Rachel Garrett

Contact Details

Rachel Garrett

Assistant: Natausha Furlong

She/Her

Determined to use her skillset at Woodward to pursue creative solutions to push the justice system forward, Rachel’s core focuses as a lawyer are Aboriginal rights and title, consultation and accommodation, and natural resources.

Rachel holds a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Political Science from the University of British Columbia, where she was awarded the Jean Laponce Prize for the best Honours thesis in Political Science in 2018. During her undergraduate studies, she served as President of UBC’s LGBTQ+ resource group and volunteered at the Sexual Assault Support Centre. Rachel earned her Juris Doctor from UBC in 2021, where she was awarded the Wesbrook Scholar designation for academic performance and community leadership. During law school, Rachel participated in the BC Law Schools Moot and the National Labour Arbitration Moot, with both teams winning first place. She spent her second year of law school as a student legal researcher for the United Nations Human Rights Committee in Geneva. Rachel also holds a Master of Laws (LLM) from the University of Cambridge, where she attended Trinity College under the Henry Arthur Hollond award. She graduated in 2023 with First Class Honours.

Prior to joining the firm, Rachel served as a judicial law clerk at the Court of Appeal of Alberta (2021-2022). In 2024 she will clerk at the Supreme Court of Canada for Justice Martin. She has also worked as a summer law student at a human rights and labour law firm in Edmonton, and as a summer law student for Alberta Justice.

Rachel sees the law as a tool for change and is passionate about using her role at the firm to pursue justice for historical and ongoing inequalities.

Membership & Professional Affiliations

  • Member, Law Society of BC (2022)
  • Member, Canadian Bar Association (2022)

Practice Areas

  • Aboriginal and Treaty Rights
  • Aboriginal Title
  • Consultation and Accommodation
  • Natural Resources

Selected Cases, Presentations & Publications

Rachel Garrett & Nicole Barrett, “Dublin III in Practice: Synthesizing a Framework for Non-Refoulment Cases at the Human Rights Committee” online: (2022) 13:2 Journal of Human Rights Practice, University of Oxford, <https://bit.ly/3jYk34z>.

Rachel Garrett, “The Children Parliament Left Behind: Examining the Inequity of Funding in An Act Respecting First Nations, Inuit and Métis children, youth, and families” online: (2021) 34:1 Canadian Journal of Family Law <https://bit.ly/3ThHnXj>.

Rachel Garrett, “The Language of Sexism: The Impact of Gendered Terms in Media” online: (2020) Critique Journal of Politics <https://bit.ly/3g6Rtw4>.

Rachel Garrett & Stepan Wood, “Rights of Nature Legislation for British Columbia: Issues and Options” online: (2020) Centre for Law and the Environment, UBC <https://bit.ly/3VnTOCK>.

Rachel Garrett & Dominik Stecula, “Subtle sexism in political coverage can have a real impact on candidates” online: (2018) Columbia Journalism Review, Columbia University <https://bit.ly/3Cv0BlE>.

Rachel Garrett, “Lengthy s. 35 Trials and Access to Justice: Malli v. British Columbia” online: (2024) Woodward and Co. Lawyers LLP, https://www.woodwardandcompany.com/news/lengthy-s-35-trials-and-access-to-justice-malli-v-british-columbia/

Outside of work, Rachel enjoys hiking, embroidery, and musical theatre.