Instructor Profile: Nic Preston

International Expertise

Nic Preston brings more than a decade of labour and employment law experience to the Western Continuing Studies classroom

Studying employment law may not sound like the most natural part of becoming an HR professional. But as Nic Preston aims to show his students at Western Continuing Studies, the day-to-day realities of the field are anything but cut-and-dried, and it is a necessary part of today’s HR toolkit.

“It’s such a fluid area of law, where things change so quickly,” says Preston, a dual-qualified lawyer who enjoyed a successful partnership at one of South Africa’s largest law firms before continuing his legal career in Canada in 2019.

Today, Preston is founding lawyer of Preston Legal, a boutique employment and labour law firm that represents corporate clients and business owners across Ontario. In addition, he fulfills a separate role as the managing partner and in-house counsel for HR consulting firm, HRP4B Inc., which serves clients throughout Southwestern Ontario.

Law and Human Resources

Since January, Preston has also been teaching Law for Human Resources at Western Continuing Studies. The hybrid online course with real-time learning is a required course in the Post-Degree Diploma in Human Resources program. It also prepares post-graduate students for the Employment Law Exam required for the CHRP / CHRL designations, which are administered by the Human Resources Professional Association (HRPA).

Employment law and HR go hand-in-hand

Preston uses a combination of academic readings and case studies to introduce students to legal concepts that are fundamental to human resources issues such as employment contracts, minimum standards legislation, human rights, occupational health and safety, and finally, terminations. He supplements these with strategies from his own practice, as well as lessons from the court room.

The curriculum covers the entire life cycle of the employment relationship, starting from the earliest stage in the recruitment process, to appropriately managing the employment relationship, through to resignation or termination, including post-termination considerations.

Preparing students for the daily challenges of an HR professional or business owner

Preston shares his own risk mitigation strategies along the way, taking students on a real HR journey to equip them for all they will meet once in practice while ensuring a balance between flexibility and legal compliance.

As a practicing lawyer and court litigator, Preston is able to draw from his own professional experience to illustrate the complexities that are ever present as HR professionals navigate a wide and growing range of employment issues, including, more recently, privacy and artificial intelligence in the workplace. “In each class I share practical scenarios with the students and challenge them to share how they would approach a particular issue, which we then workshop and reconcile with the law and developing cases,” he notes.

Preston also uses class time to discuss emerging legal issues such as new bills, amendments to legislation and emerging developments form the Courts and Tribunals.

The goal is to prepare students for the daily challenges they are likely to face as an HR professional or business owner. “Some of my clients have a single HR person who is responsible for hundreds of employees,” Preston says. “This means the issues can vary significantly, and the stakes are high. Being equipped with practical knowledge and having the confidence to draw on their classroom experiences and discussions is invaluable, and sets the students up for success.”

NIC PRESTON

Nic Preston is a dual-qualified lawyer who enjoyed a successful partnership at one of South Africa’s largest law firms before continuing his legal career in Canada in 2019. Nic teaches Law for Human Resources at Western Continuing Studies.