About Jennifer
Jennifer is available for virtual and in-person mediations. Advocates who have used Jennifer as a mediator have said that she has "tremendous skills with dealing with complicated parties and situations", a "high level of skill and natural aptitude", and is able to "gain the trust of both sides".
Jennifer completed the Harvard Negotiation Institute program "Mediating Commercial Disputes" in Boston, an executive education course at Harvard Law School, and the "Mediator Skills Training" course in London, U.K. with the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution. Her early training also included shadowing leading commercial mediators in Canada, the U.K. and the U.S., and she was recently quoted in UK Government press release announcing their inaugural mandatory mediation program. She has been appointed as a Canadian mediator on the London-based Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution international mediator panel.
Jennifer’s legal career included over five years practising civil litigation at Fasken, where she was Vice-Chair of the ADR Practice Group, and six years running her own practice. Her broad mediation practice reflects the diversity of her legal experience. She has acted as counsel for both plaintiffs and defendants in a wide variety of dual and multi-party cases including claims involving negligence, product liability, professional liability, breach of contract, trademark, wrongful dismissal, personal injury, unjust enrichment, nuisance, defamation, occupier’s liability, negligent and fraudulent misrepresentation, landlord/tenant disputes, procurement challenges, director’s liability, estates, liability for environmental contamination, quasi-criminal environmental defence, private international law, refugee law, immigration detention and appeals, international trade and energy law. She has also provided advice and been invited to speak concerning foreign anti-corruption compliance and developing corporate social responsibility norms. The cases on which Jennifer has worked involve a broad range of industries including real estate, energy, insurance, technology, advertising, hospitality, entertainment, sports, transportation including railway, food products, construction, mining, not for profit, retail and manufacturing, including automotive and automotive part manufacturing. She recently lived in London, UK, where she worked with leading UK mediators, barristers and the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution in developing a new mediation facility for resolution of ESG disputes.
Jennifer is regularly invited to speak on issues such as multi-party mediation strategy, active listening, mediation in real estate disputes, mediation policy, and advocacy in mediation by various organizations globally, including the American Bar Association, UK Civil Justice Committee, Judicial ADR Liaison Committee, Scottish Mediation, Canadian Corporate Counsel Association, Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada, a legal team at a major multinational healthcare company, and the Ontario Bar Association.
She provides consultancy services to the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution in London and organizes monthly professional development webinars for the International Academy of Mediators, arranging for leading international mediators to speak on cutting-edge mediation-related topics. She has coached mediation to law students on a pro bono basis at Small Claims Courts in Ontario, run mock mediation for students at the School of Law, Centre for Commercial Law Studies, Queen Mary University of London and Osgoode Law School in Toronto, and was hired to provide training to mediators at the Ontario Ministry of Government and Consumer Services.
Through the Ontario Bar Association Jennifer has chaired and co-chaired two major multi-section initiatives, culminating in the OBA’s submission to the Ontario Government recommending expansion of mandatory mediation, and an OBA report highlighting the lack of diverse mediators and arbitrators in Ontario and providing concrete recommendations to address the problem. As a result of her work with the OBA on mandatory mediation, Jennifer is frequently asked to speak to government and civil society groups internationally about Ontario’s mandatory mediation program. The UK Government quoted Jennifer in their press release announcing an inaugural mandatory mediation scheme.
Approach
Jennifer uses a variety of mediation techniques to address the issues and dynamics that arise in each unique conflict. Whether it is helping parties to consider legal and evidentiary strengths and weaknesses, costs and risks of proceeding with litigation and underlying interests and solutions that address them, or actively listening to detect hidden issues, Jennifer constantly assesses what is required. She employs these and other tools depending on the often-changing needs of parties in considering a solution for their conflict. Jennifer appreciates that a mediator’s preparation can be critical to success and thoroughly reviews all submitted material prior to each mediation. She is respectful yet persistent in her efforts to help parties reach settlement. Jennifer offers pre-mediation conferences with counsel to address informational gaps and party dynamics, allowing the subsequent mediation process to be tailored for the particular dispute. Where mediations do not settle, she follows up with counsel and facilitates further settlement discussion where desired.
Jennifer appreciates working with people of different backgrounds, having grown up in a small town in Ontario, and later living in Manhattan, Washington DC, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, New Mexico, Toronto and Jaipur, India.
