Frequently asked questions
This seems to be the number one concern I’ve heard over the years from clients (of other lawyers). Since you are paying a lot of money for your lawyer, responsiveness to client communication should follow. Lawyers work long hours and are often unavailable as they are in Court or involved with other proceedings. Some delay in response is sometimes inevitable. Nevertheless, I understand I am in a service business and part of the service I provide to you as my client is to respond to your calls or emails within a reasonable period of time.
It’s an unfortunate fact that all litigation today is expensive regardless of the amounts involved. This has to do with the many steps involved in the litigation process and the fact that lawyers’ fees are higher than most other professionals. The cost of litigation is one thing to factor in how you wish to conduct your litigation. The earlier the resolution, the less the expense.
If we schedule a consultation, I will review my hourly rates with you. In appropriate cases, a contingency fee arrangement may be possible. If you compare my hourly rate, you will find that I am very reasonably priced for a lawyer of my experience practicing law in downtown Toronto. If you retain me, you have my commitment that your litigation will be resolved as cost-efficiently as possible based on the instructions you give me.
Unfortunately, no. It is impossible at the outset to anticipate what steps will be required to resolve your litigation. The more steps involved, the more expensive it is. If you request one, I will provide a budget with a low and high range for what I expect the cost of each step will be. While this is not a guarantee, these budgets are historically very reliable.
There are many steps involved in the litigation process with each step requiring careful preparation. In addition, since COVID, our Courts are extremely busy and early Court dates are hard to obtain. If you retain me, I will move your litigation forward as quickly as is possible.
Yes. While I am a sole practitioner, I am associated with an excellent, larger full-service commercial litigation firm. That firm has a number of lawyers and students available to work with me as required.
In my early years of practice, I handled a wider variety of cases. Over time, I found business dispute litigation to be the most interesting. It also allowed me to develop a level of experience and expertise that I could not bring to other areas of practice. I decided to focus my practice in that area.