Taryn Urquhart

Associate
About

Taryn Urquhart is a member of the Litigation, Arbitration and Investigations group. She maintains a ‎regulatory litigation and administrative law practice with a focus on transportation and privacy matters.‎

Taryn’s transportation practice focuses on advising private and public sector clients on the regulatory ‎requirements applicable to railways and railway serviced industries such as ports, terminals and shippers. ‎She provides strategic advice to shippers in the negotiation of confidential contracts with the railways ‎and regularly acts for shippers and public sector clients in pursuing statutory remedies under the Canada ‎Transportation Act including final offer arbitration, level of service arbitration, net salvage value ‎determinations and related commercial litigation. ‎

Taryn has been recognized by Legal 500 Canada as a Leading Associate for her work in DLA Piper’s Tier 1 ranked rail transportation ‎practice. ‎

Taryn’s privacy practice focuses on access to information and data protection matters. She regularly represents public and private sector clients in inquiries, complaints and other matters before the federal and provincial privacy commissioners, and on judicial review at various levels of court. She advises and assists clients with responding to access to information requests while managing litigation risks, and in developing privacy policies and programs to comply with regulatory requirements.

Taryn also works collaboratively with clients in their response to data breaches, including advising on statutory breach notification compliance, incident response, and related litigation risks.

Taryn regularly appears before the Federal Court of Canada, the Federal Court of Appeal, the British Columbia Supreme Court, and the British Columbia Court of Appeal. She also frequently appears before various regulatory tribunals and decision-makers including the Canadian Transportation Agency, ‎Canadian International Trade Tribunal, and the federal and provincial ‎privacy commissioners.

Bar admissionsBritish Columbia, 2018

EXPERIENCE

  • Counsel for shippers in matters before the Canadian Transportation Agency including Final Offer Arbitration. 
  • Counsel for shippers, terminals, short-line railway companies and other private sector clients in commercial litigation against the Class I railways. 
  • Provided regulatory advice to proponents of major railway or railway-serviced infrastructure projects. 
  • Provided regulatory advice to private and public sector clients on transportation safety and security, including the transportation of dangerous goods. 
  • Counsel for port terminals in a judicial review of a port authority’s decision to implement fees under the Canada Marine Act
  • Counsel for a major municipality in railway net salvage value determination proceedings before the Canadian Transportation Agency. 
  • Counsel for the Office of the Information & Privacy Commissioner of British Columbia in Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Canada v. British Columbia (Attorney General), 2021 BCSC 1829 and Vabuolas v. British Columbia (Information and Privacy Commissioner), 2024 BCSC 27
  • Counsel for a public body in an application to disregard a request under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act
  • Counsel for a public body in its defense of an inquiry before the BC Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner.
  • Advised private sector clients on the creation of privacy policies, the development of international privacy programs, and on data transfer requirements.
  • Advised various private sector clients on statutory breach notification obligations and incident response.
  • Acted as part of the legal team representing the Canadian Sugar Industry in a major trade dispute before the Canadian International Trade Tribunal.
Languages
  • English
Education
  • J.D., University of British Columbia, 2017
  • B.A. (with distinction), Simon Fraser University, 2012

Awards

  • Leading Associate, The Legal 500 Canada (Transport: Other), 2025
  • The Legal 500 Canada (Transport: Other), 2024

Community Involvement

  • Student Mentor, Canadian Bar Association ‎
  • Student Mentor, Black and Indigenous Business Law Clinic – Student Mentorship Program ‎
  • Volunteer, Access Pro Bono Roster Program‎

Memberships And Affiliations

  • Member, Law Society of British Columbia
  • Member, Canadian Bar Association
  • Member, Vancouver Bar Association
  • Member, the Advocates' Society
  • The International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP)

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