Dispatches from the Middle
Frontline insights on mediation, reform and resolution
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· 7 min read
School Board Liability in Ontario: A Mediator’s Perspective on Risk and Responsibility
Over the years, I have had carriage of many cases involving school boards across Ontario arising from injuries sustained by students and others on…
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· 6 min read
BLOG SERIES (Part 2): A New Architecture: The Application Track
From Procedural Afterthought to Case-Defining Engine
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· 8 min read
Caught in the Middle: Priority Disputes in Accident Benefits Claims
Over the years while in practice, I had more than a few clients surprised by a reality they never expected. They were not primarily…
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· 5 min read
BLOG SERIES (Part 1): A New Architecture: Civil Rules Reform's Procedural Framework for All Matters
Introduction
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· 9 min read
Before You Leap: Pre-Litigation Protocols and the Discipline of Early Seriousness
When I transitioned from defence work to my own plaintiff-side practice around 2000, I made a conscious effort to approach the commencement of a…
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· 7 min read
Delay Reset: A Cultural Reckoning in Ontario’s Civil Justice System
For decades, delay has been treated as an unfortunate by-product of Ontario’s civil justice system. In truth, it has been something far worse. It’s…
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· 6 min read
BLOG SERIES: Special Considerations in… Heavy Commercial Vehicle Accidents
Heavy commercial vehicle (“HCV”) accidents occupy a distinctive and demanding corner of motor vehicle litigation. While the governing principles of negligence are familiar, the…
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· 8 min read
Out of the Trenches: Civil Rules Reform of Motions in Ontario
When the Phase 2 Consultation Paper landed, motions reform was the part of the package that made the litigation bar most uneasy. I blogged…
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· 8 min read
Demise of the Clown Car: How Ontario’s Civil Rules Reform Takes Aim at Competing Experts
Ontario civil litigators have lived with an uncomfortable truth for years, that expert evidence often adds volume without adding clarity. One expert becomes two.…
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· 4 min read
Door Ajar: Access to Justice and Civil Rules Reform
In my last post, “A System on the Brink”, I focused on the Final Policy Report[1] of the Civil Rules Review Working Group as…
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· 6 min read
A System on the Brink: Why Discovery Reform Matters
Ontario’s civil justice system is in trouble. Not in a dramatic, sensational way, but in a cumulative, predictable way that anyone who’s practised here…
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· 6 min read
Looking Back to Move Forward: Civil Justice Then, Now, and What Comes Next
When the System Was Built for a Different Time