34 M A Y 2 0 1 5 w w w . C A N A D I A N L a w y e r m a g . c o m
Top boutiques
T
he reason so many judges are
continuing to work as arbitrators
after stepping down from the
bench, is that after a lifetime in
the law, "you can't just turn it off
like a tap," says former Supreme
Court of Canada justice Ian Bin-
nie. Instead, "you kind of go into
a slow fade," he jokes.
Far from fading, Binnie is one of a
number of former senior judges and
prominent lawyers who are now active
in the increasingly competitive arbitra-
tion and mediation sector. Binnie is a
member arbitrator at Arbitration Place
in Toronto, along with a number of other
leading legal practitioners, including
former chief justice of Ontario Warren
Winkler, associate chief justice Dennis
O'Connor, and Court of Appeal justice
Robert Armstrong. Former SCC judges,
Michel Bastarache and Jack Major are
at ADR Chambers, as is former Ontario
chief justice Roy McMurtry.
The high-profile roster likely helps
explain why these firms were among
those selected as the top 10 arbitration
chambers in Canadian Lawyer's readers
survey. A record number of responses
were submitted to select the top arbitra-
tion chambers and aboriginal and per-
sonal injury law boutiques.
The top arbitration firms ranged
from operations with large rosters of
lawyers to small ones such as AR Group
in Toronto. Guy Jones and Shari Novick
The new normal
The top arbitration chambers, personal injury, and aboriginal law boutiques
are offering new opportunities for practitioners, as well as building on new areas
and offerings in the legal fi eld.
By Shannon Kari
