• Biographical Details

  • Work Highlights

  • Speaking Engagements

  • Associations and Memberships

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Jean Yu was born in Taiwan and immigrated to Canada at an early age. She has lived in Vancouver since 1970. She attended law school at the University of British Columbia and has been practicing as a lawyer since 1985. Jean’s areas of practice and continuing legal education focus on corporate issues (including strategic governance, risk management policies and succession planning), employment law, commercial transactions, leasing, real estate transactions (including residential, recreational, apartment and office buildings, malls and resort hotels), onshore and offshore private and bank financing, wills, estates, succession and incapacity planning.

Jean has assisted Canadian and multi-jurisdictional companies that manufacture pharmaceutical and nutriceutical products, lumber and other wood products; and, publish print and digital newspaper and magazine with corporate and commercial transactions involving reorganization, assets and shares purchase and sale, shareholders’ agreement, employment and consulting contracts, leases, licences.

Jean advises Canadian and multi-jurisdictional companies and societies as their external general counsel on strategic governance and risk management policies and actual management of risks, including those for intellectual properties, proprietary information and processes, workplace physical and mental health safety, workplace investigation, news and advertisements, and minimization of investment, financial and legal risks.

Jean has also assisted Canadian and multi-jurisdictional business owners, high net worth private clients, and professionals in resolving domestic and international cross border issues during investment, asset protection, will, estate and incapacity planning as well as during applications for probate or administration and administration of domestic and multi-jurisdictional estates.

Jean speaks fluent Mandarin, has working knowledge in Cantonese, and reads Chinese. She has project managed and consulted for clients when litigators or tax lawyers are involved, whether or not English is the clients’ first language, regarding wills, estates, family law disputes, wrongful dismissal, fraud, human rights complaints, oppression remedies against an immigration fund and its manager, estate freezes, settlement of family trusts, joint partner trusts, alter ego trusts, and wind up or rollover of trusts.

Jean has a proven ability to build and manage strategic relationships and alliances with clients, lawyers, regulatory agencies, and parties with adverse interests. She managed and executed the termination of over 30 salaried employees, dependent and independent contractors, and executives of an U.S. wholly-owned subsidiary in British Columbia within 10 weeks of receiving instructions without any residual litigation. At the same time, she managed an internal financial audit of the same company’s records kept substantially in Chinese, which supported a successful application and execution of a Mareva Injunction against an employee who embezzled over a 12 year period. She further managed the negotiation of a successful out of court settlement within 3 months of the execution of the Mareva Injunction.

Jean enjoys tennis, golf, skiing, conditioning, yoga and singing.

  • Represent clients in corporate and commercial transactions, including corporate financing, reorganization, assets and shares purchase and sale, shareholders’ agreement, employment and consulting contracts, leases and licences for landlords and tenants, private loans by onshore and/or offshore lenders to finance commercial real estate developments, manufacturing of pharmaceutical and nutriceutical products, publishing of print and digital newspaper and magazine, and acquisition of shares in wood product producers.
  • Extensive experience with succession planning for Canadian and multi-jurisdictional family, corporate and/or trust owned businesses, including wills, trusts, estate and incapacity planning for business owners, high net worth private clients, and professionals.
  • Extensive experience in BC, cross-provincial and cross-borders probate, trust and estate administration.
  • Advise companies and societies on strategic governance and risk management policies and actual management of risks when exposure to risk arises, including those for intellectual properties, proprietary information and processes, workplace physical and mental health safety, workplace investigation, news and advertisements, publication bans, and minimization of financial and legal risks.
  • Purchase and sale of high and low-rise apartment buildings, office buildings, small malls and a resort hotel, and financing and refinancing of the same.
  • Residential real estate transactions and personal financing and refinancing for high net worth individual clients.
  • Managed and executed termination of over 30 salaried employees, dependent and independent contractors, and executives of a U.S. wholly-owned subsidiary in British Columbia within 10 weeks of receiving instructions without any residual litigation. At the same time, managed an internal financial audit of the same company’s records kept substantially in Chinese, which supported a successful application and execution of a Mareva injunction against an employee who embezzled over a 12 year period. Managed said application and execution and the negotiation of a successful out of court settlement within 3 months of execution of the Mareva injunction.
  • Project management and consulting for clients when litigators or tax lawyers are are involved whether or not English is the clients’ first language, including wills, estates, family law, wrongful dismissal and fraud litigation, human rights complaints arising from termination of employees, oppression remedies litigation against an immigration fund and its manager, estate freezes, settlement of family trusts, joint partner trusts, alter ego trust, and wind up or rollover of trusts.
  • Past Volunteer Presenter (in Mandarin) for People’s Law School’s evening presentations on “How to Start a Business in B.C.” and “Why Will, Estate and Incapacity Planning?”
  • Past Volunteer Instructor (in Mandarin) for the Vancouver School Board’s Night School Course, “How to Start a Business in B.C.”
  • Member, Law Society of British Columbia
  • Member, Canadian Bar Association
  • Past Governor, SJS St. John’s School Society
  • Past Chair, Governance Committee, SJS St. John’s School Society
  • Past Chair, International Baccalaureate Steering Committee, SJS St. John’s School Society
  • Past Member, Kerrisdale Annex Elementary School Planning Council
  • Past Trustee and Member of the Annual Fundraising Gala Committee, Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Garden Society of Vancouver
  • Past Member and Project Manager, Vancouver Mandarin Lions Club
  • Past Member, 1986 Focus Group on Alternative Dispute Resolution Models used in Asian Countries, Law Foundation of BC