Coffee in the Times of COVID is a virtual gathering of small groups of young lawyers and/or law students around a topic of common interest, designed to facilitate social connection among the legal profession and give participants a chance to discuss the impacts of COVID-19 on their personal and professional lives, as well as the areas of law that matter most to them.
Cohort Stream
Coffee in the Times of COVID is about building your legal network, knowledge, and community. The cohort stream will engage a group of up to 20 young lawyers and law students in regular bi-weekly sessions hosted by a team of lawyer-facilitators from a partner Section of the Canadian Bar Association. Registration is free for CBA members and participants must be available to participate in all five sessions in the cohort.
May 30, 2022 - July 25, 2022
12:00 pm - 1:00 pm ET
Exciting and Rewarding Careers in Health Law – Truly A Lot More than You Imagined!
Shake up your preconceptions of what a practice in and focus on health law can mean. Join us in conversations with lawyers who practice in a variety of areas of health law where there really are no limits to where your career can go. You will gain a wide lens of health law through small group conversations with in-house counsel and lawyers practicing in health policy and health regulation, insurance and defense and plaintiff’s litigation to name a few. There is truly something for everyone!
In collaboration with:
The CBA Health Law Section
Keegan Boyd
Partner, Borden Ladner Gervais
(Toronto, ON) |
Catherine Gaulton
Healthcare Insurance Reciprocal of Canada
(North York, ON) |
Tory Hibbitt
Miller Thomson
(Calgary, AB) |
Melissa Rico
Partner, Carbert Waite
(Calgary, AB) |
Sessions
The Diverse Practice Areas of Health Law
Monday, May 30, 2022 | 12:00pm - 1:00pm ET
Come meet your cohort stream facilitators, each with their own unique legal practice in the diverse area of heath law. The facilitators will introduce themselves, share a bit about their areas of expertise, and provide an overview of the sessions to come. This introductory session will demonstrate why there is no uniform description for what it is like to practice “health law”.
Guest Speaker: Gord Slemko, General Counsel, Healthcare Insurance Reciprocal of Canada (HIROC)
Facilitators: Tory Hibbitt (Lead), Melissa Rico
Giving Voice to Persons Who Sustain Harm While Receiving Healthcare in Canada
Monday, Jun. 13, 2022 | 12:00pm - 1:00pm ET
Data from the Canadian Institute for Health Information tells us that 1 in every 17 hospital stays in Canada involved at least one harmful event. This small group session with three prominent plaintiff’s counsel from across Canada will provide you a lens into what this means for plaintiffs, how their needs are met and why this is a required and exciting area of practice to pursue.
Guest Speakers: Laura Comfort, Senior Associate with Cuming & Gillespie, Joni Dobson, Founding Partner at MD Lawyers, and Raymond F. Wagner, Q.C., Founder & Principal at Wagners.
Facilitators: Catherine Gaulton (Lead), Tory Hibbitt (TBC), Melissa Rico (TBC)
Defending the People and Facilities that Deliver Healthcare in Canada
Monday, Jun. 27, 2022 | 12:00pm - 1:00pm ET
When a patient who has been harmed commences a medical negligence claim, this can be the start of a long, arduous journey with lots of twists and turns. In this session, you will hear from experienced lawyers across Canada who focus on representing doctors, nurses, other healthcare providers and institutions involved in these disputes. Join us to find out more about what makes healthcare defence both a rewarding and challenging area of practice.
Guest Speakers: Janet Carpenter, Partner at Stewart McKelvey, Teresa Foley, Counsel for Carbert Waite, and Roy Lou, Associate with Bennett Jones.
Facilitators: Keegan Boyd (Lead), Catherine Gaulton (TBC), Tory Hibbitt (TBC), Melissa Rico (TBC)
Regulatory Health Law – What’s it all about?
Monday, Jul. 11, 2022 | 12:00pm - 1:00pm ET
How are health care professionals regulated? What happens if a complaint is made against a doctor, or a nurse? Who is it made to? What are the steps in the process? What are the possible outcomes for the health professional? Learn from a panel of experts representing both sides about health policy and health regulation.
Guest Speakers: Kelly Dickson, Lawyer at Thompson Dorfman Sweatman LLP, Marjorie Hickey, Deputy Managing Partner at McInnes Cooper, and Valerie Wise, Founder & Lawyer with Wise Health Law Professional Corporation.
Facilitators: Melissa Rico (Lead), Catherine Gaulton (TBC), Tory Hibbitt (TBC)
Is the Grass Greener In-House?
Monday, Jul. 25, 2022 | 12:00pm - 1:00pm ET
Each day brings new and exciting challenges for in-house counsel in the health care sector. From privacy and consent matters to drafting policies and handling all sorts of patient and staff concerns, there is never a dull moment. Hear from experienced counsel on what it is like to practice health law in-house, what inspired their move in-house, and how their in-house role differs from private practice.
Guest Speakers: Amanda Cramm, Legal Counsel with the Health Law Team at Alberta Health Services, L. Martina Munden, General Counsel for the Nova Scotia Health Authority, and Michele Warner, Director of Clinical Legal Services and Legal Counsel with the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.
Facilitators: Tory Hibbitt (Lead), Keegan Boyd, Catherine Gaulton (TBC), Melissa Rico (TBC)
Facilitators
Keegan Boyd
Keegan defends hospitals, healthcare organizations and professionals against allegations of professional misconduct and negligence in both civil and regulatory contexts. He also represents corporate and individual clients in a broad range of commercial disputes, including contract disputes, product liability claims and class actions.
Catherine Gaulton
Catherine is a former Registered Nurse and a practicing lawyer in Ontario and Nova Scotia with non-practicing status in British Columbia. Catherine is also a seasoned healthcare and insurance executive. Before joining HIROC in 2017, Catherine served as Vice President of Quality and System Performance and Chief Legal Officer for the Nova Scotia Health Authority (NSHA). In that role Catherine led the quality, patient safety, accreditation, infection prevention and control, clinical risk, legal, privacy, strategic planning, policy, decision support, enterprise risk management, and emergency preparedness programs for NSHA. Catherine was a member of Nova Scotia’s health transition team which led the work to amalgamate 10 health authorities into the two health authority model for that province. Catherine has extensive experience in many healthcare insurance environments including as Executive Director for the healthcare liability self-insurance program in B.C. (Healthcare Protection Program, B.C. Healthcare Risk Management Society). She also served as General Counsel for the Worker’s Compensation Board of Nova Scotia, as a board member and Chair of the Board of Nova Scotia Healthcare Organizations Protective Association, as the NSHA lead for risk management, and now as CEO and Attorney-in-Fact for the Reciprocal and HIROC Management Limited
Tory Hibbitt
Tory Hibbitt maintains a diverse and multi-jurisdictional practice which involves representing practitioners, hospitals, and health authorities in a range of disputes, including regulatory matters and civil litigation. In addition to her litigation practice, Tory assists public and private health industry clients to navigate the complexities of relevant statutory and regulatory frameworks.
Melissa Rico
Melissa practices in all areas of civil and commercial litigation. Melissa’s primary practice areas are employment law and health law. She has extensive experience representing both employers and employees on a wide variety of matters, including termination of employment, employment contracts, human rights, privacy and disability issues. She presents regularly at conferences on various employment issues.
