Bernard Lau Profile
Bernard Lau is the founding lawyer of Bernard Lau and Co. He practices in the areas of civil litigation, real estate law with an emphasis on non-strata property litigation, deposit forfeitures, and builders liens, in addition to his solicitor's practice in conveyancing, assisting clients with the purchase, sale and re-finance of their homes. Bernard also provides personal estate planning services for clients such as drafting Wills, Power of Attorney, Representation agreements, Advance directives and applying for Probate.
Bernard has appeared at all levels of court in British Columbia. In particular, he has experience appearing as lead counsel for all stages of trial in both the BC Provincial Court and the BC Supreme Court, having represented both purchasers and sellers on real estate transactions, as well as builders and homeowners in real estate litigation. In addition, Bernard has experience with appellate work, having prepared appeals and appearing on behalf of clients in the BC Court of Appeal.
Specifically, Bernard has advised clients on or litigated the following real estate matters
:
- Collapsed conveyance transactions
- Forfeiture of deposits for real estate transactions
- Filing and discharging property liens including Builder's Liens and Certificates of Pending Litigation
- Freezing of real property assets under dispute
- Property interest disputes including Court-ordered sale of property interests under the BC Partition of Property Act
- Disputes with property deficiencies, misrepresentation of contractual terms & property disclosure statements, and breaches of real estate contracts
- General civil litigation and breach of contract disputes
- Will making, personal estate planning service and Probate matters
Bernard earned his Juris Doctor degree from the Faculty of Law at the University of British Columbia. He also earned a Bachelor of Commerce in Finance and Real Estate at the UBC Sauder School of Business. He has contributed his legal research to a variety of published papers by Dr. Janis Sarra of the National Centre for Business Law on Bankruptcy and Insolvency Law.
Bernard has been interviewed or has provided legal commentary in the Vancouver Sun, Global News, Sing Tao, Ming Pao and South China Morning Post, and his Court cases have garnered media reporting in the BBC News, CBC News, CTV News, the Toronto Star, Business in Vancouver, the Globe and Mail, the Ottawa Citizen, and the National Post.
Bernard speaks fluent Cantonese, Mandarin and English.
Education
The University of British Columbia
Bachelor of Commerce (B.Com. with Honours) – 2007
Juris Doctor (J.D.) – 2011
