In 1981, Mr. O’Brien was
appointed as a Judge of the Ontario High Court of Justice, Supreme Court of
Ontario (subsequently renamed the Ontario Court (General Division). He retired
from the Court in 1998.
While on the Bench, Mr. O’Brien
was most active in presiding over complex civil actions which involved personal
injury; medical malpractice; insurance disputes; and errors & omissions
claims involving lawyers, stockbrokers and other professionals. In addition, he
dealt with various other commercial litigation cases.
As part of his judicial duties, Mr.
O’Brien spent considerable time as a member of the Ontario Divisional
Court, an intermediate Court of Appeal, which also dealt with Appeals from
Administrative Boards and various Tribunals.
During his last two years on the
Bench, Mr. O’Brien organized and administered a long trials programme for
the Toronto area which dealt with complex civil actions. In addition to
administering the Judges involved in that programme, Mr. O’Brien presided
over several of the actions himself.
In the last year and a half of his
time on the Bench, Mr. O’Brien became intensely involved in settlement
conference using mediation skills as a format of assisting counsel in finding a
mutually agreeable resolution of disputes.
Prior to his appointment to the
Bench, Mr. O’Brien was a Trial and Appellate Counsel in Civil Litigation
for the law firm of Cassels Brock & Blackwell, Toronto. He is a graduate of
Queen’s University, B.A., 1955; Dalhousie University, LL.B., 1958; was
called to the Bar in Ontario in 1960 and received his Queen’s Counsel in
1974.
Throughout his career, Mr.
O’Brien was keenly interested in legal education. He served as an
instructor in the Bar Admission Course in Civil Procedure II (Trial Advocacy)
for six years and as the head of that course for an additional five years.
Mr. O’Brien is a past member of
Council of the Medico-Legal Society of Ontario; past Chairman of the Insurance
Subsection of the Canadian Bar Association (Ontario) and a past Director and
past President of The Advocates’ Society of Ontario. In addition, he
participated in numerous programmes for The Law Society of Upper Canada and
other professional organizations as a panellist or chair of programmes dealing
with various aspects of civil litigation. In his private practice, prior to his
appointment to the Bench, Mr. O’Brien was engaged both as counsel for the
defence and for plaintiffs in numerous personal injury and insurance-related
disputes.
Mediation Training
Mr. O’Brien received Mediation
training through a programme sponsored by the Ontario Government. In addition
thereto, he is an Accredited Mediator through the Harvard Mediation Programme
offered through the sponsorship of The Advocates’ Society.
Mr. O’Brien is available for
all forms of Alternative Dispute Resolution through ADR Chambers.
