Thank You to a Wonderful Group of Delegates, Exceptional Faculty of Speakers and our Valued Partners
  The Canadian Institute’s inaugural Expert Witness Forum was held over two days, November 26-27, 2015, at One King West Hotel in Toronto. With over 50 delegates attending from a range of professional backgrounds, this event provided a one-of-a-kind review of the laws and practice governing expert witnesses who appear before courts and tribunals throughout Canada. The conference was chaired by Neil Abbott, Partner at Gowlings LLP and Lexpert Best Lawyer in the area of Construction Law, and Michael Dobner, Partner with Pricewaterhouse Coopers and 30-years of experience providing litigation support and expert witness services. With recent developments in case law reshaping the expert witness landscape in Ontario, the conference came at the perfect time to explore these changes, and their implications for the expert witness community. In addition to reviewing the way expert witness practice is changing, the conference featured sessions taught by some of the country’s top litigators and most experienced expert witnesses, focusing on the skills most important to an expert witness and the future of expert witness work in Canada:
  • ‘The Do’s and Don’t’s’ of Report Writing’ – Sloan Mandel, Partner & Specialist in Civil Litigation at Thomson, Rogers, and Chris Milburn , Managing Director at FTI Consulting
  • ‘How to be a First Class Witness at Trial’ – Melvyn Solmon, Partner at Solmon, Rothbart & Goodman LLP
  • ‘How Hidden Assumptions can Hurt Your Reputation’ – Dr. Doug Perovic, Professor of Materials Science & Engineering at the University of Toronto
  • ‘Managing the File to Minimize Bias, Maximize Results & Protect Your Position at Trial’ – Ron Koerth, Vice President of Giffin Koerth Inc.
  • ‘Alternative Methods and Future Trends in Expert Witness Practice’ – Dr.Ruth Corbin, Chair of Corbin Partners Inc. and Adjunct Professor at Osgoode Hall, and Gerry Genge, Principal of GRG Building Consultants
Delegates were very interested in hearing about how new research in to persuasion and developments in visualisation technology are changing the way experts present their evidence and opinions. We were fortunate to have two extremely informative sessions on these subjects from Hassan Fancy, author of the ground-breaking book on the subject titled, “Demonstrative Advocacy: Understanding and Constraining Partiality in Adjudication” and Troy Lehman, Partner at Oatley Vigmond focusing on serious personal injury claims, and specialist in Civil Litigation. As the only event in Canada bringing together expert witnesses from all backgrounds with top litigation lawyers, the two days prompted interesting and valuable discussion, as well as providing a unique networking opportunity for the attending delegates. We are very excited to build upon these successes with next year’s program, and want to extend a thank you to our speakers for being a part of this event! – Caroline Lutes, Conference Producer, The Canadian Institute  

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