Gluckstein Lawyers is Proud to Welcome James Newland and Brian Moher

Industry leading personal injury law firm

Gluckstein Lawyers continues in its drive to become an industry leader in the field of catastrophic injury and medical malpractice and are proud to welcome senior counsel James Newland and senior associate Brian Moher to an experienced and diversified roster.

“With the addition of James and Brian to our team, we are well positioned to become a top-tier firm in the area of mass torts and class actions,” says managing partner Charles E. Gluckstein. “Brian has worked in this practice area since 2004 and James since 1996. James will head up the group along with Steve Rastin to grow our firm's expertise in this exciting area of practice.”

Gluckstein Lawyers has enjoyed remarkable growth in recent years. The firm that was founded in 1962 by Charles’ father, Bernard, demonstrated its commitment to the future by bringing in senior lawyer Richard Halpern, who acts exclusively for injured people in birth trauma cases.

Gluckstein then joined with Ottawa trial lawyer Derek Nicholson and Steve Rastin, a Barrie-area litigator, to expand its reach. Before adding Newland and Moher this year, the firm also welcomed sexual abuse lawyers Simona Jellinek, Erin Ellis, and Ivanna Iwasykiw to the firm.

Expanded expertise

Both Newland and Moher specialize in class action and mass tort cases, medical negligence, personal injury and product liability.

Newland, who holds a Bachelor of Arts from Trinity College at the University of Toronto, was called to the bar in 1983 after graduating from Queen’s University.

Since then, he has represented clients in numerous negotiations, mediations and other forms of Alternative Dispute Resolution and has acted as a mediator since 1997. Newland has been a member of the Ontario Mandatory Mediation Program in Toronto since its inception in 1999 and has conducted mediations in the personal injury and insurance areas.

He specializes in individual personal injury claims, class actions and mass torts actions that often involve defective medical devices, pharma products or mass transit accidents.

A member and past director of the Ontario Trial Lawyers Association (OTLA), the American Association for Justice, the Advocates Society, the Canadian Bar Association and the Medico-Legal Society of Toronto. Newland is also the founding Chair of the OTLA Mass Torts and Class Action Section.

Moher has devoted his career to complex and challenging litigation after being called to the Ontario Bar in 2005 following his graduation from the University of Western Ontario. He has acted as trial and appellate counsel at Divisional Court, the Superior Court of Justice, the Ontario Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Canada. He was also appointed Pro Hac Vice counsel in the United States.

Moher has practised as plaintiff class actions counsel since 2005 and spent the first decade of his career as a health law defence lawyer in both civil and professional regulatory proceedings. In 2015, he began working as plaintiff’s counsel and has acted as trial counsel in medical device class actions, including St. Jude Medical v Andersen and Taylor v Canada.

Moher’s experience includes civil litigation, appeals, judicial reviews, class action, professional discipline proceedings and appeals. He has provided representation in Charter of Rights and Freedoms applications, administrative proceedings relating to professionals, hospital board hearings, investigations and related institutional proceedings. Moher has acted at coroner's inquests and has appeared for the prosecution and defence in contempt of court litigation. Moher has co-authored publications and book chapters on clinical engineering and patient safety.

His most recent academic work deals with medical devices and how to promote optimal patient outcomes in existing and emerging regulatory frameworks worldwide. Moher is vice president of the Canadian Psoriasis Network and legal director of the Children’s Health and Human Rights Partnership.