Johanna E. Berry

Biography

Johanna Berry (she/her) grew up in the Comox Valley and practices as both a solicitor and litigator with a focus on wills and estates, elder law issues, First Nations legal issues including on-reserve land issues, First Nation and Band Administration issues, First Nations estates and administrative law.

Johanna attended law school at the University of Alberta in Edmonton. While at law school, Johanna was member of the Kawaskimhon National Aboriginal Moot team and served on the executive committee for Law Show, the University of Alberta Faculty of Law’s annual charity show. Upon graduating, she was delighted to return to Vancouver Island to article with Ramsay Lampman Rhodes in 2017 and was called to the bar in 2018.

Johanna’s practice is focused on helping clients with wills and estate planning and capacity planning through instruments such as Powers of Attorney and Representation Agreements, as well as Committeeship applications where a family member or loved one has lost capacity without making the proper arrangements. Johanna also provides clients with assistance in the area of estate litigation, including Wills Variation claims, and litigation where elder abuse or abuse of powers of attorney may have occurred.

Johanna can also assist with estate administration and probate, real estate transactions, administrative law and business matters such as preparation and review of contracts, terms and conditions and waivers. She also has experience in the creation and implementation of policy documents such as human resources manuals, codes of conduct and bylaws.

For Indigenous clients, Johanna has experience assisting First Nations and Indigenous persons with a variety of issues, including the estate planning and estate administration issues facing on-reserve Indigenous people and members of modern treaty first nations, employment conflicts, legal recognition of custom adoptions, development of reconciliation processes and conflicts between individuals and First Nations governments and/or Indigenous Services Canada.

Prior to law school, Johanna completed an Honours degree in Biology and Ocean Science at the University of Victoria and worked as a student researcher in cooperation with Ocean Networks Canada’s network of underwater observation platforms. Her honours thesis later became a publication in the peer-reviewed journal Continental Shelf Science. Her background in this area has given her a deep appreciation for the environment of the West Coast and its connection to the people who live here, in particular the indigenous peoples nations who have been its stewards and caretakers since time immemorial.