Adam Chamberlain

About Adam Chamberlain

Adam Chamberlain works where environmental law and Indigenous law meet, for clients that run from Inuit, Métis and First Nations organizations to governments, public agencies and private companies in several sectors. A partner in the Toronto office of Gowling WLG, Adam is certified by the Law Society of Ontario as a specialist in environmental law and also in Indigenous legal issues (corporate and commercial). For a long time Adam's practice has centred on what's now called ESG (environmental, social and governance issues), and Adam has advised corporate officers and directors on those questions for more than 25 years.

Adam earned a BES (Hons.) at the University of Waterloo and then studied law at the University of Calgary, with a focus on natural resources and environmental law, and was called to the Ontario bar in 1994. Calls in Nunavut, Yukon and the Northwest Territories followed between 2011 and 2017. Before Gowling WLG, Adam was a partner at Borden Ladner Gervais (BLG) in Toronto and led that firm's Team North. At Gowling WLG, Adam is a past leader of the Climate Change and Environmental Law Group and stays active in the Indigenous Law and Canada North groups. When the firm unveiled Canada North in 2018, the partner who created it credited Adam's arrival with energizing the team.

A lot of this work happens in the North. Adam has handled matters for mining companies there and worked through Nunavut's Impact Review Board and the land and water boards, and the Government of Nunavut had Adam's help on the environmental assessment of the Mary River Iron Mine. Every April since 2012, Adam has spoken at the Nunavut Mining Symposium and served on its program committee. Adam also sat on the editorial committee of the Good Practice Recommendations for Environmental Impact Assessment and Public Participation in the Arctic project as the representative of Gwich'in Council International, a project that was a flagship of the Finnish Chairmanship from 2017 to 2019.

Adam isn't Indigenous, but has had close ties with Indigenous Canadians all along, and thinks of the role as being an ally to Indigenous friends, colleagues, clients and business contacts. Adam chairs the board of the Gordon Foundation. As a mentor with Indigenous Clean Energy, Adam enjoys passing on renewable energy knowledge and experience, and welcomes students and anyone curious about the legal and regulatory steps such projects need.