Tony Wilson, K.C.

BA (Hons) (University of Western Ontario), LLB (University of Victoria)

Tony Wilson, K.C. is an Adjunct Professor with Thompson Rivers University’s Faculty of Law. He teaches Ethical Lawyering and is a valued mentor to law students, particularly on matters pertaining to professional ethics.

Professor Wilson has been an elected Bencher of the Law Society of British Columbia since 2012 and is currently Chair of the Lawyer Education Advisory Committee tasked with studying the Articling program and PLTC. In addition, he sits on the Ethics Committee, the Unauthorized Practice Committee and the Executive Committee of the Benchers, and regularly acts as an adjudicator on Discipline and Credentials Hearing Panels and Review Panels.  He approaches Ethical Lawyering from his experience as a Law Society Bencher, involved in the regulation of the legal profession and the discipline of lawyers.

He practices in the areas of franchising, licensing and IP law and is ranked as a leading Canadian Franchise lawyer by LEXPERT, Who’sWho Legal and Best Lawyers in Canada. He acts for national and international Franchisors and prepares Franchise Agreements, Franchise Disclosure Documents and other contracts to enable businesses to franchise in Canada. He also practices in the field of hospitality and liquor licensing law, and acts for clients in the hotel and restaurant industry.

In addition, he advises clients on intellectual property matters such as software and technology licensing and on all aspects of trade mark, copyright, trade secrets, confidentiality, privacy law and reputation management law.

He has been a member of the Unfair Contracts Relief Project of the British Columbia Law Institute (BCLI), has advised the BCLI and the CBABC respecting a proposed Franchise Act for BC and was a founding participant and organizer of the BCLI GreatDebate.

He is the author of Buying a Franchise in Canada: Understanding and Negotiating your Franchise Agreement. He is also the author of Manage Your Online Reputation, a book written to guide individuals and businesses on how to monitor and protect their personal and corporate reputations on social media. He regularly speaks and writes on both areas of law to members of the public and is often interviewed by CBC, Global News and other broadcasters respecting social media law and online reputation management.

He is a regular columnist for the Globe and Mail. His articles have also appeared in Macleans Magazine, BC Restaurant News, Franchise Entrepreneur, Teacher, World Trademark Review and other publications. He writes two widely read regular opinion columns for Bartalk and Canadian Lawyer magazines.

He is also an Adjunct Professor at Simon Fraser University and has taught Contract Law and Advanced Topics in the Canadian Legal System within the Master of Applied Studies program.