He has been a sole practitioner, named partner in a boutique corporate and real estate firm; partner in both a medium and large size regional firm; partner in a national firm and global firm; Managing Partner in Toronto of the national firm and then the global firm. He practises in areas of Corporate and Intellectual Property Law in the Life Sciences and Healthcare fields

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He has been married for 49 years and has 3 grown daughters and 7 grandchildren. He and his wife had a child while in law school, which was very rare then.

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Over the course of his career, he has mentored dozens of lawyers not just about law but about life issues, work-life balance, and the day-to-day realities stresses of the profession. He was very happy to be asked to be a mentor for this project.

She practises in residential/commercial real estate, corporate/commercial law, wills estates, business law, and franchises. She has been a litigator in the past. She is also a certified mediator. 

A lawyer in private practice for over 23 years. An award winning instructor, a writer, and member of the Council of the College of Nurses of Ontario. She mentions these things to show that despite having anxiety, she has been able to stand up tall and say that she is still a fully competent, good lawyer.

She had a very stressful time during her articles, wherein her principals behaved in a very inappropriate manner. If this was taking place today, one could say it was sexual harassment. In addition, she was not permitted to have lunch with her friend who was a secretary or other lawyers. She was told that the secretaries had lunch together and the lawyers together. She was an articling student so she did not fit into any of those categories.

She developed her first panic attack in court. She did not know what was happening to her and it took a few years until she finally realized with the help of some other kind souls as to what was happening to her. In the meantime she had to switch to another firm to finish articling. She wrote the Bar Exam and started her own practice, managing her symptoms, which at times would be non-existent.  She had to keep her anxiety a secret out of fear that her clients would not come to a lawyer who had anxiety. She functioned very well and no one knew how hard it was at times to be at work, look after her kids and just function in the world.

She is so happy that in this day and age, people can open up and say that "we are not our symptoms, and that we are stronger and better as a result of having gone through these hurdles".She is a great proponent of mental health and lifting the stigma of mental illness.

As her daughter says, "we have physical health so we why not mental health."

She knows how hard it is to live in secret and still perform one's duties in the most competent manner. She therefore loves to help others and tell them that they are not alone and that their symptoms only make them better and stronger than others.

Prior to law school, she was a police officer for 7 years.  The focus of her career has always been criminal law. After law, school she joined the Crown’s office and was a front line prosecutor for 14 years.    

After that, she was appointed to the Ontario Court of Justice. After five years in that fast paced environment, she was appointed to the Superior Court of Justice.  She has been there for 4 years and her focus continues to be in the area of criminal law. 

More importantly, she had no mentors in her younger life. She did not come from a family of lawyers or academics.  She entered law school as a mature student, with no undergraduate degree and had two children during law school.  She has endured discrimination and harassment as a woman in traditionally male dominated professions. She has gone through relationship difficulties as well.

Her life admittedly has been bumpy at times, but despite it all she continues to learn and expand and laugh as much as possible each and every day!

Counsel with the Ministry of the Attorney General Civil Law Division, Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care Branch where she specializes in the areas of mental health, human rights and OHIP eligibility.  She appears before the Consent and Capacity Board, Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario and the Health Services Appeal and Review Board.  Prior to working with the MOHLTC, she was the coordinator and legal counsel, Dispute Resolution Office, at the Ministry of the Attorney General.  She taught extensively in the field of dispute resolution and acted as a neutral third party, providing facilitation, mediation and fact-finding investigation services. 

In 2002 she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder.  She was closeted for many years about her mental illness and has recently become an advocate for speaking about one’s mental illness as a means of ending the stigma and isolation surrounding it. 

Over the years he has taken more time off work than most lawyers to travel around the world and get involved in interests outside of the practice of law from time to time. Outside of legal work he still tries to read a book every week or so and go to a party a week. The legal practice is busy but he always makes time to do other things and likes to think he has a balanced life.

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As far as he knows he hasn’t had any mental health issues. He tries to keep the vices to a reasonable limit and get a good night’s sleep. However, along the way there are times when legal practice has made him very unhappy and anxiety ridden. At the very least, at times there was a deep uncertainty that what he was engaged in, the thing that was consuming all his energy wasn’t giving anything back and wasn’t going to get him where he wanted to go in life. It can all be very confusing, especially during law school. The things that you thought were important to you when you were a student sometimes end up not being that important. Law school can suck and then you start thinking to yourself, what is the actual practice of law like?

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The question he gets asked often is…”you are a lawyer…how come you’re so happy?”

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He made choices along the way that has resulted in him being very happy with the practice of law and the life that it has given him. It is a very rewarding career in more ways than just money. Like all jobs it has its good and bad days but the good far outnumber the bad and overall it has worked out rather well. He believes the key to being happy in this profession is to have the right mindset and chart the right course. He is not sure if his doubts were similar to what you might be experiencing now, but it never hurts to talk.

He has spent over 24 years as a civil litigator, currently the owner of a 3 lawyer, 7-person firm in the suburbs of the GTA. His practice is focused on commercial litigation and personal injury law. He has also practiced in the areas of criminal and family law.

For the first 15 years of his practice, he had it all: a successful law practice, combined with the respect of his peers and the judges before whom he appeared; a happy family with a wife and 3 kids; frequent invitations to speak at LSUC and other continuing education programs; material trappings; and an enviable work/life balance.

But then it all came crashing down. A sudden divorce and a career shift to in-house counsel that was not what he expected led to a depression that he tried to self-medicate with prescription narcotics. Before long, he was in the midst of a two and a half year hard-core Oxycontin addiction that cost him his practice, his financial stability, a few friends, severely harmed his reputation, and almost cost him his kids. He went from teaching Professional Responsibility and Practice Management at the Bar Admission Course to being hauled before the Law Society Tribunal on discipline charges for breaching the very professional obligations he used to teach!

Thanks to the Law Society’s lawyers’ assistance program, he is now 8 years drug- and depression-free, although he is ever vigilant to ensure he doesn’t fall down the rabbit hole again. His practice is once again successful, his reputation restored, and he is a more involved father than ever to his 19 year old son and 13 year old boy/girl twins.

He speaks and writes publicly about his story and is a peer volunteer with the Law Society's Members Assistance Program. He serves on the Boards of the Osgoode Hall Alumni Association and the York Region Law Association (where he chairs the Civil Litigation Committee). He is also back to teaching Professional Responsibility, both as an instructor at Osgoode Hall Law School and as a mentor at Ryerson’s Law Practice Program. 

He speaks out about his situation because he feels (i) it serves as a warning to any lawyer who starts believing their own press; (ii) he wants those suffering to know they are not alone and help is out there; (iii) he wants the profession to become more attuned to the problems of addiction and mental health in our midst, in the hopes the issues will be addressed instead of ignored; and (iv) he is proof that no matter how far you have fallen, with the right help and the right fortitude, you can climb back to the top of the mountain for a better than ever Second Act.

She has worked as corporate commercial counsel in government for many years. Her work involves advising on numerous areas of law including municipal finance, procurement, transfer payments, housing, intellectual property, corporate commercial, real estate, financial services, French language services and regulatory compliance.  Her work is often transaction-based and includes papering program related transactions and funding arrangements, negotiating sole source procurement arrangements and software and data licenses, negotiating transfer payment agreements with housing administrators and preparing memoranda of understanding between ministries.  It also involves quite a bit of legislative drafting.

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She has had many challenges over the course of her successful career, including suffering from the symptoms of being bipolar.  There have been many times in her life when her personal (as opposed to work) decisions have been affected by episodes of mania or depression.  She lost her first husband and job to the condition many years ago when her daughter was still a baby.  But she is now remarried with a loving husband and grown daughter who support her when times are challenging (which isn’t always).  She would like to offer that same type of support to someone who is also experiencing the effects of anxiety, mania or depression or even just a particularly stressful time in life.  There will always be those.

A corporate-commercial/civil litigation lawyer practising in Toronto, runs a busy practice, and is surrounded by a team of dedicated and capable legal assistants. Has a passion for what he does, and strives to assist small businesses with their challenges and opportunities.

Actively involved with the legal profession, having served on the Ontario Bar Association (OBA) Council since 2012 and as a participant on two of its committees. Currently also a mentor for both the OBA and the Law Society of Upper Canada and have tutored Bar Admission Course students.

Has a love of sports and serves as President of a non-profit tennis organization.
 

With his successes have come challenges. He struggles daily with anxiety and self-esteem.  It is an ongoing battle (journey) – and one that is made better by the support of friends and family.

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