Biographical Profile of Brian Shell
Shell Jacobs Lawyers
Toronto, Ontario

Brian Shell is an experienced counsel and a seasoned litigator, negotiator and advisor. He has served the labour movement since 1980 as principal counsel to the USWA in Canada, as a Special Counsel to the CLC and OFL, as a representative on law reform during the 1990’s and now, in practice as the senior and founding lawyer at Shell Jacobs Lawyers, a Toronto boutique litigation firm acting for professional associations, employer groups, trade unions and human rights advocates. .

Brian practices labour and employment law, for industrial and building trades unions, for employee associations and professional organizations, for individuals and for progressive organizations. He has a special interest in public policy, equality rights, the law of employment discipline, disability rights issues, jurisdictional disputes, mediation, collective bargaining and innovation in approaches to employment and labour law.

Brian enjoys complex cases, with lots of documents, conflict and difficulties. He believes the law can advance the rights of employees and working people and that collective associations are the most important check on unbridled state and corporate power.

“Growing up in Montreal in the sixties brought home to me how important social movements are in achieving meaningful social change,” says Brian. “ It was trade unions and community groups that protected and advanced our most basic social values like fairness, respect for human dignity and equal treatment. I have wanted to promote those values since high school.”

“My family did not exist in a vacuum,” Brian explains, “The realities of discrimination, injustice and arbitrariness that continue to pervade our society in various forms - were real life experiences. My Dad was denied entrance to medical school because of a race quota. One grandfather escaped pogroms in Eastern Europe and found refuge delivering milk door to door in Canada. The other was a Jewish Montreal tailor who sewed soldiers’ uniforms. Although I never met him,” Brian recollects, “my grandmother told me stories about what it was like for him to work in non-union settings. It was the hours of work and the arbitrary exercise of employer authority that apparently bothered him the most.”

After graduating magna cum laude and as a Danforth Graduate Fellow from Brandeis University near Boston where he majored in political theory, Brian studied at Balliol College at Oxford University as a Canadian Rhodes Scholar. He then returned to the University of Toronto to pursue a career in law - with the objective of working for social justice issues, trade unions and ordinary working people.

What has stayed with me from my formative experiences as a young student and teacher, whether in the U.S., Central Java, Europe or here in Canada,” Brian says, “is that we must never take for granted the fact that the freedoms we enjoy…especially the core freedom of association… must be protected from those who would see their own power and wealth grow at the expense of everyone else in our society. Sometimes the creative application of the law articulated with clarity and forcefulness can help in that struggle.”

During law school at the University of Toronto and then at the Steelworkers, Brian was introduced to the practice of labour law and to Canadian trade unionism. “It makes sense to me … it somehow fits…that I commit my professional life to advancing legal theories that promote the interests of working people,” Brian says, “That is why I have always been comfortable being a labour lawyer.” He was appointed counsel to the Steelworkers in 1980 where he was the union’s lead national counsel and directed its Canadian legal affairs. In 1997 Brian decided to expand his private practice to serve a broader range of clients.

For two decades, Brian has handled some of the toughest and most celebrated cases trade unions and employees encounter. His skill, creativity and many successes have empowered thousands of workers, directly and indirectly. He has appeared before arbitration boards, labour relations boards, administrative tribunals of all kinds, across Canada; and before all levels of the Courts in Ontario, including the Ontario Court of Appeal, the Federal Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Canada.

In the 2002 decision of the Supreme Court of Canada Berry v Pulley, Brian’s arguments were accepted by Canada’s highest court. The decision modernized the juridical notions about trade union membership and refused to permit a lawsuit by some union members alleging a breach by others of the union’s constitution. The decision ensures that disagreements between union members will not have the effect of encouraging conflict between factions of union members about constitutional provisions and obligations.

Brian is well versed in advocacy litigation, negotiating, collective bargaining, word-smithing and strategic thinking. He is experienced in formulating public and private policy options promoting fairness in the workplace and beyond. He is a labour law reformer, an equal rights promoter, and a fearless advocate for employees and for the disadvantaged.

Brian is the author of numerous articles and monograms. He has co-authored a text on recent changes in workers’ compensation law in Ontario. He lectures on a variety of topics touching on developments in labour law and human rights law at universities, to lawyer organizations and to trade union audiences. Brian designs and delivers educational seminars on a wide range of topics of interest to union activists, professionals and employee groups.

As a parent of a son with disabilities, Brian is also a vocal supporter of the rights of children and their families and of the rights of all people with disabilities.

Brian lives with Barbara Ostroff and their two sons - Jeremiah and Adam - in the City of Toronto where they attend public schools. Brian served as a member of the Board of Directors of Toronto’s economic development corporation (TEDCO) from 1988-2000 and is a founding Board member of the Toronto Business Development Corporation that fosters new business initiatives and assists the unemployed in skill development.

Brian is bilingual, e-mail addicted - and reserves boundless energy to advance his clients cases and causes.