Construction & Infrastructure
Liens, delay and change-order claims, scheduling, subcontract and deficiency disputes. Built for Ontario's megaproject pipeline.
Mediation
A mediator decides nothing.
That is the point of the role, and it is what makes the day work. I run the process, test each side's case against the documents, and keep it moving until there is an agreement or there plainly will not be one.
- Q.Med
- ADRIC / ADRIO designation
- JD + ML
- Legal training and engineering practice
- EN · FA
- Bilingual practice
The role
What I am, and what I am not.
I act as a neutral. I do not act for a party in a matter I take, and each party should have their own legal advice.
What I bring to a file is that I read the contract and the technical record underneath it — the change orders, the schedule, the model card, the system impact assessment — rather than either side's summary of them.
Formats
How the session runs.
Chosen with the parties at engagement, not assumed.
- Full day
- The default for a matter with more than two parties, or where the documents need working through in the room.
- Half day
- Enough for a two-party matter where the issues are narrow and both sides arrive ready.
- Shuttle
- The parties never sit in the same room. Useful where the relationship has broken down far enough that a joint session would cost more than it returns.
- By video
- Same preparation, same length, same rate. Remote is not a discount format.
- Hybrid
- Principals in the room, an expert or an insurer joining remotely for the part that concerns them.
Rules
Under whose rules.
The ADRIC National Mediation Rules. The ADR Institute of Canada publishes them. They cover initiating a mediation and appointing a mediator where the parties cannot agree on one, and the document carries a code of conduct, a standard form agreement to mediate, and a model dispute resolution clause for contracts. If the agreement already names them, the process is defined before anyone calls me.
Or a protocol the parties write. Where the contract is silent, or where the matter needs something a standard rule set does not contemplate, the protocol is settled in writing before the session.
Preparation
What to bring.
- A brief. The issues, the position taken on each, and what has already been offered and refused. Exchanged in advance, so the session starts informed rather than spending the morning getting there.
- The documents the case turns on — not the production. If a clause, a change order, or a test result decides an issue, put it in front of me before the day.
- Authority to settle. In the room, or reachable in real time and expecting the call. A mediation that reaches terms and then adjourns for instructions is a mediation at risk.
Confidentiality
What stays in the room.
Confidentiality is set by the agreement to mediate, and that is signed before the session rather than described on a website. The part worth settling in it explicitly is the caucus: what a mediator may carry from one room to the other, and how a party releases something for use. An agreement that leaves that implicit is the one that produces an argument on the day.
What a party tells me in caucus stays in that caucus until they tell me I may use it, and I do not carry a number across the hall that I was not given to carry.
Mediation is conducted on a without-prejudice basis. What that means for a particular file, and what survives it, is a question for each party's own counsel rather than for the neutral.
Subject matter
Six areas.
Where a mediation usually turns on something technical.
Technology, AI & Data
Software contracts, SLA and MSA breakdowns, data residency and processing, AI vendor diligence, IP and licensing.
Energy, Grid & Regulatory
Connection assessment and approval, leave to construct, proponent–municipality disputes, and IESO market participation.
Insurance, SABS & LAT
Accident benefits and SABS entitlement, MIG disputes, and private mediation retained by the parties, not the Tribunal's case conference.
Shareholder & Family Business
Shareholder and partnership disputes, co-founder breakdowns, and business succession in family-held companies.
Cross-Border & Diaspora
Diaspora business succession, dual-jurisdiction shareholder disputes, and cross-cultural commercial matters. Conducted in English or Farsi.
Fees
Published in full.
Half day and full day, including up to 2 hours of preparation in a half day and up to 3 in a full day. Additional parties, overtime and the cancellation schedule are on the rate card.
Next step
Start with a call.
Tell me the shape of the matter and who is involved, and I will tell you whether I am the right neutral for it. Inquiries are answered within two business days.