KIERAN C. DICKSON, Junior Partner

 Kieran C. Dickson is proud to represent some of Canada’s largest casualty insurers in the defence of their interests, and the interests of those they insure. Kieran views the role of defence counsel as honourable and critical to preventing abuses by those who would otherwise take unfair advantage through deceit or other vice. In addition to defending tort suits, Kieran is frequently retained to provide coverage opinions and to deal with coverage disputes. All of these areas of practice have provided opportunities for courtroom advocacy, both at first instance and on appeal, and thereby for the creation of new law important to the insurance industry generally. Two of Kieran’s appeal victories, Finlayson v. GMAC (Ontario Court of Appeal) and McEnaney v. General Accident (Ontario Court of Appeal, motion for leave to appeal to Supreme Court of Canada successfully defeated), have been recognized by commentators as having a significant impact on the law of Ontario.

Kieran is very active in the Hamilton community. He is a charter member of Hamiltonians for Progressive Development, which promotes a sustainable approach to land use and economic development; he is President of PATH Employment Services, an agency which is committed to ensuring the meaningful employment of people with any type of disability; he sits on the Board of Governors of the Hamilton Future Fund; and he is a citizen representative on the Power Shift Roundtable, which is helping to find ways for Hamilton to minimize its reliance on conventional energy sources through both conservation and alternative energy production. Kieran is also involved in downtown redevelopment projects, particularly through adaptive reuse of old buildings.

Born: Hamilton, Ontario; admitted to Bar, 2000, Ontario.

Education: McMaster University (B.Sc. Honours, 1995); University of Western Ontario (LL.B., 1998). In 1998, Mr. Dickson was the recipient of the Stikeman, Elliott/Carswell National Tax Award for excellence in the field of taxation.

Community Involvement: Bay Area Restoration Council; Path Employment Services (Director and Member of Executive Committee).