8 LEXPERT
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2018
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WWW.LEXPERT.CA
Bombier, Nina Lenczner Slaght Royce Smith Griffin LLP
(416) 865-3052 nbombier@litigate.com
Ms. Bombier is an astute litigator. Her broad practice encompasses
commercial litigation, professional negligence and regulatory matters,
insurance and public law. She has extensive trial experience in complex
commercial and regulatory cases, and medical malpractice actions. She has
appeared as counsel before all levels of court in Ontario, the Federal Court
and the Supreme Court of Canada.
Boggs, C. Kirk Lerners LLP
(416) 601-2367 kboggs@lerners.ca
Mr. Boggs focuses on insurance defence, appellate advocacy, class actions
and health law. His insurance law practice involves extensive public entity
and police defence, professional negligence-legal, motor vehicle, property
damage, fraud, E&O, D&O and commercial liability claims. He also provides
coverage assistance in these areas. He is the 2018 recipient of the OBA
Award for Excellence in Insurance Law.
Boddez, Thomas M. Thorsteinssons LLP
(604) 602-4260 tmboddez@thor.ca
Mr. Boddez has been practising for over 25 years, has served as Managing
Partner of Thorsteinssons LLP and as a Governor of the Canadian Tax
Foundation. He has represented taxpayers at all levels of court, including
Superior Courts, Tax Court, Federal Court, Federal Court of Appeal and
Supreme Court of Canada. He is regularly recognized as one of Canada's
leaders in the field of tax controversies.
Bjorkquist, Sonia L. Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP
(416) 862-5876 sbjorkquist@osler.com
Ms. Bjorkquist is Chair of Osler's National Litigation group and Immediate
Past President of The Advocates' Society. She defends companies in class
actions, commercial arbitration and other complex litigation, including
disputes involving product liability, director/officer liability and business-
critical issues relating to commercial agreements.
Bishop, David C. Gowling WLG
(403) 298-1941 david.bishop@gowlingwlg.com
Mr. Bishop practises corporate/commercial litigation with an emphasis
on directors' and officers' defence, product liability, professional liability
disputes, shareholder disputes, class actions, large property claims and
environmental litigation. He has appeared in the Courts at all levels, including
the Alberta and Manitoba Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Canada.
Binnie, CC, QC, Ian Lenczner Slaght Royce Smith Griffin LLP
(416) 865-3737 ibinnie@litigate.com
The Honourable Mr. Binnie served for nearly 14 years as a Justice of the
Supreme Court of Canada. He draws on his judicial insights and courtroom
experience acquired over 30 years as one of Canada's top litigators. He is
regularly consulted by governments and private parties on a range of private
and public law issues, and carries on an active practice as a domestic and
international arbitrator.
LEXPERT-RANKED LAWYERS
e end result, he says, is arbitration is
now struggling with many of the same is-
sues around delays and costs as the courts.
Horton is hardly a voice in the wilder-
ness. Nina Bombier, a Partner at Lenc-
zner Slaght Royce Smith Griffin LLP in
Toronto, agrees that arbitration has its
share of problems, but she mostly blames
human nature. "If parties are antagonis-
tic and can't agree on anything, going into
arbitration probably won't solve many
problems," she argues. In other words, if
disputants are determined to drag each other into
the mud, there's nothing to stop them, whether
they're facing an arbitrator or a judge.
One of the simplest ways to ensure arbitration
doesn't become a quagmire is for parties to agree
to work together. Once they've decided to launch
the process, they must focus on the common goal
of moving forward and not on the disagreement.
Simply put, they must want to reach a solution,
says Bombier. If they are willing to co-operate and
work together to come up with a mutually agreed-
upon process, then not only can they save time and
money, they might also end up with a result that
both are happy with, she says.
Much the same argument could be made for the
court system. If both parties go in with the hope of
getting a quick result at reasonable cost, that can
be an achievable goal. Dominique Hussey, a Part-
ner at Bennett Jones LLP in Toronto, specializes
And it wasn't just disputants. Legal
professionals took the cue as well. Like
the disputants, not all took the time to
properly understand how arbitration
works and how it could be made to bene-
fit clients, says William Horton, a Toron-
to-based arbitrator and sole practitioner.
"We have a lot of litigators and, frankly,
retired judges who move from litigation
to arbitration but don't do anything dif-
ferently," says Horton. "ey don't try to
find out how arbitration can be conduct-
ed. ey are not curious about processes
that parties might accept as fair, because
their idea of fairness is so informed by
court rules that they cannot imagine any-
thing other than that being fair."
"IF PARTIES ARE ANTAGONISTIC
AND CAN'T AGREE ON ANYTHING,
GOING INTO ARBITRATION
PROBABLY WON'T SOLVE
MANY PROBLEMS."
NINA BOMBIER; LENCZNER SLAGHT
ROYCE SMITH GRIFFIN LLP
