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Practical strategies for effective advocacy, procedural compliance, and navigating the electronic filing system.
This 90-minute program featuring the Hon. Darla Wilson, Court of Appeal for Ontario, Hayley Pitcher, Deputy Executive Legal Officer – Civil, Court of Appeal for Ontario, and Tanieka Swaby, Deputy Registrar and Manager of Court Administration, Court of Appeal for Ontario, and moderated by Gabriel Latner, offers practical guidance on motions in the Court of Appeal for Ontario.
Panelists will demystify court processes, highlight common pitfalls, and provide concrete strategies to improve efficiency and advocacy on motions.
Participants will gain insight into:
Whether you are new to appellate practice or a seasoned litigator, this session is for you!
Toronto Lawyers Association
For more than 135 years, the Toronto Lawyers' Association, located within the Courthouse Library, has represented the interests of lawyers practising in the City of Toronto. The association was founded to support its members in three key areas: Knowledge, Advocacy, and Community.To uphold these pillars, the association offers a year-round mix of online and in-person education programs for lawyers, hosts both free and paid events to foster in-person networking, and submits advocacy pieces on behalf of its members to the Ontario bench and bar, all levels of government, and the broader public.
Judge, Court of Appeal for Ontario
Justice Darla A. Wilson received a Bachelor of Arts from Queen's University in 1981, and a Bachelor of Laws from Queen's University in 1984. She was admitted to the Bar of Ontario in 1986. Justice Wilson was previously a partner with Lawson McGrenere LLP in Toronto, where she practiced exclusively in the area of civil litigation. She carried on her practice throughout Ontario in the area of medical and other negligence claims, as well as representing plaintiffs in personal injury actions. She was an instructor in Trial Advocacy at the University of Toronto Law School, as well as a Director of the Advocates' Society and a member of the Board of Directors of the Medico-Legal Society. In 2007, Justice Wilson was appointed to the Superior Court of Justice in Toronto. From 2020-2024, she was the Civil Team Lead for pre-trials and trials in Toronto. She was appointed to the Court of Appeal for Ontario on April 30, 2024. Currently, she sits on the Dean's Council at Queen's Law School and is a member of the Civil Rules Committee. Justice Wilson is a judicial member of The Holland Group, comprised of advocates dedicated to promoting reforms in medical negligence actions. She is the editor of the Annual Review of Civil Litigation. She received the Ontario Bar Association Distinguished Service Award in 2025. Madam Justice Wilson is an avid long-distance runner and considers the Boston Marathon, the Berlin Marathon and the Paris Marathon her favorite races.
Deputy Executive Legal Officer, Court of Appeal for Ontario
After litigating high-profile constitutional cases for the Attorney General of Ontario, Hayley earned her LLM in 2019 from the University of Melbourne, where she served as an associate member and research assistant at its Centre for Comparative Constitutional Studies. In 2021, she joined the Court of Appeal for Ontario as counsel and was recently promoted to senior leadership as its first Deputy Executive Legal Officer. She speaks frequently on mental health in the legal profession and received the Michael Fleishman Award from the Association of Law Officers of the Crown for her exceptional commitment to public law, mentoring, and fairness.
Deputy Registrar and Manager of Court Administration, Court of Appeal for Ontario
Tanieka Swaby is Deputy Registrar and Manager of Court Administration (Intake Office) at the Court of Appeal for Ontario. Her areas of expertise include appellate court operations, motion tracking, administrative leadership, and managing specialized intake processes for civil, family, and criminal appellate matters. She supervises the Intake Office staff, who process notices of dismissal, appointments to settle orders, and motions to dismiss for delay. She also resolves complex, escalated procedural and administrative issues for legal counsel and self-represented litigants, and implements procedural rule changes and administrative updates that affect how civil and criminal motions are filed in the province's highest court.
Attorney at Advocan Law LLP
After getting an LL.M. and planning on becoming a professor, Gabriel spent his early career in a think tank writing legal briefs and academic articles. Somehow, he ended up representing technology companies and suing fraudsters. With a practice that combines transactional and strategic advice with courtroom advocacy, Gabriel has a unique perspective on how to resolve (and more importantly prevent) commercial disputes. Trained in the UK and the US, and admitted in both New York and Ontario, Gabriel regularly consults on cross-border transactions and litigation, and advises Canadian clients looking to expand into international markets.