W. Martin Finch – Partner, Criminal Defense Lawyer
Martin Finch is married with three children and lives in Chilliwack. He was raised in Vancouver and attended Vancouver College. He earned a Bachelor of Arts with Honors from Simon Fraser University in 1976 and followed this with a Bachelor of Law Degree from the University of British Columbia in 1980. In 1991, Monash University in Melbourne, Australia awarded Mr. Finch a Master of Laws Degree.
Mr. Finch has practiced as a trial lawyer since being called to the Bar of British Columbia in 1981. He is also admitted as a barrister and solicitor in Australia.Mr. Finch practices in the fields of criminal and civil litigation. He articled with the Vancouver law firm of Zlotnik, DuMoulin in 1981. From there, he assumed a position as Crown Counsel in Vancouver, and subsequently in the interior of British Columbia with a base in Williams Lake. Following a three-year period lecturing in law in Melbourne and Brisbane, Australia, he joined Baker Newby LLP in 1991.
Mr. Finch has acted for clients in a full range of matters involving criminal law and civil litigation. Mr. Finch is a regular lecturer in law and has held lecturing positions with Victoria College School of Business, Melbourne, Australia; the School of Law Monash University, Melbourne, Australia; School of Law Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia, and the Criminology Department of Simon Fraser University. As well, he lectured in Criminal Law at the University College of the Fraser Valley. He has published a number of articles on legal topics and is a contributor to the text “Essays in Commercial and Property Law”.
Mr. Finch was appointed Queen’s Counsel in November of 2010. The Queen’s Counsel designation is an honor conferred on members of the legal profession to recognize exceptional merit and contribution. Mr. Finch is now designated as King’s Counsel in recognition of the reigning monarch.
In 2013 he was elected as a Bencher for The Law Society of British Columbia, a position involved in the governance of lawyers in B.C. Mr. Finch was continuously re-elected as a Bencher until 2022, at which time he was recognized as a Life Bencher.
He held numerous positions as a Bencher including Chair of the Discipline Committee, Chair of the Complaints Review Committee, and Chair of the Ethics Committee. In addition, he was a member of the Practice Standards Committee, Credentials Committee, and the Truth and Reconciliation Advisory Committee.
Mr. Finch has also held positions as a director of the Chilliwack Chamber of Commerce, the Canadian Bar Representative to the Chilliwack School District, a Director of Williams Lake Child Development Centre, and Secretary of the Cariboo Bar Association.
Mr. Finch is a member of the Canadian Bar Association and has acted on a variety of committees for it, and also a long-standing member of the Trial Lawyers Association of B.C. Mr. Finch represented the Canadian Bar Association and the Chilliwack Bar Association at the government inquiry on the future of the Chilliwack and Abbotsford courthouses which successfully retained a courthouse in both communities.
Mr. Finch acts as counsel throughout British Columbia, but is happy to live, practice and enjoy the Fraser Valley.