The Best Lawyers® in Canada 2022 – Highlighting Our Nominated Lawyers

The Best Lawyers® in Canada 2022The Best Lawyers® in Canada 2022 nominees are selected and recognized based on peer reviews. It is the opinion and participation of leading lawyers within the same geographical and legal practice area who nominate their colleagues based on their professional abilities. Ballots for the nominations of the 16th Edition of The Best Lawyers® in Canada 2022 are out now, and we are proud to announce eight lawyers from our firm have been nominated. We hope you will consider showing your support for those Gluckstein Lawyers who are being recognized. The lawyers included this year are listed below, along with a snapshot of their achievements:

Bernard L. Gluckstein, Founding Partner, has been nominated in the category of Personal Injury Litigation. He is committed to advocating for victims of personal injury. His support of the medical and disabled community spans almost six decades. Today, he is still a driving force, providing executive and financial support to many non-profit organizations across Ontario. He is the ParaSport Ontario director, making significant strides in helping those with disabilities live with dignity.

Charles E. Gluckstein, the Managing Partner of Gluckstein Lawyers, has been nominated in Personal Injury Litigation. Since 2014, Best Lawyers® International has consistently recognized Charles as a leader in the personal injury field. In 2020, Charles led Gluckstein Lawyers into three strategic mergers to expand its reach in Ontario and offer clients an enhanced level of innovation, expertise and experience. He has embraced innovation and technological advancements and has worked tirelessly to modernize his practice to meet our times' challenges. In the face of the COVID-19 restrictions, and under Charles's leadership, Gluckstein Lawyers was well-positioned for a complete and seamless transition from a traditional office-based model to a firm with its entire staff working remotely.

Richard Halpern. Senior Counsel and Lawyer has been nominated in the categories of Medical Negligence and Personal Injury Litigation. Richard Halpern is a senior lawyer acting exclusively for injured people in medical negligence cases, focusing on infants injured at or around the time of birth. Richard is known for tackling some of the most complex and challenging medical malpractice cases. He has more than 30 years of experience representing seriously injured people.  He has lectured and written extensively on matters concerned with obstetrics, the cause of newborn injury, medical malpractice cases more generally, and legal and trial strategies. One of his most recent papers is titled, "Fetal surveillance in labour, a review of SOGC 2020 guideline 396: oversights, omissions and opportunities squandered." In this critique, he suggests this new Guideline has little hope of improving mothers' and babies' care during labour and delivery. It fails to describe how and when newborn neurological injury relates to events occurring during labour and makes recommendations based on dubious clinical value.

David Lackman, Senior Counsel and Lawyer has been nominated in the category of Personal Injury Litigation. David has tirelessly worked to support his clients and has achieved successful results for the past 39 years. His litigation practice encompasses severe and complex personal injury and disability claims, and wrongful death claims. David has achieved outstanding results in personal injury claims against some of the country's largest corporations, including railways. Much of his work involves catastrophic injury claims arising from accidents involving defective premises, motor vehicle collisions and medical liability. He is a frequently-invited guest speaker at legal seminars and conferences on trial practice.  David serves as the Chair of the Editorial Board of the Journal of the Ontario Trial Lawyers Association, a position he has occupied for over 20 years.

Steve Rastin, Senior Counsel and Lawyer, has been nominated in Personal Injury Litigation and Labour and Employment Law. He is an award-winning trial lawyer whose practice focuses on Civil Litigation, where he has been providing cutting-edge legal services to clients for almost 30 years. Steve's focus is on personal injury, employment law, and mass tort/class action. He has argued cases before the Ontario Superior Court, the Court of Appeal, the Supreme Court of Canada, the Human Rights Tribunal and the Ontario Labour Relations Board. His precedent-setting decisions have benefited not only his clients but victims throughout the Province. In 2019 Steve successfully intervened on behalf of the Ontario Trial Lawyers Association at the Ontario Court of Appeal in Tomec v. Economical Mutual Insurance Company 2019. The Court held those limitation periods in accident benefits cases were not "hard limitation periods" but were subject to the discoverability principle.

Sandev Purewal, Senor Litigation Lawyer, has been nominated in the category of Personal Injury Litigation. He was called to the Ontario Bar in 2001 and is an experienced litigation lawyer in the areas of severe personal injury and disability insurance, while also having addressed a wide range of civil and commercial litigation matters. The Law Society of Upper Canada certified him as a Specialist in Civil Litigation in 2017. He has appeared as counsel before the Superior Court of Justice, Ontario Court of Appeal, Financial Services Commission of Ontario and the Tax Court of Canada. Sandev is currently a member of the OTLA Board of Directors (2015-date), Past-President (2010-2013) and Director (2007-2009) of the Brain Injury Association of Peel & Halton (BIAPH). He is actively involved in other community activities, such as leading the "Helmets on Kids" project in Peel since 2007, which provides free bicycle helmets to children in need.

Jonathan Burton, a Senior Associate and Lawyer, has been nominated in the category of Personal Injury Litigation. Jonathan restricts his practice to insurance litigation, including Personal Injury, disability matters, occupier's liability, medical malpractice and product liability. His passion has always driven Jonathan to help those in need, which fueled his decision to pursue a legal career representing injured persons and their families. He has an outstanding ability to communicate with and understand his clients and their needs. Jonathan’s desire and passion for helping those with disabilities has motivated him to volunteer his time with charitable organizations. He is a past Chair of the Brain Injury Society of Toronto.

Jan Marin, a Senior Associate and Lawyer, has been nominated in the categories of Medical Negligence and Personal Injury Litigation. Over her ten years at Gluckstein Lawyers, Jan has developed a specialized practice in medical malpractice and professional liability. Jan sat as the co-chair of the medical malpractice section of the Ontario Trial Lawyers Association (2019-2020) and was recently elected to their Board of Directors (May 2020). She is also a Board Member of the Canadian Premature Babies Foundation, an active volunteer with Pro-Bono Ontario and the Ontario Justice Education Network. She is a member of the Advocates Society, Medico-Legal Society of Toronto, Ontario Bar Association and Canadian Bar Association. In 2021, Jan was instrumental in a significant medical malpractice victory in the Supreme Court of Canada, following ten years of representation and court battles. Not only does this win mean a brighter future for our client, but it sets an important precedent for every person who has been injured or may be injured by medical negligence.

Thank you for your support over the years. It means so much to us.  It is an honour to have representatives of our firm acknowledged for their dedication to clients and upholding our promise of full-circle care for all who walk through our doors. Thank you from all of us at the Gluckstein office. Interested in learning more about our Gluckstein Lawyers family? Visit our website's About Us page, or drop by the Our Team page to browse our team members' biographies.