Learn about the Ontario Trial Lawyers Association and its impact on lawyers and clients in the field of civil litigation, including personal injury cases
The Ontario Trial Lawyers Association is more than just a group of legal professionals — it's a community that stands up for justice, one case at a time. This powerful group for, and by, legal professionals is committed to ensuring that individuals get the fair representation that they deserve in court.
In this article, let’s look at how this association is shaping the justice system and how they’re working to protect everyone’s legal rights in the province.
The Ontario Trial Lawyers Association (OTLA) is a province-wide non-profit association of trial lawyers. Its clients are mostly plaintiffs in civil cases of different practice areas.
Established in 1991, the OTLA has a membership of over 1,375 law professionals across the province. It includes not only plaintiffs’ lawyers, but also paralegals, law clerks, articling students, and law students.
Few of the goals of OTLA include:
The OTLA represents trial lawyers of civil cases in general. However, it specifically caters to lawyers whose clients are “victims injured [because of] the negligence or wrongdoing of others,” according to their website. In short, the association’s members are mostly personal injury lawyers in Ontario.
The Ontario Trial Lawyers Association does not only look inwards by supporting its own members, but also the wider community through its many advocacies. This includes member-exclusive content, in-person and online events, and a lot more.
When it comes to its advocacies, the OTLA engages in campaigns and concerted actions, both before the court and the legislature.
The OTLA is, first and foremost, an “organization dedicated to the professional betterment of its members.” As such, the OTLA provides continuing education programs, especially in the field of personal injury. It also provides other resources that its members can use.
There are two main ways of registering as a new member of the OTLA:
Members will have to renew their membership annually. Fees are also required when registering as an OTLA member.
One of the tools that the OTLA provides for its members is access to the many listservs it maintains. Through these listservs, lawyers and even their clerks and paralegals can post inquiries or answer some of them. This is a real manifestation of the mutual support that the OTLA has established for its members.
Of course, to access these listservs, one must be a member of the OTLA. Questions that can be posted may include specific procedures in certain cases or updates on old laws. Somehow working as a research tool, clients are assured that their cases are handled by OTLA members smoothly.
The practice area of personal injury is always evolving. In addition to the rich case law on the matter, new judgments are released every now and then because of the frequency of personal injury cases filed in court and appealed.
The OTLA provides a lot of plaintiff-focused continuing education or professional development programs (CPD programs). This is to address the needs of personal injury lawyers in Ontario to be updated on these legal developments. Also, past programs may still be accessed by members, should they be interested in them.
CPD programs are released to members through conferences, roundtables, books groups, and live webinars. Here’s an example of a previous CPD webinar that the OTLA hosted for its members:
Looking for personal injury lawyers? Check out our Special Report on Canada’s Best Personal Injury Law Firms.
The OTLA offers another opportunity for professional growth to members through its personal injury-specific Sections. Since this practice area is admittedly broad in scope, these Sections offer members an area for focused discussions and resource-sharing.
Here are the Sections that OTLA members can choose from:
Diversity and Inclusion Caucus: with the goal of increasing diversity over the personal injury bar, the Caucus is engaged to promote a safe and inclusive space for discussions among colleagues in the profession
Long-Term Disability Section: a section dedicated to enhancing the OTLA lawyers’ ability to handle cases of clients who have a conflict with their insurance company
Medical Malpractice Section: a section for trial lawyers who are handling complex medical negligence cases
Women Trial Lawyers Caucus: organized by women, this Caucus is committed to empowering women in the legal field, as well as advancing the interests and success of women trial lawyers in Ontario
New Lawyers Division: this section helps lawyers in the early stages of their careers, by offering mentorship, networking opportunities, and practical resources
Law Clerk Section: a section that allows law clerks to connect, share experiences, and network with fellow law clerks
Section members can join in roundtable discussions, section lunches, live webinars, newsletters, and other resources. Of course, these discussions center on recent and relevant court rulings, practice management tips, and other legal developments. Each Section also has its own listserve.
Note that to be a part of Long-Term Disability and Medical Malpractice Sections, there’s an additional annual fee of $125 + HST for existing OTLA members.
As with most lawyers’ associations in Canada, the OTLA publishes its own organizational journal called The Litigator. Here, the association provides practical advice and guidance to its member lawyers, as well as their staff and paralegals.
OTLA also has a separate blog where it posts:
Members and the public can subscribe to the OTLA Blog to receive notifications of new posts directly through email.
In addition to the listserves, sections, and caucuses, the OTLA’s Vendor Directory is another tool from which trial lawyers can ask for help. Here, lawyers can look for expert witnesses, financial services firms, accident visualization companies, and consultants for a legal matter that they’re handling.
This directory is a list of paid vendors that are interested in providing a variety of services to OTLA members. These vendors are arranged according to the following services:
However, the directory only provides contact information for potential vendors. These private vendors were included in the list after becoming a sponsor of OTLA upon payment of certain fees. Being listed in the directory is not a direct endorsement from the OTLA.
Part of helping its lawyer-members become good, professional lawyers is by ensuring that they follow the ethics and appropriate standards of the legal profession. With this, the association published its own voluntary code of conduct in 2013, called the OTLA Code.
Note that this is just in addition, and is aligned, to what the Law Society of Ontario’s Rules of Professional Conduct and the provincial Solicitors Act provide. It’s also complementary to the Codes that the other lawyers' associations may provide.
With the OTLA Code, members could self-evaluate and review their own professional conduct. This Code is highly relevant, because it is drawn up in the context of the highly specialized practice area of personal injury for OTLA members.
The job bank of the OTLA works both ways: it allows OTLA members to post vacant positions or new jobs, while also providing opportunities for employment. The tool may be filtered according to job title, city, and date of posting.
The Ontario Trial Lawyers Association can support plaintiffs, directly and indirectly, through its different initiatives.
First, the OTLA has its own directory of OTLA lawyer-members, which plaintiffs in civil cases can use when looking for lawyers.
Secondly, the OTLA advocates for the rights of plaintiffs, in and out of the court, through:
consultation processes, where the OTLA gives its comments on issues, including policy and law-making proceedings, that falls within its expertise
court interventions, where judges grant the OTLA intervenor status to provide its input on the interpretation of the law in question
Part of the advocacy of OTLA is to ensure that the insurance system in the province is fair and just, especially for plaintiffs and victims of personal injury cases:
For another reference when looking for lawyers to reach out to, here’s our Special Report on the Top Law Firms in Ontario.
The OTLA follows its own policy on interventions when it comes to intervening in a case filed in court. Its main purpose is to advance the interest of its members and their clients before the courts.
This policy provides that the OTLA will only intervene:
One standard of OTLA intervention is if the case involves significant matters of concern to its members, their clients, and the citizens of the province. Upon application, the OTLA Interventions Committee will conduct a review based on the following summarized criteria:
if the legal issue is of sufficient importance, a novel issue or a previously unresolved question, or affects the fundamental rights of individual citizens
if there’s a favourable presentation of the legal issues, in fact and in law, that are of interest to OTLA or its constituents
if there are submitted materials that can adequately address the legal issues of the case being intervened on
if there’s sufficient time and resources to request an Intervenor status and prepare the materials for the court
if the request for Intervenor status meets the criteria found in the Rules of Civil Procedure of Ontario
if the request is received from an appellate court for OTLA’s assistance as an Intervenor or Amicus Curiae
From all of these, it can be said that it’s not all the time that the OTLA intervenes in cases. Not to mention that there are organizational factors in play, such as the current practice workload of the Intervention Committee members. Also, the OTLA will only intervene if it can put forward unique and distinct arguments.
Ontarians who need legal representation, especially as plaintiffs in personal injury cases, may access the OTLA’s public member directory. With this free directory, anyone can search for OTLA lawyers who can help them with their personal injury legal issues.
The Ontario Trial Lawyers Association continues to be an advocate for justice, not just for the plaintiffs in personal injury cases, but also for the lawyers themselves. It's committed to ensuring that every person has access to skilled legal representation when they need it most and to improving the province’s legal system. Whether they’re facing a personal injury claim or other legal challenges, clients and lawyers in Ontario can count on the OTLA to stand with them every step of the way.
Bookmark our Professional Regulation page for more regular resources on other associations for lawyers, apart from the Ontario Trial Lawyers Association.
