Meet the Team
Lui Carvello
As a planner and lawyer, having worked with developers both as a pre-law consultant and while at McCarthy Tetrault, and having worked in municipal and regional governments, Lui understands the challenges planners face, the goals they wish to achieve and the ultimate desire to implement them. He insists on doing so with the legal tools that are available and/or making you aware of the risks otherwise. Lui spent 6.5 years with a boutique municipal law firm, working with local governments across the Province, before establishing Carvello Law. He was the Chair of CBA’s BC Municipal Law section for a time and is presently elected to the Planning Institute of BC’s Board of Directors (since 2013), recently concluding his service as Chair of PIBC’s Professional Conduct Review Committee. He is also on the Land Title and Survey Authority’s Legal Professional Advisory Committee, and appreciates you sharing your local government perspectives on your experiences with the LTSA.
Dana Goodfellow (Phoenix Law)
Dana has provided litigation services through her firm Phoenix Law Corporation working in collaboration with Carvello Law since 2011, and we are pleased she helps serve the needs of Carvello Law’s clients as well as those that engage her directly. Dana brings private practice experience in diverse areas of the law and as a prosecutor on behalf of the provincial and federal government. With respect to local government, Dana is a no-nonsense prosecutor/litigator and has worked on a variety of matters. She also addresses the bulk of our FOIPPA and conflict of interest opinions, privilege, confidentiality and trust matters, and Building Bylaw work. Dana practiced at Watson Goepel Maledy and Borden Ladner Gervais LLP for five years in the areas of corporate law, wills, estates and trusts as well as estate, environmental and securities litigation. Before moving to Victoria in late 2007, Dana was senior legal counsel with the British Columbia Securities Commission and prosecuted violations of the Securities Act. After moving to Victoria, Dana worked with the BC Civil Forfeiture Office in the prosecution of violations of the Civil Forfeiture Act, and as an agent for the Director of the Public Prosecution Service of Canada in the prosecution of offences under the Criminal Code. Since 2011, Dana has worked in the area of local government law.
Ben Ramsden
Ben was called to the Bar in September 2019 after articling with our firm. He was a McCarthy Tetrault Scholarship recipient at the University of Victoria law school, and he returned to Victoria following several years working with Alberta’s Ministry of Municipal Affairs, including development of emergency management policy and legislation. During his schooling, Ben also worked with the Public Prosecution Service of Canada, The Law Centre, The Vancouver Island Human Rights Coalition and Citizenship and Immigration Canada. He regularly works on property transactions, covenants for development on hazardous lands, conservation covenants, and the myriad of other documents for our local governments buying and selling lands, developing their own land and regulating the development of private land.
Michael Hargraves
Michael Hargraves is a lawyer with a solicitor’s practice in local government law. His experience handling local government legal matters is both broad and deep, and encompasses a diverse range of subject matters, having been developed during his years as both external and in-house counsel to local governments in British Columbia. Of note, Michael has extensive experience in bylaw drafting and interpretation, real property matters, procurement, land use planning and development, contracts, risk management, environmental matters, expropriation, conflicts of interest, and governance. He strives to approach legal work in a practical, no-nonsense, solution-oriented way. Michael earned his law degree at the University of British Columbia in 2004 and was called to the BC bar in 2005 after completing articles with a national law firm in Vancouver. Later in 2005, Michael made the move to Victoria, where he gained experience in a civil litigation practice before joining a local government boutique firm in 2007 as a junior associate. Michael worked his way through that firm’s ranks to become a partner in 2014, and continued in that role until 2017, when he took on the role of city solicitor at a large Vancouver Island municipality. Having gained a wealth of experience during his time in-house, Michael returned to private practice in 2022, and in 2023 joined the team at Carvello Law. Michael is a past chair of the Municipal Law Section of the Canadian Bar Association (BC Branch), an engaging public speaker who has presented numerous times at local government conferences, and a seasoned writer who has penned many articles and papers on legal subjects of interest to local government staff and elected officials.
Students of Planning and Law
Carvello Law also employs Registered Professional Planners, Students and those working towards their professional accreditation either in planning or law, including to provide cost effective research and initial drafting of planning and development documents under Lui’s supervision. We take pride in providing a springboard opportunity for young planning professionals and we recognize the responsibility to train them in our legal, professional and ethical systems.