professionals Network 

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