Executive Director, Vancouver (Hybrid)
About British Columbia Law Institute
The British Columbia Law Institute (BCLI) is BC's independent, not-for-profit law reform agency, carrying forward the work of the BC Law Reform Commission, which operated until 1997. For nearly three decades, BCLI has brought together the expertise of volunteer lawyers, academics, and other collaborators to produce scholarly research and practical recommendations that improve the law and increase access to justice across the province. BCLI's motto — “Better laws, plain and simple” — reflects its mandate: identifying where the law is falling short, researching and developing solutions, and engaging the profession and the public to build support for reform.
BCLI's influence extends well beyond BC. In 2025 alone, BCLI publications were cited in more than a dozen court and tribunal decisions from coast to coast, and its recommendations have shaped legislation including BC's Wills, Estates and Succession Act and the recently passed Construction Prompt Payment Act. BCLI is an active member of the Federation of Law Reform Agencies of Canada and hosted the national FOLRAC symposium in Vancouver in 2025. Since 2022, BCLI's Reconciling Crown Legal Frameworks Program has extended this work to strengthening the relationship between Crown and Indigenous laws, reflecting a deep and ongoing institutional commitment to reconciliation and legal pluralism.
BCLI operates with a ~$1M budget and a close-knit team of six staff based at the Peter A. Allard School of Law at the University of British Columbia and a satellite office in Kamloops at Thompson Rivers University, supported by a volunteer Board of Directors drawn primarily from BC's legal community. Its work is mainly funded by the Law Foundation of British Columbia, with additional support from the BC Ministry of Attorney General, the Notary Foundation, and other partners.
The Opportunity
BCLI's Board of Directors has launched a search for the organization's next Executive Director. This is an opportunity to lead a lean, respected, and highly credible organization at a genuine inflection point — one with a strong track record, a talented and committed staff team, and room to grow its impact, its funding base, and its public profile.
The new Executive Director will help advance the following priorities:
Maintain strong governance and Board relationships. Communicate effectively with an engaged Board and support it in fulfilling its governance role.
Provide strong mentorship and leadership to BCLI's legal team. Support staff development, deepen collaboration across projects, and help build organizational bench strength for the future.
Strengthen BCLI's communications, outreach, and public profile. Sharpen how BCLI tells its story to the legal community, policymakers, funders, and the public, and build the external relationships that support both legislative influence and fundraising.
Continue to deepen BCLI's commitment to reconciliation. Advance BCLI's strategic commitment to reconciliation, including ensuring its law reform recommendations support consistency with the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). Bring a genuine, demonstrated commitment to this work, building on BCLI's established national reputation in this area.
Bring modern nonprofit management practices to BCLI's operations. Build on BCLI's strong track record and rigour with sound planning, policy, and administrative infrastructure suited to its next stage of growth.
Build on BCLI's funding relationships and diversify its revenue base. Continue to strengthen BCLI's core funder relationships while pursuing more flexible, multi-year sources of support — consistent with BCLI's strategic priority of increasing unrestricted funding and long-term financial sustainability.
Key Responsibilities
Reporting to a volunteer Board of Directors, the Executive Director provides executive management and organizational leadership to BCLI, overseeing a small team of professionals across the following areas:
Strategic Leadership
Lead staff to implement BCLI's organizational strategic plan.
Work with the Board and staff to develop future strategic plans, obtain key input from partners and allies, and work with the Governance Committee to make recommendations to the Board for approval.
Project Development, Management, and Leadership
Oversee the development of BCLI's legal and social research, law reform projects, tool development, and practice support projects.
Provide executive leadership and supervision across all projects, working collaboratively with the Board, Program Committee, expert staff, and key stakeholders to assess requirements and develop project plans.
Relationship Building and Management
Effectively build, manage, and expand BCLI's internal and external relationships, including with the Board, project committees, funders, government, industry, and the not-for-profit sector.
Revenue Generation
Lead revenue generation to secure ongoing operational and project funding, and to grow overall organizational revenue.
Maintain relationships with key funders to ensure annual approval of operating and project funding.
Identify and approach new funders for projects and operations, as required.
Identify, develop, and recommend initiatives to build alternative revenue sources, such as a legacy or sustaining capital program.
Financial Management and Reporting
Develop the annual budget for Board approval and monitor financial performance against it throughout the year.
Ensure compliance with all statutory filings and payments (charitable and GST returns, payroll), and maintain the financial policies, records, and controls needed for annual audits.
Manage financial risk, including insurance coverage and the security and investment of funds.
Modern Communications
Lead the use of advanced and evolving communications and technologies as appropriate to BCLI's circumstances.
Personnel Management
Provide leadership and management in best practices and good governance, and in properly managing personnel.
Support excellent morale and teamwork.
Ensure BCLI maintains appropriate administrative and legal research support, including arranging for the hiring of part-time legal researchers or administrative personnel as required.
Representation
Attend and present at conferences locally, nationally, and internationally, including engaging with law reform agencies across Canada and within the Commonwealth.
Essential Qualities & Experience
BCLI welcomes candidates from a range of backgrounds and will prioritize those who demonstrate most of the following:
BCLI is equally open to a law reform or policy-oriented lawyer (5+ year call) with genuine management and organizational leadership skills, or a non-lawyer leader (academia, non-profit, government, etc.) who grasps the nuances and mission of BCLI's work and can effectively build its profile with stakeholders and partners across the legal and business community.
Credibility to lead and develop a multidisciplinary team of legal and non-legal professionals.
Ability to balance strategic oversight of BCLI's program work and direction with relationship-building and profile-raising activities that support legislative change and fundraising.
A genuine commitment to reconciliation with Indigenous peoples, and a working understanding of legal pluralism.
An appreciation for BCLI's impartial, arm's-length mandate as a law reform agency.
A broad nonprofit leadership and administration skillset spanning governance, strategic planning, staff leadership and HR, financial management, fundraising, external relations, strategic communications, and general operations. Experience in a legal or law-related nonprofit funded by the Law Foundation is an asset.
A preference for candidates based in the Lower Mainland who can maintain a regular presence at BCLI's offices. Vancouver office staff currently work hybrid (2–3 days/week in-office).
Compensation & Search Process
This Executive Director position offers the opportunity to lead one of BC's most respected law reform organizations at a pivotal moment in its history, working alongside a capable and committed staff team and an engaged Board of Directors.
BCLI anticipates offering a competitive salary in the range of $130,000-$155,000 commensurate with experience, along with a robust benefits package that includes extended health coverage, four weeks’ vacation and a winter office closure, paid sick and personal days, RRSP contributions, and coverage of professional membership fees.
This is a full-time position based at UBC's Peter A. Allard School of Law in Vancouver, BC, though BCLI would consider a fractional arrangement for a strong candidate who wants to maintain a partial independent legal or consulting practice or primarily assume the governance, fundraising, and external relations aspects of the portfolio.
The search process may include longlist, shortlist, and committee interview stages. Finalists will be asked to provide comprehensive recent references and to complete a background check. We expect to process our first review of applications by October 16, 2026.
BCLI's work depends on drawing on a wide range of perspectives and lived experience to produce law reform that genuinely improves access to justice. BCLI welcomes applications from candidates of all backgrounds. Candidates who require accommodations during the search process are welcome to contact us directly, in confidence.
To apply, please forward your resume and cover letter to info@mosaicsearch.ca. In your cover letter, please share your perspective on BCLI's role in the legal landscape and why you're interested in leading this work through its next phase.
All applications will be personally reviewed and assessed by our search team. You are also welcome to reach out to Dave Namkung (dave@mosaicsearch.ca) or Alana Briggs (alana@mosaicsearch.ca) with any related questions.