Elizabeth McIsaac

About Elizabeth

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Elizabeth is an associate in the Halifax office with a practice primarily focused on corporate commercial law, including legal issues related to the mining, energy, and forestry sectors. She works on a variety of corporate and securities matters, including asset and share purchases, financing, and securities compliance. Specific to the mining sector, she provides advice on the purchase and sale of mineral rights and related surface access issues.

Elizabeth also is experienced in environmental due diligence, permitting and compliance for projects, species at risk issues, and drafting contracts to allocate risk for environmental liabilities in project development. Additionally, Elizabeth has legal knowledge in Aboriginal law, particularly in respect of the Crown’s duty to consult and accommodate Indigenous peoples.

Elizabeth is a member of the Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society and the Canadian Bar Association. She is a former Public Representative (lay member) of the Geoscientists Nova Scotia Council and is a past Member at Large of the CBA Environmental, Energy & Resources Law Section.

Elizabeth is a contributing author on a number of publications, including:

• Wylie Spicer, Q.C. & Elizabeth McIsaac, “UNCLOS Article 82: A Review and the Hurdles to Implementation” in Myron H. Nordquist,, et al, eds, and Center for Oceans Law and Policy, Legal Order in the World’s Oceans: UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (Boston: Brill Nijhoff, 2018).
• Wylie Spicer, Q.C. & Elizabeth McIsaac, ISA Technical Study No. 15: A Study of Key Terms in Article 82 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Kingston, International Seabed Authority, 2016)
• Fedortchouk, Y., & McIsaac, E. (2013). Surface dissolution features on kimberlitic chromites as indicators of magmatic fluid and diamond quality, Proceedings of 10^th International Kimberlite Conference (Journal of the Geological Society of India), pp. 297-308.
• Yoshino, T., McIsaac, E., Laumonier, M., & Katsura, T. (2012). Electrical conductivity of partial molten carbonate peridotite, Physics of the Earth and Planetary Interiors, pp. 1-9.
• Yoshino, T., Laumonier, M., McIsaac, E., & Katsura, T. (2010). Electrical conductivity of basaltic and carbonatite melt-bearing peridotites at high pressures: Implications for melt distribution and melt fraction in the upper mantle, Earth and Planetary Science Letters, pp. 593-602.
• T. A. Goodwin, K. L. Ford, P. W. B. Friske, & E. M. McIsaac, Radon Soil Gas in Nova Scotia
• Elizabeth has also authored and co-authored a number of publications on natural resources in Nova Scotia, which can be viewed here.

Presentations:

• Elizabeth McIsaac, “Claims for the Inuit to the Arctic Ocean and Seabed”. 18th Annual Arctic Oil & Gas Symposium (2018). Calgary, Alberta, March 21, 2018.
• Elizabeth McIsaac, “The Impact of ‘Due Regard’ on Ocean Industries”. World Ocean Council Sustainable Ocean Summit – Panel: Ocean Governance Including UNCLOS The Law of the Sea New Legally Binding Instrument on Biodiversity in Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ): What Will it Mean for Ocean Industries?, Halifax, Nova Scotia, November 30, 2017.
• Wylie Spicer, Q.C. & Elizabeth McIsaac, “Back to basics: contract law and the International Seabed Authority exploitation regime”. Underwater Mining Conference 2017. Berlin, Germany, September 26, 2017.