Chris has been litigating in family court since 2009. He has been mediating family law disputes out of court since 2017. Previously, he has been an associate of a national tier-one law firm as well as running his own small firm. With over 35 years of work experience, his first career was in policy, legislation, and communications.
Chris is one of only a handful of practising lawyers in Ontario who is dually accredited both as a Family Mediator and as an Intergenerational Mediator (OAFM). In law school, Chris studied fertility law. Maureen McTeer, founding member of the Royal Commission on New Reproductive Technologies, supervised Chris’s major thesis on the constitutionality of Canada’s ban on paid surrogacy. Chris is a member of the LGBTQ+ Bar Association and Foundation, of the American Bar Association. Chris has written articles for publication in Canadian Lawyer Magazine and Fifty-Five Plus Magazine. He has appeared on television and radio to talk about family law, mediation, and elder law.
A former Parliamentary speechwriter and senior public servant of the Government of Canada, Chris has expert knowledge of research, writing, and all aspects of communications. He is an experienced French-English translator. In 1999, he was a speechwriter for Deputy Prime Minister the Right Honourable Herb Gray. Later, he was the English and French Editor-in-Chief for the Right Honourable Adrienne Clarkson, 26th Governor General of Canada. He was also the Parliamentary Speechwriter for the Honourable Elinor Caplan, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration. Following September 11, 2001, he was recognized by the Privy Council Office of Canada for his work around the clock to provide Parliamentarians with speeches needed to address the Government of Canada’s security response to the terrorist attacks in the United States. Chris has also worked as a Privy Council Officer where he asserted Cabinet Confidentiality over classified documents of the Queen’s Privy Council.
Since 2020, Chris has been a returning Judge of the Walsh Family Law Negotiation Competition, which is run by the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts. He has also taught law at the community-college level. In 2018, the federal Bill C-78, An Act to Amend the Divorce Act, entered the committee phase with the House of Commons Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights. Chris took measures to ensure that the accrediting body for Ontario mediators submitted its report in writing to the Parliamentary Standing Committee. The bill subsequently became law, thus amending the law to require more robust out-of-court dispute resolution.
With more than 40 years of community work, including military training as an infantry soldier, Chris is an active leader and educator in Ottawa.
Call to the Bar Ontario, 2009
Education
Juris Doctor, 2008, University of Ottawa, Faculty of Law
Bachelor of Arts, 1994, University of Ottawa, School of Translators and Interpreters
Diploma, 1993, University of Ottawa, Bilingual Writing Skills
