Richard Halpern
- Emailhalpern@gluckstein.com
- Phone(416) 408-4252 ext. 263
- Fax(416) 408-4235
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Tina Latulippe
Bio.
Richard Halpern is a senior lawyer acting exclusively for injured people in medical negligence cases, with a special focus on infants injured at or around the time of birth. Richard is known across Canada for his expertise in birth injury cases. He has more than 30 years of experience representing seriously injured people.
Richard has a detailed understanding of the highly technical medical issues, particularly relating to birth injury cases. His experience allows him to provide meaningful advice and direction to families considering a medical negligence lawsuit following a review of the medical records.
Richard is a founding member of the Birth Injury Lawyers Alliance (BILA). BILA was formed by a group of lawyers from across Canada to promote the effective representation of children and families affected by avoidable injuries to children occurring at or around the time of birth. BILA members meet regularly to share strategies, review scientific literature, and develop best practices.
Richard is known for tackling some of the most complex and challenging medical malpractice cases. 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. He has delivered more than 90 presentations to professional groups, including lawyers and health care providers. Richard has written a paper called “Birth Trauma Litigation: Proving the Cause of Newborn Neurologic Injury”, an essential read for lawyers acting for children injured around the time of birth. He has also recently written a critique of new obstetrical guidelines, called “Fetal Surveillance in Labour, a Review of SOCG 2020 Guideline 396: Oversights, Omissions and Opportunities Squandered”.
Recently, Richard has taken on the complex issue of causation in tort law. He has written a comprehensive paper exploring the roots of causation, called “Causation on Trial – A Call for Change in How We Think About Causation in Tort”. He has written a second paper on causation called “What Should the Causal Questions Look Like”.
In 2015, Richard was the recipient of the Award for Distinguished Service to the legal profession, conferred by his peers at the Ontario Bar Association. Richard has been recognized by and listed in The Best Lawyers™ in Canada. He has been recognized in The Canadian Legal Lexpert® Directory.
Richard has acted in hundreds of medical malpractice cases. He has achieved significant settlements for his clients, many exceeding $10,000,000, though past results are not necessarily indicative of future outcomes. He has appeared in the Superior Court of Ontario and the Ontario Court of Appeal.
Richard is currently a member of The Holland Group, a group that promotes reforms in medical malpractice law and practice aimed at increasing access to justice and timely and equitable resolutions of medical malpractice claims. The Holland Group is chaired by former Ontario Court of Appeal Justice John Laskin.
Richard is a past President of the Ontario Trial Lawyers Association. He is a past member of the Judicial Advisory Committee on Judicial Appointments (GTA) appointed by the Federal Minister of Justice. This committee evaluated candidates for appointment to the Superior Court of Justice, the Ontario Court of Appeal, the Federal Court and the Federal Court of Appeal.
In addition to his Bachelor of Arts degree (BA) and Bachelor of Laws degree (LLB), Richard earned a Masters Degree in Law (LLM) in Civil Litigation at Osgoode Hall Law School. He is a member of the Advocates’ Society, the Ontario Trial Lawyers’ Association, the Ontario Bar Association, Litigation Counsel of America, and the American Association of Justice.
Expertise.
Education.
- University of Toronto, Bachelor of Arts, 1979
- University of Windsor, Bachelor of Laws, 1982
- Osgoode Hall Law School, Masters of Law (Civil Litigation), 1998
Professional Involvement.
- Birth Injury Lawyers’ Alliance, Founding Member
- Ontario Trial Lawyers Association
- Member of the Birth Trauma Litigation Group of the AAJ
- The Canadian Bar Association
- The Advocates’ Society
- American Association for Justice
- Past President of the Ontario Trial Lawyers Association, 2007 – 2008
- Member of the American Association for Access to Justice
Blog & News.
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11 Gluckstein Lawyers Shine in The 2024 Editions of The Best Lawyers in Canada™ and The Best Lawyers: Ones To Watch in Canada™.
Gluckstein Lawyers is thrilled to announce that 11 of our esteemed lawyers have been recognized in the prestigious 2024 Editions of The Best Lawyers in Canada™ and The Best Lawyers: Ones To Watch in C...Read Full Story -
Richard Halpern of Gluckstein Lawyers discusses the proper use of the counterfactual question
This article was produced in partnership with Gluckstein LawyersJulius Melnitzer of Canadian Business sat down with Richard Halpern, senior counsel at Gluckstein Lawyers to discuss causation in tortA ...Read Full Story -
15 Gluckstein Lawyers Nominated for 2024 Best Lawyers® List
We are thrilled to announce that Gluckstein Personal Injury Lawyers has thirteen of our lawyers nominated in The Best Lawyers in Canada™ 2024 edition and two in The Best Lawyers in Canada: Ones to Wat...Read Full Story -
5 Gluckstein Lawyers Recognized as Lexpert-Ranked Lawyer in 2023 Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory
We are thrilled to announce that five of our Gluckstein Lawyers have been voted as Leading Legal Practitioners across Canada in the 2023 Canadian Lexpert Directory. Charles Gluckstein (Personal Injury...Read Full Story -
Medical Experts and Their Duty to the Court
A Cautionary Tale For the Role of Expert Evidence at TrialIn an important medical malpractice trial in 2022, a Judge of the Ontario Superior Court has found two doctors liable for the amputation of th...Read Full Story -
We are Honoured to be included in The Best Lawyers® in Canada 2023
Congratulations to our nine Gluckstein Lawyers who have been selected for The Best Lawyers® in Canada 2023! We are excited to announce the addition of Jan Marin, Simona Jellinek, Erin Ellis ...Read Full Story
Events.
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Upcoming
Risky Business 2023 - Starting and Finishing the Case: Common Pitfalls of Medical Malpractice Cases
Overview.Gluckstein Lawyers is excited to welcome you to our fifth annual Risky Business Conference, taking place using a hybrid model, on October 18, 2023, from 9:00 AM to 4:30 PM, with a networking ...Continue Reading -
Past
Risky Business - 2022
Risky Business is a CPD-accredited Medical Malpractice Conference designed to educate those who may wish to learn about the complex nature of medical negligence lawsuits.Continue Reading -
Past
Personal Injury CPD Legal Webinar Series
The legal world is changing, and personal injury law has never been more complicated. The team at Nicholson Gluckstein Lawyers is excited to offer our CPD personal injury legal webinar series and how...Continue Reading
Guides & Papers.
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Paper
A Quick Guide to Hearsay
An understanding of the hearsay rule and its exceptions must begin with the type of evidence that is caught by the hearsay rule. It is not all out-of-court statements that are excluded. An out-of-cour...Continue Reading -
Causation on trial – necessity, sufficiency and the causal questions
I write this addendum to my paper with the objective of better understanding how we compose the counterfactual questions in cases involving multiple factors and the causal relationship to a phenomenon...Continue Reading -
Paper
Causation on trial - a call for change in how we think about causation in tort
To say that an event is the cause of an effect sounds simple enough. It can be simple, but often it is not. An event, on its own, may not be enough to bring about an effect, and may need to follow or ...Continue Reading -
Paper
Fetal surveillance in labour, a review of SOGC 2020 Guideline 396
Oversights, omissions and opportunities squanderedIn March 2020, the Society for Obstetricians and Gynecologists of Canada (SOGC) delivered Guideline 396 relating to fetal surveillance in labour (here...Continue Reading