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Find Lawyers in Ontario, Canada for Insurance Law
Practice Area Overview
Insurance law is a wide-ranging practice area that involves providing insurers with advice on governance issues, regulatory compliance, and the interpretation and application of insurance policies, as well as representing insurers and their insured before the courts.
Insurance law practitioners generally also provide advice and counsel to a range of other participants in this industry, including agents, brokers, claims adjusters, and reinsurers, on all aspects that are incidental to the market for insurance products and services, whether litigious or not.
Specialists in insurance law must have an in-depth understanding of the statutory and regulatory framework for the industry and the ability to draft and interpret insurance policies, manage complex litigation files, and provide effective advocacy and representation before the courts in a variety of coverage categories, including life and health insurance, liability and professional liability insurance, directors and officers liability insurance, property-casualty insurance (which includes automobile insurance, aviation insurance, boiler and machinery insurance, and builder’s risk insurance), reinsurance, surety and fidelity insurance, credit insurance, legal expenses insurance, as well as in matters of insurance fraud.
The statutes, regulations, and directives of regulatory bodies to which insurers are subject are numerous, complex, and constantly evolving, particularly since the global financial crisis. The consequences of regulatory non-compliance can have a major impact on the financial and operational levels, and in terms of reputational risk. One important facet of insurance law consists of advising insurers on regulatory compliance and providing guidance on strategic decisions to be taken in wide variety of contexts, such as the creation of new insurance products, regulatory inspections, the protection of personal information, and the distribution of financial products and services.
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Geoff is one of Canada’s best-known trial and appellate counsel. The breadth of his experience is virtually unmatched among Canadian litigators. Early on in his career Geoff practiced criminal law where he gained invaluable courtroom experience trying to verdict among other cases, an even dozen murder trials. His practice evolved over a few years into the field of civil litigation where he went on to try to verdict over 250 jury and non jury cases and argue in excess of 100 appeals befo...
Kevin enjoys practising law and loves the challenges of civil litigation. He has broad experience in all aspects of insurance claims litigation, including personal injury, products liability, property losses, professional negligence, class proceedings, and coverage disputes. He is an expert in handling first-party accident benefits claims and disputes between insurers (loss transfer and priority disputes). Kevin is proud to assist many of the firm’s longstanding clients with tailored, p...
Tim is an experienced litigator recognized by both clients and his peers for his skillful handling of a broad range of insurance claims. Tim works in partnership with his clients, sophisticated litigants who appreciate his talent for quickly analyzing and assessing claims and bringing them to a prompt and fair resolution. He has defended financial advisors, insurance brokers, real estate agents, and engineers from a wide variety of disciplines. He has extensive experience in automobile insura...
Lisa is like a combination of Leslie Knope and Ron Swanson. She practices law with unbridled enthusiasm and is rattled by nothing. As the managing partner of SBA, Lisa leads by example, proving to every team member, there’s no challenge too great to be overcome with a smile. Oh, and a laugh, Lisa has a signature laugh! Lisa is a skilled litigator and problem solver. Clients trust Lisa because she brings a level head and a sense of calm to every situation, no matter how high the stakes. ...
Giovanna Asaro is a partner whose litigation practice focuses on defending claims of sexual abuse, professional negligence, malicious prosecution, wrongful arrest, and negligent investigation for a variety of public authorities and private corporations. Clients have confidence in Giovanna’s ability to handle their sensitive, high-stakes claims with dignity, respect and discretion. Giovanna’s litigation expertise includes over 20 years’ experience counselling and representing...
Steven J. Atkinson is a Partner with the Litigation and Dispute Resolution Group at Harrison Pensa. He has a diverse litigation practice with 30 years of experience. He works for individuals, insurance companies and corporations of all sizes. Whatever the case, or whoever the client, Steve prides himself on his personal involvement with his clients and results-oriented approach to litigation. Steve’s insurance clients do business across Canada, covering a wide range of exposures includi...
Rick Aucoin is a partner at Beard Winter LLP with a wide range of litigation experience before all courts and tribunals. The focus of his practice is civil litigation with an emphasis on property, casualty, tort and negligence cases, commercial insurance, product liability and coverage issues. Rick’s practice also focuses on professional errors with a recent appointment to the preferred counsel list for the defence of lawyers in their professional capacity. Rick has been providing litig...
Shanti has focused on building an insurance defence practice in property and product liability loss, including subrogation work. She has worked extensively on files involving condominium construction. Shanti consistently represents Long Term Care Facilities and nurses providing care to patients at home. She has acted as an Appraiser under s.128 of the Insurance Act. She has extensive experience with professional negligence and enjoys BI tort work. Since being called to the bar, she was worked...
Chris Blom is an experienced insurance litigation lawyer with a practice that concentrates on insurance work in connection with both tort and accident benefit cases, including out-of-province and cross-border cases. Chris acts on behalf of claimants and insurers with respect to claims across Canada regarding all aspects of general insurance liability, including historical sexual abuse claims, class actions, motor vehicle accidents, fire loss, construction negligence, CGL claims, occupier&rsqu...
James Bromiley has a diverse practice encompassing all areas of civil and commercial litigation. He has acted for clients in property and casualty insurance, personal injury, motor vehicle, short and long term disability claims, and environmental law matters. James identifies sound, practical business solutions for his clients, resolving disputes through consultation and negotiation before litigation becomes the only viable option. He adopts a problem-solving approach to address client concer...
Second to none, Fiona is the B in SBA. For 16 years Fiona worked on Bay Street, where she broke barriers by being the first female partner, and then the first female Chair, in the insurance group. Fiona brought the same values with her when she came to SBA. Throughout her enduring career, Fiona has been consistently energized by her clients and the relationships she has built with them. She thrives on social interaction, whether it be with her clients or with her fellow and opposing lawyers. ...
Todd Burke is a senior litigation partner in the firm's Ottawa office. His practice is focused on commercial litigation, professional liability and risk management. With over 20 years of experience, Todd has handled complex disputes for individuals, private and public companies, as well as government and other public agencies. His representation includes early case assessment, regular reporting, project management, e-discovery best practices, effective budgeting and vigorous representation. T...
Brian Cameron completed his LLB at Western University and was called to the Bar in 2001. He joined Oatley Vigmond in 1999 and became a partner in 2008. Brian is a Certified Specialist in Civil Litigation, and has been listed in Best Lawyers in Canada since 2017. Brian has acted as co-counsel on several cases at the appellate level in Ontario that has resulted in significant gains for Plaintiffs injured in motor-vehicle collisions in Ontario. He has been an invited speaker at conferences invol...
Alex Curry is one of Beard Winter LLP’s managing partners. A civil litigator, Alex practises exclusively in the area of insurance defence litigation. He has a special interest in disability-related matters including claims arising from long-term disability policies (both group and individual), critical illness policies, mortgage life, and life insurance claims. Alex takes a common sense approach to resolving all variety of matters including coverage disputes, statutory accident benefits...
Jim Davidson has been certified as a Specialist in Civil Litigation by the Law Society of Ontario. He has also been selected by his peers for inclusion in Best Lawyers in Canada, for his work in both personal injury and insurance law. Jim’s practice is unique in that he is one of the few lawyers in his industry who represents both insurance companies and individual clients. He has significant experience in injury, fatality and disability claims. He is regularly consulted by insurance co...
Frank S.M. Devito is a civil litigator and senior partner at Beard Winter LLP, with more than 20 years of insurance defence litigation expertise. Bringing sound advice and a deep understanding of the Canadian insurance industry, Frank has a lengthy track record of successfully defending insurers in relation to various types of claims. These include motor vehicle tort claims, personal injury claims, general liability claims, property/casualty claims, construction claims, contractor liability c...
Colin Dubeau is a partner at Nelligan Law, and the leader of our Insurance Practice Group. Since his call to the Bar in 1999, Colin has practised exclusively in the areas of civil litigation and advocacy. He has appeared before all levels of Ontario courts, and also has experience before the Federal Court of Appeal, the Supreme Court of Canada, and a diverse array of administrative tribunals. Colin has worked extensively on property and casualty insurance claims, including motor vehicle claim...
James (Jamie) Dunn is a partner at Beard Winter LLP and a member of the firm’s Insurance Litigation group. Jamie has enjoyed a long and distinguished legal career in the field of insurance defence litigation and is a nationally recognized and highly regarded litigator.Jamie specializes in jury trial work in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, as well as tort, subrogation, rail-related claims, product liability, coverage dispute litigation and commercial general liability cases. He ha...
A graduate of McGill University and Queen’s University Faculty of Law, Rob joined Oatley Vigmond shortly after his call to the bar in 1997. As a partner at Oatley Vigmond, Rob is committed to helping clients obtain the compensation they deserve. He finds working on and resolving cases that involve the death of a family member the most gratifying. While compensation can never provide solace to the surviving family members, bringing the case to a successful resolution often provides a sen...
Valerie is a senior member of our Litigation Group and is a highly respected member of the litigation bar. In addition to her extensive experience as trial counsel, she has appeared as appellate counsel before both the Ontario Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Canada. With more than 25 years of experience at the Bar, Valerie has demonstrated established expertise in damages analysis, including business loss claims, business and share valuations, and real property valuations. She has ex...
Laura has set herself apart as a leader in the legal profession and insurance industry. She has won so many professional awards that we had to lease more web site space to list them all. As Laura’s career was taking off in the courtroom, she briefly explored a career flying Italian fighter jets. Since then, Laura has been completely committed to clients and her practice. She is driven to achieve the best possible outcome in the courtroom, in arbitrations or through negotiation. Not one ...
Colin is a partner in Blaney’s Insurance Coverage Counsel Group. His primary practice area relates to insurance coverage opinions and coverage litigation. His secondary practice area involves insurance related defence work and subrogation claims. As coverage counsel, Colin provides advice and litigates in relation to liability policies of every description, including commercial general liability, automobile, homeowner and directors’ and officers’ policies. He also provides a...
Al Esterbauer is a senior counsel in the Koskie Minsky Civil Litigation practice. With more than 38 years of experience litigating a diverse spectrum of complex actions, Al has recently added mediation and arbitration to his practice. He has a broad range of litigation expertise in areas of professional liability, real estate, insurance and commercial cases. Al’s litigation practice has concentrated in the area of professional liability in the defence of claims against lawyers, but he h...
Tim articled with Blaney McMurtry in 1991 and has been with the firm ever since. He was called to the Bar of Ontario in 1993 and became a Partner in 1999. Tim has acted for Insurers for most of his career. The current focus of his practice is on defending professional negligence claims, including the defence of errors & omissions claims against engineers, accountants, mortgage brokers, medical professionals and others. Additionally, he has represented directors and officers on insured D&a...
Patricia (Pat) Forte specializes in employment law and insurance defence. She has also completed courses in risk assessment, risk control and risk financing to receive her Canadian Risk Management (CRM) designation, and has expertise in risk management in the profit and not-for-profit sectors. In the area of employment, her expertise includes representing clients on employment standards, contracts, policies, privacy, restrictive covenants, workplace investigations, managing leaves of absence,...
Mark leads Miller Thomson’s insurance practice and oversees the defence, coverage, policy drafting and corporate and captive insurance practice at the firm. With over 35 years of representing Lloyd’s of London syndicates, Mark specialises in construction-related professional indemnity defence as well as a E&O defences of a wide range of professionals including insurance brokers, MGA operators, engineers, architects, lawyers, insurance agents and financial professionals on matt...
Jessica Fullerton is an associate lawyer with Nelligan Law and practices in the areas of personal injury and wrongful death, insurance defence, and civil litigation. Her work includes cases involving car accidents, employer negligence, slip-and-falls, medical malpractice, and bar and tavern liability. Jessica has appeared before the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, Small Claims Court, and at various administrative tribunals, including the Financial Services Commission of Ontario, Residentia...
Christine’s practice is almost exclusively dedicated to the defence of class action proceedings. She has significant experience litigating claims involving product liability, medical malpractice, complex bodily injury, abuse, sports and recreation, professional liability, construction andproperty damage. She has represented clients in a number of trials, arbitrations, applications, motions and tribunal hearings. Prior to joining Dolden Wallace Folick LLP in 2017, she maintained a busy p...
Anthony’s practice is devoted to all aspects of insurance coverage. Anthony’s extensive experience has made him a resource for both domestic and international clients at the primary, excess, and reinsurance levels. Anthony frequently provides practical legal advice and representation to both insurers and policyholders on all manner of first-party and third-party insurance coverage matters. He regularly provides advice on potential and existing claims, both before and during litiga...
Penny Georgoudis is a partner at Beard Winter LLP and a member of the firm’s Insurance Litigation Group. A seasoned civil litigator with more than 30 years of experience in the area of insurance defence, Penny acts on behalf of numerous insurers throughout Ontario on tort and negligence claims, property and casualty, product liability, coverage issues, commercial insurance, and general liability claims. She regularly appears before all levels of Ontario Courts, representing clients at t...
Jennifer obtained her BA from the University of Toronto in 1992 and her LL.B. from Osgoode Hall Law School in 1995. She was called to the Bar in 1997 and joined Zarek, Taylor, Grossman, Hanrahan in 1999. In 2008 she joined the partnership. Jennifer currently practices predominantly in the area of first party accident benefits with an emphasis on catastrophic claims. She also assists insurers with priority disputes, loss transfer claims and cases involving interface with the Workplace Safety a...
Eric was called to the Ontario Bar in 1989 and has been certified as a Specialist in Civil Litigation by the Law Society of Upper Canada since 1999. Eric has been named by Best Lawyers International as Lawyer of the Year, Personal Injury Litigation, Toronto, for 2018, and is recognized annually as a Best Lawyer in Canada in personal injury and insurance law by that organization. Eric continues to be recognized by Lexpert as a leading practitioner in personal injury law. He has attained an AV ...
Susan Gunter, partner since 2002 at Dutton Brock LLP, holds an LLM in Civil Litigation (Osgoode), an LLB (UNB), and was called to the Ontario Bar in 1996. She is recognized in The Best Lawyers in Canada (Products Liability Law, Insurance Law and Personal Injury Litigation). Her litigation practice defends domestic and international corporations and insurers. She has appeared before federal and provincial tribunals, at all levels of court in Ontario and at the Federal Court of Canada. She is c...
Ian practices exclusively as a civil litigator, primarily in the areas of insurance, personal injury, product liability and commercial litigation, appearing as counsel in over 300 trials, arbitrations, inquests and appeals. He has lectured and written for the legal profession, law students, the insurance industry, business and community groups on a variety of topics including trial advocacy, insurance, mediation and government relations. Ian was called to the Ontario Bar in 1982 after attendi...
Kathryn Kirkpatrick is Counsel and an experienced litigator in the Construction and Infrastructure and Insurance Practice Groups at Singleton Urquhart Reynolds Vogel LLP. Her extensive experience includes representing large institutional, private and municipal clients in diverse civil proceedings. She has represented clients in claims involving large multi-party construction projects; malicious prosecution, false arrest, negligent investigation, assault and breach of Charter rights; negligent...
Alf earned his JD from the U of T in 1970. He and Morris Singer founded the firm in 1974. He has appeared at all court levels including the Supreme Court of Canada, where he appeared on behalf of the successful plaintiff in the landmark decision of Oldfield v. Transamerica Insurance. Alf has achieved some of Canada’s largest jury awards for punitive damages against an insurer. He acted for the plaintiff in the milestone case of Kamin v. Kawartha Dairy, which reduced the onus on plaintif...
Matthew is originally from Nova Scotia and attended St. Mary’s University for his undergraduate degree where he was the recipient of academic and athletic scholarships. Matthew later obtained his LLB from Schulich School Law at Dalhousie University. Matthew spent the first 15 years of his career working at a large downtown Toronto law firm working exclusively for insurance companies. Matthew has appeared at all levels of Court in Ontario and has extensive experience relating to complex ...
A graduate of the University of Western Ontario law school, Troy was called to the Bar in 2001. He received the highest mark on the Bar Admission course by anyone from Western University. Troy joined Oatley Vigmond in 2006 and became a partner in 2010. Troy is a Certified Specialist in Civil Litigation, an inducted Fellow of Litigation Counsel of America and has been listed in Best Lawyers for 2017. Troy has been invited to educate other lawyers on various topics relating to personal injury l...
Adam Little is a partner at Oatley Vigmond. He is a graduate of Queen’s University Faculty of Law and the University of Toronto. Adam was called to the Bar in 2002. Since that time, Adam has dedicated his practice to obtaining compensation for motor vehicle accidents, medical negligence, occupiers’ liability claims, long-term disability and other insurance disputes. Adam has experience before all levels of court in the province, from jury trials in the Superior Court of Justice, t...
Jamie Macdonald’s practice focuses on insurance law. He regularly acts for insurance companies and financial institutions on disputes concerning general liability insurance, property insurance, health and life insurance (particularly disability benefit claims), and professional liability insurance. He also provides coverage opinions and regulatory advice. Jamie frequently represents local and multinational corporations, financial institutions, and universities in class action litigation...
David’s practice focuses on insurance coverage disputes involving Property & Casualty and Specialty lines (with particular emphasis on Cyber and Technology insurance). David has extensive dispute resolution experience both as a litigator in trial and appellate courts as well as in mediation, arbitration and negotiation. His advice is regularly sought by Canadian, American and Lloyd’s insurers. David is a member of the Board of Directors of the Canadian Defence Lawyers, and he ...
Ian is a founding partner of MMW. Ian is an accomplished barrister with the experience and versatility to represent either defendants or plaintiffs in difficult litigation cases. Recognized in Best Lawyers in Canada in the area of Insurance Law since 2010, Ian is frequently retained by other lawyers to act as trial counsel. Known for his courtroom skills and intentional approach to strategy, Ian has handled a variety of complex tort matters over his career, including occupiers’ liabilit...
When police and other first responders are in trouble, they turn to Eugene Mazzuca. For more than 15 years, Eugene has been the first contact for provincial and municipal entities and their insurers accused of false arrest, excessive force, malicious prosecution, negligent investigation, defamation, personal injury, property damage and other serious torts. He also handles claims against security guards as well as roads liability cases and unusual and novel claims for municipal and provincial ...
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Recognition by Best Lawyers is based entirely on peer review. Our methodology is designed to capture, as accurately as possible, the consensus opinion of leading lawyers about the professional abilities of their colleagues within the same geographical area and legal practice area.
The Process
Best Lawyers employs a sophisticated, conscientious, rational, and transparent survey process designed to elicit meaningful and substantive evaluations of the quality of legal services. Our belief has always been that the quality of a peer review survey is directly related to the quality of the voters.