The Professionalism Panel: Civility, Transparency and Access to Justice

Douglas W. Judson is the chair of the Federation of Ontario Law Associations and the president of the Rainy River District Law Association. He practices in Fort Frances, Ontario at Judson Howie LLP. Doug is a former municipal councillor and currently serves on the boards of the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre, the Northwest Community Legal Clinic, and his local 2SLGBTQIA+ Pride organization. He holds bachelors degrees in political science (BSocSc) and commerce (BCom) from the University of Ottawa, and a JD/MBA from Osgoode Hall Law School and the Schulich School of Business. In 2020, he was an Action Canada fellow.

Kathryn J. Manning, is a Founding Partner at DMG Advocates LLP, a commercial litigation boutique based in Toronto. She was called to the Ontario Bar in 1998 after graduating from Queen’s University with her LL.B. in 1996. Kathryn has a broad civil litigation practice that includes large, complex commercial disputes. She has experience in a wide range of matters, including shareholder disputes, professional negligence, employment litigation, product liability, class actions, broker liability and civil fraud. Kathryn has deep advocacy experience in trials, arbitrations, appeals and interlocutory proceedings such as injunctions and summary judgment motions.

Kathryn brings a unique perspective to her commercial litigation practice, providing her clients with effective, cost efficient strategic legal advice in all types of civil disputes that leverages technology appropriate to each matter. She has expertise working with digital evidence at all stages of litigation matters. Kathryn has been counsel in electronic hearings in the Ontario courts and in arbitrations.

Kathryn is the Co-Chair of the E-Hearings Task Force, a joint initiative of the Ontario Bar Association, The Advocates Society, The Ontario Trial Lawyers Association and the Federation of Law Associations that was launched in April 2020 as a consultative forum and liaison between the Ontario bench and bar to implement remote hearings. The Task Force has developed Best Practices for the conduct of remote hearings and has members from across Ontario’s judicial regions. Kathryn is also a member of the Superior Court of Justice Civil Working Group, which is a bench and bar committee struck by the Chief Justice of the SCJ to help the Court during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond with implementing remote hearings and address court modernization issues.

Kathryn is the Chair of Sedona Canada, Working Group 7 of The Sedona Conference, which is the author of the Sedona Canada Principles Addressing Electronic Discovery that are now part of the Ontario Rules of Civil Procedure. Kathryn also sits on the Ontario Civil Rules Committee.

Kathryn is a member of the Board of Directors of the Toronto Lawyers’ Association. She is also on the Policy Committee and the Equality Sub-Committee of the Canadian Bar Association. Kathryn sat on the Ontario Bar Association’s Board of Directors for three years from 2017-2020, including as Secretary of the Board. She is currently a member of the OBA Council as a representative for the Toronto Region.