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CORPORATE-COMMERCIAL LAW Chief Justice Warren Winkler Chief Justice, Ontario Court of Appeal, Toronto The straight-talking Ontario chief justice is now handling a massive Nortel Networks Corp. mediation, once again setting the bar in areas of corporate- commercial law. Winkler was appointed chief justice of Ontario in 2007, follow- ing 11 years with the Ontario Court of Justice (General Division) and three years as regional senior judge for Toronto region. Winkler has spent much of his career on the bench pushing for improved access to fair, timely, and affordable civil litigation in the justice system and he continues to fight that battle. As he kicked off the mediation over the distribution of Nortel's almost $9 billion in assets in April, he reminded a room full of bankruptcy lawyers that their aim should be on getting as much of that to creditors, including the company's pensioners, rather than frittering it all away on long-term litigation. And as Winkler heads toward retirement, plans are already underway to continue his legacy by establishing the Winkler Institute for Dispute Resolution and the Winkler Chair in Dispute Resolution at Osgoode Hall Law School. What voters had to say: "Simply the most impressive judge in the country. " Christopher Du Vernet Du Vernet Stewart, Mississauga, Ont. Christopher Du Vernet led the charge to create the new tort of intrusion upon seclusion as counsel to plaintiff Sandra Jones in Jones v. Tsige. The Court of Appeal described the new tort as: "One who intentionally intrudes, physically or otherwise, upon the seclusion of another or his private affairs or concerns, is subject to liability to the other for invasion of his privacy, if the invasion would be highly offensive to a reasonable person." This decision will have far-reaching effects in many areas of Canadian law including privacy, labour and employment, and even family law. While it is unclear how the courts will interpret this new tort, it also creates a huge potential for class actions because economic loss or harm are not required to be proven. What the panel had to say: "Du Vernet led the case to appeal despite an earlier loss in the Superior Court. It was a case that had been making waves in legal circles for some time and will affect many lawyers' files." www.CANADIAN Lawyermag.com A U GUST 2012 27 INFLUENTIAL MOST 25 TOP THE WiNkler: saNDra straNgeMore