New player enters arbitration scene

Some big names are joining the newest player in Toronto’s arbitration scene.

On April 18, Arbitration Place in Toronto’s financial district will hold its official opening at the Bay Adelaide Centre. Among its resident arbitrators are Yves Fortier, former chairman of Ogilvy Renault LLP who recently left its successor firm Norton Rose Canada; Thomas Heintzman, counsel at McCarthy Tétrault LLP and, like Fortier, a former president of the Canadian Bar Association; alternative dispute resolution practitioner Stan Fisher; and former Ontario associate chief justice and integrity commissioner Coulter Osborne.

The new firm’s member arbitrators include Earl Cherniak of Lerners LLP; John Judge; Barry Leon, head of the international arbitration group at Perley-Robertson Hill & McDougall LLP; John McDougall, partner emeritus and counsel at Fraser Milner Casgrain LLP; Goodmans LLP’s Harry Radomski; and Osgoode Hall Law School professor Janet Walker. The in-house counsel at Arbitration Place is Be-Nazeer Damji.

Kimberley Stewart, CEO and founder of Arbitration Place, says the new firm will have a global focus given its partnerships with the London Court of International Arbitration and the International Court of Arbitration.

“It’s putting Toronto on the map for the international community,” she says, noting she hopes those drafting international arbitration clauses will be more likely to think of Toronto as a seat of arbitration as a result. In addition, the firm has expansive space in the Bay Adelaide Centre as well as translation and interpretation services that Stewart says make it “very conducive to international work.”

To celebrate the opening of the new firm, Arbitration Place's official launch features a debate between former Supreme Court justice Ian Binnie and litigator Will McDowell. Binnie’s former colleague on the Supreme Court bench, justice Frank Iacobucci, will wield the gavel.

Recent articles & video

Blakes, Stikeman Elliott, Norton Rose Fulbright, Dentons counsel mining sector key players

BC Supreme Court orders father to pay fines for continuous breaches of conduct and parenting orders

NB Court of Appeal upholds denial of workers’ compensation for non-workplace incident

BC Supreme Court awards damages to pedestrian severely injured in crosswalk accident

Manitoba Court of King's Bench rejects request for extension in dental malpractice case

BC Supreme Court revokes probate grant for failure to properly notify testator’s son in Mexico

Most Read Articles

BC Supreme Court upholds mother’s will against son's claims for greater inheritance

BC Supreme Court clarifies when spousal and child support obligations should end

Federal Court approves $817 million settlement for disabled Canadian veterans

Ontario Superior Court rejects worker's psychological impairment claim from a workplace injury