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Drivers Pedestrians Motorcyclists Passengers Bicyclists Not Stated/Other 50.2% 14.9% 15.8% 2.5% 13.1% 3.5% 47.5% 16.8% 14% 4.7% 13.9% 3.1% Fatalities Serious injuries 20 www.canadianlawyermag.com TOP PERSONAL INJURY BOUTIQUES 2023 Top personal injury firms advocate change for all While the awardees acknowledge the back- logged court system as a perennial challenge, the best personal injury law firms harness time and document management systems and tech- nology to keep cases moving forward and priori- tize responsive communication with clients. Some, like McLeish Orlando, are playing a vital role in advocating for systemic change through submissions to the government and other regulatory bodies on various issues. On behalf of a coalition of like-minded citizens, principal partner Patrick Brown led the charge to make Ontario's roads safer for vulnerable road users, such as pedestrians and cyclists, by initiating a private member's bill first introduced in 2017 by an NDP MPP ("Capping damages," Canadian Lawyer, May 22, 2018). After many revisions, that bill is currently at Queen's Park in its second reading and seeks more accountability for when a driver strikes PERCENTAGE OF FATALITIES AND SERIOUS INJURIES BY ROAD USER CLASS IN 2021 Source: Canadian Motor Vehicle Traffic Collision Statistics, 2021 money to live a life of dignity and to help make their lives better." Partner Heidi Brown remarks that Bogoroch & Associates' approach to liti- gation is assertive and proactive, and it quickly moves its cases forward in a civil justice system plagued with delays. "We don't tolerate being told that it's going to take a year or a year and a half for a lawyer to be free to do an examination for discovery," she adds. "We make every effort to start our lawsuits within three to six months, if we can, and arrange for court- ordered timetables for the next steps in the litigation." It's a successful model that is not dissim- ilar to the results-oriented strategy at Nein- stein Personal Injury Lawyers. According to managing partner Greg Neinstein, the firm's lawyers "roll up their sleeves to do whatever is necessary to get the job done." "We are empathetic advocates who put ourselves in the shoes of others, problem- solvers, and we listen and find solutions to challenging problems," he says. "I think we've been particularly good at moving things forward despite all the obvious challenges in our system." The law firm's medical malpractice lawyer, Sonia Nijjar, notes that more than half of the trials its team has conducted over the past four years have come from peer-to- peer referrals, often in the eleventh hour, which is a testament to the medical malprac- tice group's trial expertise. "It's flattering because our peers have identified something that we bring to the table that is different, and that's become an important part of our identity," Nijjar adds. "I think people look at medical malpractice lawyers differently than they do for lawyers handling car accidents or slips, trips, and falls, and there is a distinction" Richard Bogoroch, Bogoroch & Associates On the misconceptions about personal injury law and lawyers SPECIAL REPORT