A partner in the firm’s Litigation and Health Law Groups, Lisa’s practice focuses primarily on advising and representing healthcare facilities and professionals, including long-term care homes, retirement homes, group homes, treatment foster homes and other residential congregate living facilities and their staff members.
Due to the sensitive nature of her practice, Lisa’s clients can rely on her responsiveness and accessibility when they find themselves in critical and unforeseen situations that require immediate attention. She advises and represents clients on ministry inspections and police investigations; statutory compliance matters; licensing issues; reviews and appeals of conditions, orders and administrative monetary penalties; complaints made by residents and families, including to professional regulatory colleges, the Patient Ombudsman and police; professional discipline proceedings and civil litigation; CAS verification decisions; tenancy disputes; privacy and requests for access to information; and resolving issues concerning residents and their family members. Lisa also counsels various employers on matters such as wrongful dismissal; human rights and employment standards complaints; compliance with accessibility standards under the AODA; pay equity; workplace investigations and the resolution of workplace disputes.
Coupled with her impressive knowledge in health law, Lisa possesses strong advocacy skills and has appeared before several courts and tribunals, including the Licence Appeal Tribunal; the Health Services Appeal and Review Board; the Health Professions Appeal and Review Board; the Human Rights Tribunal; the Landlord and Tenant Board; the Pay Equity Hearings Tribunal; discipline committees of regulatory colleges; the Superior Court of Justice; the Divisional Court; and the Court of Appeal for Ontario. Lisa’s vast experience has resulted in her acting as counsel in high-profile matters, including as counsel to a long-term care home operator in the 2018 public inquiry into the murders committed by a former registered nurse. Throughout the pandemic, Lisa was instrumental in assisting long-term care homes and other congregate living settings with matters relating to COVID-19 and has since been advising them on compliance with new legislative amendments that have arisen as a result.
Committed to the health law bar, Lisa is the past chair of the Ontario Bar Association’s Health Law section and the Canadian Bar Association’s National Health Law section. Lisa is also a member of the Canadian Association of Workplace Investigators. As well, Lisa devotes her time to Pro Bono Ontario’s legal clinic at The Hospital for Sick Children, where she provides free legal services to the families of children at SickKids, an initiative which she helped establish in 2009 and for which she was awarded Lexpert’s Zenith Pro Bono Award. As a testament to her professional excellence in health law, Lisa has been recognized as a leading lawyer by Best Lawyers in Canada and Who’s Who Legal. She is also a recipient of the Ontario Bar Association’s Susan Hillary Davidson Memorial Award for Excellence in Health Law.
As a way of giving back to the profession and her clients, Lisa is a sought-after speaker, and speaks regularly at legal, industry and client webinars, conferences and other events on a range of subjects, including licensing, inspections and enforcement, privacy, employment practices, medical assistance in dying, legal risk management and other topics relevant to residential care home operators.
