Richard Henry Shekter

You can’t design a career path like Richard’s. Most lawyers specialize. Richard was a different breed, as a general litigator retained in a wide range of practice areas, including: civil, criminal, medical malpractice, estates, professional discipline, products liability, professional negligence, and corporate oppression.

He’s won important landmark decisions at both trial and appellate levels across a variety of disciplines. He’s a respected legal scholar. He’s successfully represented plaintiffs and defendants, acted as prosecutor and defence counsel, providing Richard with a unique perspective on how best to find a resolution – a way to “yes”. For the past few years, Richard has also been brought in by professional regulators to mediate a variety of discipline disputes. This diverse experience serves as perfect preparation for his role as a Mediator and Arbitrator.

Whether as a Mediator or in his former role as a high-profile litigator, Richard brings the same discipline, encyclopedic knowledge of the law and powerful communication skills to find a resolution that’s fair to both sides.

Richard made his name as one of Ontario's leading litigators. He was lead counsel on a number of precedent-setting cases. Known for his exhaustive preparation and encyclopedic legal knowledge, Richard has always striven to achieve excellence for whichever side of the lawsuit he found himself on. As a mediator, he makes it his business to understand what both sides need in both practical and human terms. He’s driven to find a path to resolution.

Combine Richard’s strengths as a persuasive negotiator with his legal acumen and subject-matter experience, and you have the foundation needed for an outstanding and effective Mediator.

Working as a Mediator requires both people skills and legal skills. It also demands rigorous preparation. Richard comes to every Mediation with a comprehensive and nuanced understanding of the issues in the case and the positions taken by each of the opposing sides. He doesn’t come with a pre-determined strategy; instead, that evolves as the dynamics of the parties are revealed. As tenacious as he was as a litigator, as a mediator, Richard is nothing if not relentless in his pursuit of an agreement. Richard’s doggedness is what takes a case from conflict to resolution.