Recognized in Best Lawyers since 2022 
Kelly VanBuskirk is recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Administrative and Public Law, Corporate and Commercial Litigation and Labour and Employment Law. He is also a Top Ranked lawyer by Lexpert and his firm, VanBuskirk Law, has been named a Top Labour and Employment Law firm by HR Law Canada.
For 33 years, Kelly has practiced labour, employment, and human rights law and has represented employers, employees, unions, and commissions in trials and hearings in the New Brunswick Court of King’s Bench, the Nova Scotia Supreme Court, the New Brunswick Court of Appeal, the Federal Court of Appeal, the Supreme Court of Canada and in many tribunals. During his career, Kelly has been fortunate to be involved in a number of precedent-setting cases, some of which are referenced on his firm's website at vanbuskirklaw.ca.
In addition to practicing extensively in the field of workplace law, Kelly has also advanced his knowledge in the area through research, teaching, and learning from leading lawyers in Canada and the USA. His LLM and PhD research were both focused on employment law issues, and he teaches and has taught university courses in Employment Law, Labour Law, Human Rights Law, Administrative Law, Trial Practice, the Sociology of Work, Human Resources Management, Evaluating and Rewarding Employee Performance, Sport Law, and Negotiations. Some of Kelly's other efforts to gain knowledge in the workplace law field include:
- As a Chartered Arbitrator in more than 40 labour, OHS, and policing cases, he has gained unique insights into judicial and tribunal decision-making;
- He has also developed and taught workplace training to over 10,000 employees across Canada, the USA, and the UK, which has deepened his understanding of workplace dynamics;
- As a member of a Canadian Standards Association Committee, Kelly was able to play a role in the creation of a national standard for addressing workplace impairment;
- Kelly has been invited to speak at many national and international law conferences; and
- He has published academic articles in numerous international law journals, including the Canadian Labour & Employment Law Journal, the Canadian HR Reporter, the Journal of Commonwealth Law and Legal Education, the Solicitors Journal, The Canadian Bar Review, the Canadian Arbitration and Mediation Journal, The Scribes Journal of Legal Writing, the International Review of Human Rights Law, The Law Teacher, and other publications.
