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Executive

President
 

Dan Reisler
Reisler Franklin LLP, Toronto

Dan is one of Reisler Franklin LLP’s founding partners.

He graduated from the University of Windsor law school in 1978, and was called to the Bar of Ontario in 1980. Dan has practised in insurance defence litigation exclusively since then, serving major North American and European property and casualty insurers. In 1990, Dan became certified as a specialist in Civil Litigation by the Law Society of Upper Canada.

With a particular fondness for jury trials, Dan’s trial experience is extensive. He has also made numerous appearances at the Court of Appeal for Ontario. He is probably best known as jury trial counsel, having taken so many trials to verdict that he has lost count of them.

Dan is a leader in the field of insurance litigation, and his accomplishments have been recognized by the Lexpert legal directory where he is listed as among the best lawyers in his field. He is also named in the “Best Lawyers in Canada” directory.

For nine years, Dan served as an adjunct professor of Civil Trial Advocacy at Queen’s University’s Faculty of Law. He is a frequent speaker at continuing legal education seminars on insurance law and practice and civil litigation.

Ist Vice President


Colin Clackson
Wallace Meschisnick Clackson Zawada Lawyers & Mediators

One of WMCZ's co-owners, Colin headsthe Litigation department.

He was born and raised in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. He received his post-secondary education at the University of Saskatchewan, attaining his Bachelor of Arts degree in economics in 1980 and his LL.B. in 1983. He was admitted to the Bar in Alberta in 1984 and the Saskatchewan Bar in 1987
 

Colin practices exclusively in civil litigation and large commercial litigation. He is primarily engaged by property and casualty insurance companies from all across Canada and the United States. He is engaged both with respect to recovery of subrogated claims and as coverage counsel, making frequent appearances before the Court of Queen's Bench and the Court of Appeal for Saskatchewan.
 

Colin has been a facilitator and presenter for both the Canadian Bar Association and Saskatchewan Trial Lawyers on numerous topics including litigation practice, electronic document management, personal injury litigation, and liability insurance coverage.

2nd Vice President


Janet Clark
Stewart McKelvey, Charlottetown

Education:
Acadia University (B.A., 1995)
Dalhousie University (LL.B., 1998)

Bar Admission(s):
Nova Scotia, 1999
Prince Edward Island, 2002

Law Society Memberships:
Canadian Bar Association
Law Society of Prince Edward Island

Activities Within Firm:
Past Chair, Recruitment Committee, Prince Edward Island

Secretary/Treasurer
 

Jonathan Hodes 
Clark Wilson LLP,Vancouver

Jonathan Hodes is a partner at Clark Wilson LLP. He is Co-Chair of the firm's Environmental Law Practice Group, and a member of its Insurance Litigation, Business Litigation, and United States Law Practice Groups. He is a member of the Bars of the Provinces of British Columbia and Alberta, and the State of Colorado, having been admitted to all three in 1996.


Jon obtained his LL.B from the University of Windsor Faculty of Law and his JD from the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law, both in 1995. He began his career with a prominent law firm in Edmonton, following which he moved to Vancouver. He has appeared in all levels of court in British Columbia, as well as the Alberta Provincial Court, Alberta Court of Queen's Bench, Nunavut Court of Justice, Federal Court Trial Division and Supreme Court of Canada.


His practice is in insurance, environmental and business litigation, including a wide variety of actions involving liability claims, environmental clean-up litigation, coverage disputes, construction deficiency claims, breach of contract and other business litigation matters.


In addition, Jon has written on insurance and environmental issues for various Clark Wilson publications, including the Insurance Group's Insurance Bulletin and the Manual for Out-of-Province Claims Examiners. He has also contributed to CLE's Annual Review of Law and Practice and Motor Vehicle Practice Manual, published articles in The Lawyers Weekly and Defence Research Institute's For the Defence magazine, and been quoted in Canadian Underwriter.


Jon has spoken on insurance and environmental issues for the Insurance Institutes of BC and Alberta, Canadian Defence Lawyers, Continuing Legal Education Society of BC, Insurance Brokers' Association of BC, the Pacific Business and Law Institute, the Canadian Institute, Infonex and various clients of Clark Wilson. He has also organized and presented seminars accredited by Washington State's Office of the Insurance Commissioner to assist U.S. claims examiners in handling insurance claims in British Columbia

Past President
 

Susan Gunter 
Dutton Brock LLP, Toronto

The President of Canadian Defence Lawyers, Susan has been a CDL Member since 1995. Susan is also the Chair of CDL's Insurance Roundtable Committee which liaises with the industry on common issues. She has attended the Defence Research Institute's meetings in the U.S.A.


Susan has been a partner at Dutton Brock since 2002. She has a general insurance defence litigation practice with a concentration on professional liability and motor vehicle defence litigation. She has tried motor vehicle, regulatory negligence, insurance coverage, sexual assault, occupier's liability, marine law, disability insurance and medical malpractice cases. Susan appeared frequently in the Court of Appeal.

Susan holds a Masters of Law in Civil Litigation from Osgoode Hall Law School, York University (2008). Originally from Fredericton, she obtained her LL.B. in 1994 from University of New Brunswick. Before that she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in History (with Distinction, Mention: Francais) in 1991 from Carleton University. She was called to the Ontario Bar in 1996.


Susan has authored and presented many papers dealing with automobile insurance, causation, evidence, products liability and insurance coverage. She has lectured for the Canadian Defence Lawyers, Canadian Institute, the Osgoode Professional Law Program, the Ontario Bar Association, the Advocates' Society and the Law Society of Upper Canada Continuing Legal Education Program. She has chaired many continuing legal education programs, seminars and audio-conferences on insurance and civil litigation issues.

Susan also drafts and edits the well-known Dutton Brock Bulletin newsflashes for the firm's institutional clients.

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Board Members

 

CDL's DRI Board Rep

Sandra Corbett Parlee McLaws, Edmonton    
 

Sandra L. Corbett has practised in the civil and commercial litigation areas, and in particular, in insurance defence litigation, since being called to the Alberta bar in 1990. She has appeared at all levels of the Alberta Courts, and has extensive experience in alternate dispute resolution proceedings, including both private and judicial mediation.

Her practice focuses on defence of serious personal injury claims, and resolution of complex tort/liability matters in the insurance area including products liability, municipal and school liability, fire loss and coverage disputes.

She has extensive Queen’s Bench trial experience in her areas of focus. For example, she has acted as trial counsel on behalf of a municipality sued for road design and maintenance issues, on behalf of a school board and teacher sued for personal injuries sustained by a student in a gymnastics class, and on behalf of motor vehicle insurers defending personal injury claims brought by Plaintiffs. She has appeared before the Alberta Court of Appeal on a number of occasions.

Sandra has also appeared before the Alberta Standing Committee of the Legislative Assembly on Private Bills on two occasions in a matter related to maternal tort liability.

Sandra acts as the Alberta Registered Attorney for Service for Desjardins General Insurance Group Inc.

Sandra is extensively involved in the civil defence bar in Canada. She is the immediate Past President of Canadian Defence Lawyers, and was elected to a 3 year term as Canadian Regional Director of DRI-The Voice of the Defense Bar, an American civil defence organization, in October, 2008. She previously served as DRI’s Council Representative for Canada between 2005 and 2008, and received the State Leadership Award from DRI for her service in October, 2008. Sandra was awarded an Exceptional Performance Citation from DRI in June, 2009 for her service to Canadian Defence Lawyers as their President in 2008 to 2009.

Sandra was selected to be a member of the Canadian Insurance Magazine’s Legal Expert Panel 2009.

Pat Armstrong Lindsay Kenney LLP, Vancouver

 

 

Jim Davidson Macmillan Rooke Boekle, Toronto

Jim Davidson practices insurance defence litigation with a focus on personal injury, property damage and insurance coverage matters. Jim has successfully acted for some of Canada’s leading insurers and has appeared as lead counsel in a number of jury and non-jury trials. In 1998, Jim received his Masters in Law from the University of Sydney Australia in Dispute Resolution.

As a partner in the firm, Jim is actively involved in mentoring students and younger lawyers. He has contributed to a number of publications on insurance related matters and is a frequent lecturer within the insurance industry.

Areas of Practice:Insurance Defence, Property and Casualty, Occupiers' Liability, Products Liability, Coverage Opinions, Appeals

Education:B.A., B.Comm, LL.B, LL.M
Year of Call - Alberta 1992, Ontario 1993

David Bertschi Bertschi Orth Smith, Ottawa

For over 20 years David has restricted his practice to Insurance and Commercial litigation. He advises his clients on coverage issues and is defence counsel on personal injury, accident benefits, property and casualty, commercial general liability, fidelity, excess and reinsurance as well as life and disability claims. His experience includes acting as trial and coverage counsel on complex multi-party, multijurisdictional catastrophic losses.

David has the expertise to quickly identify key issues and fully develop appropriate defences. He also provides advice to insurers and self-insured institutions on a multitude of insurance-related issues.

David is an Accredited Mediator and uses his training in the mediation and arbitration of litigation disputes, both in private and court-mandated proceedings. Whether through litigation, arbitration or mediation, David is committed to finding the most effective resolution for his local, national, and international clients. In recognition of David's contribution to the International Practice and Substantive Law Section of the FDCC, David was appointed Chair of the International Practice and Substantive Law Section by the Federation of Defence and Corporate Counsel in 2008.

In recognition of his varied and substantial experience in insurance litigation, David has been invited to write and speak on numerous complex issues of interest to insurers and self-insured corporate clients. He has spoken on such “hot-button” topics as Aggravated and Punitive Damages, Employer and Social Host liability, Uninsured and Underinsured Liability, PIPEDA (Canada’s recent privacy statute), and on Toxic Mold. David has also spoken at the request of the Advocate’s Society on the Art of Cross-Examination and on Insurance matters before the Ontario Bar Association. David was a sectional lecturer at Carleton University and was a seminar leader at the Bar Admission Course.

David’s high-profile role as a speaker and writer assures his clients that he has knowledge of the most recent decisions and of the latest trends in insurance and commercial law so that he can handle his client’s problems in the most effective manner.

 

 

Helen Friedman Miller Thompson, Waterloo

 

Helen D.K. Friedman is engaged in a litigation practice with an emphasis on first party insurance claims. She provides defence of first and third party claims primarily arising from motor vehicle accidents. 

In statutory accident benefits disputes, Helen has developed expertise and appears regularly at the Financial Services Commission, private arbitrations, mediations and the courts. She provides representation and technical advice concerning benefit disputes, priority disputes, loss transfer, catastrophic claims, structured settlements and regulatory interpretation to motor vehicle liability and disability insurers. 

Helen has a particular interest in defending fraudulent and bad faith claims brought by insureds and has provided seminars to the insurance industry on these and other topics. 

In addition to practising law, Helen is a Pastboard Member of the Better Business Bureau of Mid-Western Ontario; Past Chair of the Board of Governors, Conestoga College of Applied Arts and Technology; Past President and member of the Zonta Club of Kitchener-Waterloo, andPast Trustee of the Zonta Club Charitable Foundation. 

Education
Queen’s University (LL.B., 1986)
McGillUniversity (B.A., Hons., 1983)
MarianopolisCollege (D.E.C., 1980)

Year of call: Called to the Ontario Bar in 1988

 

David is a Partner in our Halifax office with a civil litigation practice that includes principally the defence of municipal pliability claims. David also defends disability claims, professional liability claims against architects, surveyors and engineers, and is involved in complex construction litigation and personal injury litigation. He is named in Lexpert and Best Lawyers in Canada as an expert in the field of personal injury litigation. 

David graduated from TrentUniversity in 1977 and DalhousieUniversityLawSchool in 1980. 

He is a past part-time member of the Faculty of Law of Dalhousie University, where he taught Civil Procedure for seven years. 

David has experience defending claims against municipalities, including: 

· Occupational liability claims; 

· Large personal injury claims involving allegations of failure to maintain roads, recreational properties and signage; 

· Defamation claims; 

· Claims against police officers including malicious prosecution, use of excessive force, and alleged negligence in acting as jailer; 

· Large commercial claims involving tender and RFP; and 

· Sewage and flood claims. 

He has been a speaker for various groups, including the Association of Building Officials of Nova Scotia, the Association of Municipal Administrators and the Canada Bar Association – Nova Scotia Municipal Law and Construction Subsections and the Municipal Law Symposium of Dalhousie University, College of Continuing Education. David is Past Chair of NS Municipal Law Subsection and a member of the Insurance and Construction Law Subsections of the Canadian Bar Association. He also belongs to the Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society, the Canadian Defence Lawyers and DRI.

Glenn Smith  Lenczner Slaght, Toronto

 

  GLENN SMITH is a senior partner at Lenczner Slaght and is one of the five founding partners.
 

Glenn has a varied commercial litigation practice, with an emphasis on class actions and complex insurance litigation. He has a special interest in products liability and directors and officers insurance coverage cases, as well as expertise in technology disputes.
 

A certified mediator, Glenn has a B.Sc. (Bio-Chemistry) and graduated from DalhousieUniversity with an LL.B. in 1974. He was admitted to the Ontario Bar in 1976.
 

Glenn has a long-standing association with the Faculty of Law at the University of Toronto. He was head of the Trial Practice Program from 1988 until 1992 and has been a Special Lecturer there since 1981. He was formerly the Section Head of the Trial Advocacy Course and has taught Civil Procedure for the Law Society of Upper Canada’s Bar Admission Course. Glenn is currently an adjunct professor of Civil Procedure at OsgoodeHallLawSchool

. He also lectures extensively about e-discovery, technology and the law.

 

Glenn Zakaib Cassels Brock, Toronto

 

Glenn is a partner in the Advocacy Group and the Product Liability Group at Cassels Brock. The main focus of his practice is on product liability (e.g., drug and medical devices, automotive and aviation products, and electrical equipment and home appliances), as well as class proceedings (e.g., product liability, life insurance and misrepresentation claims and Competition Act claims). He has been involved in numerous precedent-setting cases. Glenn has been listed as a highly recommended lawyer in the PLC Cross-border Life Sciences Handbook for being one of the few practitioners in Canada with a practice almost entirely devoted to product liability and class actions work. 

Glenn speaks regularly to professional and industry groups about legal issues that pertain to product litigation and class proceedings. He has delivered speeches to MEDEC and Osgoode Hall Professional Development Program, Quebec Bar Association, as well as the Canadian Institute, the Insurance Institute of Ontario and the Practicing Law Institute. He is a member of DRI's Drug and Medical Device Committee and noted as an expert in his field in Lexpert, Chambers Global and The Best Lawyers in Canada. He is also a Fellow of the Litigation Counsel of America, an invitation-only honorary trial lawyer society. 

Glenn joined Cassels Brock in 1987, and in 1993 he served as the firm's Managing Partner. Glenn describes his approach to law as "client goal oriented." He believes strongly in the firm's network of expertise and the ability to serve the clients' best interests. 

Education
LL.B., McGillUniversity, 1981
B.A., YorkUniversity, 1978 

Call to the bar
Ontario, 1983

 

Karen O'Byrne ICBC, Vancouver

Karen joined ICBC in 1986 after practicing law briefly in both Ontario and British Columbia

. She spent ten years as an adjuster before joining the Special Counsel department in 1996. In her role as Counsel Liaison, Karen is responsible for ensuring that information relevant to litigated file-handling is communicated to both law firms and Claims staff. She publishes The Defence, a quarterly newsletter on current case law and ICBC instructions to defence counsel and maintains the Special Counsel web pages on both the Intranet and Internet.