Sean Foreman, Partner

Practice Profile

Sean’s primary areas of practice are Energy & the Environment and Advocacy & Dispute Resolution.

Representative Experience

With his specialization in environmental law, Sean represents a wide variety of businesses, institutions and individuals in all aspects of environmental, energy and natural resources law, from giving advice on operational due diligence and environmental offences to involvement in transactional work, environmental assessment and project development. Sean also has a strong background in all forms of commercial and civil litigation, and has experience working on all forms of commercial litigation including subrogated insurance claims, shareholder disputes, estate litigation, contract and tort claims and seeking equitable remedies before the Supreme Court. Sean has appeared numerous times before all levels of Court in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland & Labrador, and regulatory tribunals such as the Nova Scotia Utility & Review Board and the National Energy Board. Sean also has a strong interest in human rights law, and from 2003-2005, he represented 5 same-sex couples in constitutional litigation that successfully changed the common-law definition of marriage in Nova Scotia (Sep 2004) and Newfoundland & Labrador (Dec 2004) that legalized same-sex marriage in both provinces.

On a Personal Note

Since his days as a law student at Dalhousie, where he served as President of the Law Students’ Society (1997-1998), won the Smith Shield Moot (1997), and received several awards including the A.S. Patillo Prize for Advocacy and the CBA (Nova Scotia) Scholarship, Sean has been actively involved in serving the legal and wider community. Sean has served as a Director of several non-profit community organizations, including executive positions such as Treasurer, Vice-Chair and Chair of the Board. Sean has served the Canadian Bar Association, both in Nova Scotia and nationally, in numerous roles, including as provincial and national Chair of the Environmental Energy & Resources Law Sections, a member of the CBA National Finance Committee, National Sections Council and as a member of the CBA Board of Directors representing national conferences. He served for many years as a member and then Chair of the Nova Scotia Lawyers’ Assistance Program. He was honored to receive the inaugural Zoe Odei Young Lawyers Award from the CBA in Nova Scotia in 2003, one of 3 national Outstanding Young Canadian (Vanier) Awards for leadership and community service in 2005, and was particularly thrilled to receive the Dalhousie University Outstanding Young Alumnus of the Year Award in 2007. Sean continues to serve Dalhousie as a part-time faculty member at the Schulich School of Law, where he has taught since 2001 coaching the Laskin Constitutional & Administrative Law Moot team, and since 2007 teaching the seminar course Business & Environmental Law.