Avoiding Mistakes and Managing Risk in Your Law Practice

For more than 135 years, the Toronto Lawyers' Association, located within the Courthouse Library, has represented the interests of lawyers practising in the City of Toronto. The association was founded to support its members in three key areas: Knowledge, Advocacy, and Community. To uphold these pillars, the association offers a year-round mix of online and in-person education programs for lawyers, hosts both free and paid events to foster in-person networking, and submits advocacy pieces on behalf of its members to the Ontario bench and bar, all levels of government, and the broader public.

Brooke advises and represents clients in professional regulation matters and in appeals and judicial review applications, and provides advice and opinions to lawyers and law firms on professional responsibility and legal ethics issues. She has been recognized in Best Lawyers™ in Canada in administrative and public law. Brooke has significant experience as appeal counsel—having appeared before the Supreme Court of Canada, Court of Appeal for Ontario, Federal Court of Appeal, Divisional Court, and administrative appeal tribunals—and as counsel on professional negligence actions and disqualification motions. In addition to her practice, Brooke is a regular columnist at Slaw.ca on legal ethics issues; teaches an upper-year Legal Ethics seminar at Osgoode Hall Law School; and serves as duty counsel for licensees at the Law Society Tribunal. Her writing on legal ethics, civil procedure, and tort law has been widely published. Before going out on her own, Brooke spent several years on Bay Street working with and learning from some of Ontario's best litigators and the top legal minds in the areas of legal ethics and professional responsibility. When not practicing law, Brooke enjoys live music; crossword puzzles; road trips to national parks and ballparks across the US and Canada; exploring Toronto on her bike; and watching Jeopardy!—a lifelong fan of the show, Brooke was a contestant and became a Jeopardy! champion in February 2020.

Safiyya is Communications Counsel at LAWPRO, focusing on risk management, including monitoring changes in the law and claim trends, as well as developing and delivering practical resources to lawyers across Ontario. Prior to joining LAWPRO, Safiyya worked at a fintech company in strategic planning and legal technology development. She spent 15 years practicing law, has an undergraduate degree in Political Science and Law & Society from York University, and her LL.B. is from the University of Ottawa. Safiyya was called to the Ontario Bar in 2007. Safiyya is co-author of a book focusing on legal considerations for entrepreneurs and has been a speaker and panelist at various educational seminars. She enjoys playing an active role in her local community.

Kristine brings over 20 years of legal experience to Fern Law. Since her first year in law school, she knew she wanted to be in the courtroom advocating for clients. Crafting a solution that empowers her clients is her focus. Kristine deeply understands clients' needs and genuinely cares about every file. Kristine is also a mediator who works with parties to obtain powerful solutions built on respect.

Over 30 years ago, Steve Benmor founded Benmor Family Law Group, gaining unparalleled experience in settling divorce cases for families with significant wealth and assets. Mr. Benmor is proficient in mediating high-net-worth divorces and complex financial cases with his sophisticated financial understanding and in-depth knowledge of divorce law, tax law, real estate law, corporate law and trust law. Driven by a mission to achieve great results for his clients, Mr. Benmor is known for his expertise in negotiation, conflict resolution and domestic violence in order to assist families through the many stages of separation and divorce, with compassion, respect, and urgency. Steve Benmor is one of the only divorce professionals in Canada who is licensed, certified and accredited in all out-of-court divorce options. Recognizing the need to help families avoid conflict and find a better solution for reaching a divorce settlement, Mr. Benmor was designated as a “Certified Family Mediator” by the Alternative Dispute Resolution Institute of Ontario. In addition to Mr. Benmor’s extraordinary commitment to children and families, the Family Dispute Resolution Institute of Ontario awarded Mr. Benmor his designation as a “Specialist in Parenting Coordination.” Mr. Benmor is one of Toronto’s 24 Certified Specialists in Family Law, one of Canada’s 56 Fellows of the prestigious International Academy of Family Lawyers and holds a Master of Laws in Family Law.