BRIAN DEVLIN, Calgary Medical Malpractice and Personal Injury Lawyer
Brian Devlin, KC graduated from the University of Windsor Faculty of Law in 1976 and moved to Calgary to article with Jones Black, now Bennett Jones. He trained under Jack Major, KC, then Alberta’s foremost medical negligence defence lawyer and later a Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada.
Called to the Alberta Bar in June 1977, Devlin joined Noel O’Brien, KC and later Don Macleod, KC to establish O’Brien Devlin Macleod. Over more than four decades with the firm, he acted in both criminal and civil matters at every level of court in Alberta and before the Supreme Court of Canada. From 1994 onward, his practice concentrated on representing clients injured through medical malpractice, motor vehicle accidents, and assaults. Between 2019 and 2024, Devlin practiced with Law Fifty One, assisting Steve Breslauer and Derek Nash in advancing complex medical malpractice cases.
Brian took a break for a year from the summer of 2024 to the summer of 2025 to do some travelling and has now joined the firm of Cuming Gillespie as Counsel.
He was consistently recognized in the Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory for medical negligence since its inception and was included in Best Lawyers in Canada from 2006 through 2024 for personal injury and medical malpractice. In 2010, he was named Personal Injury Lawyer of the Year in southern Alberta, and in 2014 and 2019, he was honoured as Lawyer of the Year for medical negligence.
Devlin co-authored A Practical Guide to Medical Malpractice Litigation – A Plaintiff’s Perspective (Carswell, 2011). He has presented extensively on medical malpractice and personal injury issues for the Canadian Institute, the Alberta, Ontario, and BC Trial Lawyers Associations, the Alberta Civil Trial Lawyers Association, and various sections of the Alberta Law Society.
His papers and lectures have covered topics such as laser eye surgery claims, preparing and conducting malpractice actions, damages in infant brain injury cases, chronic pain, and the evaluation of chronic pain claims.
In 2016, Devlin was inducted into the American College of Trial Lawyers, an elite group of senior trial lawyers in North America recognized for the highest standards of ethics, professionalism, civility, and collegiality.