Allevato Quail & Associates

About Allevato Quail & Associates

Allevato Quail & Associates is a law firm in Vancouver, British Columbia, with an office on East Hastings Street. Jim Quail founded the firm in 2014 after earlier roles as general counsel at the Legal Services Society of BC and executive director of the BC Public Interest Advocacy Centre. Founding partner Carmela Allevato, who spent more than thirty years in BC's labour movement, including as a Vancouver School Board Trustee and Vice President of the BC Federation of Labour, helped start the practice.

The firm's practice covers labour law, human rights, defamation, class actions and civil claims for migrant workers, and energy, utility and regulatory law. Its lawyers work mostly with unions, non-profit organizations, and workers rather than the general public, and several joined the firm after years of union staff or leadership roles. Beyond casework, the team also trains union representatives and shop stewards on topics like grievance arbitration and disability accommodation, and it says it coordinates legal strategy with clients' broader organizing goals.

The defamation practice represents activists, workers, and progressive organizations on either side of a claim, and the firm says it welcomes inquiries from people facing legal action over public advocacy work. Its human rights practice handles complaints involving gender identity, disability accommodation, and workplace or housing discrimination, and it also defends unions that are responding to complaints of their own.