Geoff Lyster

Geoff is a partner in the Business Department of Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP, having practiced with the firm and its predecessor firms for 20 years. Geoff's primary areas of experience include corporate mergers and acquisitions, franchising, and governance and general corporate/commercial matters in both the profit and not-for-profit (particularly health care and education) contexts.

Geoff is a former President of the Vancouver Bar Association and former Chair of the Business Law Section of the Canadian Bar Association – B.C. Branch. He is a current Director (and former President) of Endeavour for the Benefit of the Arts, Sciences and Health and a current Director and member of the Executive Committee of BC Women's Hospital and Health Centre Foundation.

Geoff is a co-author and co-editor of Annotated British Columbia Company Act (now the British Columbia Business Corporations Act), Western Legal Publications (now Canada Law Book) (1998, with periodic updates); a contributing author of Buying and Selling a Business – Annotated Precedents, The Continuing Legal Education Society of British Columbia (2000, with periodic updates); a contributing update author of the Franchising chapter in Doing Business in Canada, Matthew Bender (U.S.) (2001); author of an article entitled The New BC Business Corporations Act in The Lawyers Weekly (October 2004); and author of an article on Franchising in BC Business Magazine (September 2009).

His recent speaking engagements include a presentation on Non-Competition Provisions in Franchise Agreements at the Canadian Franchise Association's 2009 Western Summit (September 2009) and on Directors' Duties and Liabilities at a joint seminar of Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP, Grant Thornton LLP and The Osborne Group entitled A New Era of Risk; A Presentation on HST, Directors' Liability and Governance Issues for Charities, Not for Profit Associations, Educational Institutions and other Public Sector Entities (January 2010).