The Coroner’s Inquest is a unique administrative process, which in recent years has been the subject of calls for reform, particularly in light of high profile inquests such as the Jeffrey Baldwin and Ashley Smith inquests. What are the current problems with the inquest process? How does an inquest differ from its related proceeding, the public inquiry? Can fairness and efficiency be reconciled? Should the inquest more closely resemble a public inquiry? Is there – or should there be – a trend towards expanding the scope of an inquest?

Learn the answers to these questions and more as our expert panel, drawing on their extensive experience as counsel to coroners, families of the deceased, institutions and other parties, grapples with the key issues surrounding inquests, including:

• Recent trends and the evolving inquest process
• How the often-competing needs for fairness and efficiency can be balanced in the inquest process
• Clarifying counsel’s role in an inquest process: Abandoning the adversarial mindset
• Practical strategies for representing parties to an inquest

PROGRAM CHAIRS

Michlle Kushnir, College of Opticians
Ronak Shah, Aitken Klee LLP

SPEAKERS

Julian K. Roy, Falconers LLP
Brian Gover, Stockwoods LLP
Freya Kristjanson, Cavalluzzo Shilton McIntyre Cornish LLP