Alex G. MacWilliam

Alex G. MacWilliam is Counsel and Canada lead for the global Environment and Natural Resources group and the global Climate Change Strategies practice group, based in the Calgary office, practicing in Environmental Law. He regularly advises Canadian and international clients on all legal issues relating to the environment, including regulatory approvals, compliance, contaminated land, climate change, transportation of dangerous goods, and the development of internal environmental practices and systems. In 2015, he was appointed by the Government of Alberta as Chair of the Environmental Appeals Board.

He is widely regarded as one of the leading environmental law practitioners in Alberta, recommended by Chambers Global in Environmental Law and profiled in The Lexpert/American Lawyer Guide to the Leading 500 Lawyers in Canada, Who's Who Legal, and Best Lawyers. He has appeared before the Alberta Environmental Appeals Board, Alberta Energy Regulator, Natural Resources Conservation Board, Federal Court of Canada, and all levels of Court in Alberta. He is a trained mediator and a member of the Canadian Centre for Environmental Arbitration and Mediation.

Notable matters include advising Dow Inc. on the US$315 million sale of rail infrastructure assets, Enbridge Inc. on its CA$1.075 billion sale of South Prairie Region Assets, World Fuel Services on its US$260 million acquisition of ExxonMobil's aviation fueling business, and BP Canada on the US$1.67 billion sale of its Canadian natural gas liquids business. He also advises on environmental due diligence for major national and cross-border transactions.

Alex holds an LLB from the University of British Columbia (1985) and a BA in Economics from the University of Calgary (1978). He received the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012 and has been a member of the Alberta Environmental Appeals Board since 2006. He has lectured on Environmental Law at the University of Calgary Schulich School of Engineering (2003-2016) and on Transportation Law at the University of Calgary Faculty of Law (2000-2009).