From the start, we hoped to succeed through hard work for clients and a practical approach to problem solving. We think this approach strikes the Right Balance.
Over the years, we have followed this formula to success, as our Toronto law firm has grown from 11 to over 50 lawyers and we've opened four regional offices in Ottawa, Kitchener, Barrie and London enabling us to serve clients from across Canada, the United States and around the world. Our present size and level of experience provide these three major benefits to clients:
Whether our clients hail from Toronto, Canada, the United States, or elsewhere in the world, our law firm can assist in the following ways:
Insurance Disputes: Much of our law firm's work concentrates on insurance law matters and litigation files sourced from insurers. These include insurance coverage disputes, property insurance litigation, personal injury, motor vehicle and accident benefits, health/life/disability insurance claims, professional and products liability, and all commercial and personal lines. We often act for the insurance industry in complex matters involving municipal, environmental, and other liabilities, as well as subrogation. We also act for insureds, brokers, and members of the reinsurance industry.
Business Disputes: We have a diverse business litigation practice. Banks, trust companies, and other financial institutions retain us on claims concerning their duties to, and rights against, customers and third parties. We act for corporations and their directors and officers in all forms of financial, transactional, and operational disputes. We are active in insolvency matters, including receiverships, enforcement of security, corporate restructuring, proposals, and bankruptcies.
Risk Management: We help you manage the risks you are facing, particularly in areas such as employment law, environmental law, construction law, privacy, and insurance coverage, including drafting of policies and procedures.
Class Actions: Ever since the Class Proceedings Act was passed in the Province of Ontario in 1992, our firm has been at the forefront of the defence of class action litigation.
Cost-Conscious and Practical: McCague Borlack LLP works hard to solve your issues in a cost-conscious, practical manner. Because of our focus on litigation and the insurance sector, we have an in-depth understanding of the legal and practical considerations faced in a lawsuit. This enables us to craft workable, efficient solutions.
Bench Strength: With personnel numbering, over 100, consisting of lawyers, clerks, and support staff, and the students who article with us, the Toronto law firm of McCague Borlack LLP has the size and expertise to meet your needs.
This is what the "Right Balance" means to us:
Does this philosophy work? Our clients confirm it.
At McCague Borlack LLP, we are committed to providing to our clients the highest quality of legal services. Our mission is to achieve the best result in the shortest period of time for the least expense.
In resolving disputes, this may mean using alternative dispute resolution (ADR) methods such as mediation and arbitration. These methods are often faster and less costly than the court system, as matters can often be resolved within weeks or months rather than years.
However, in achieving the best result for you, it is sometimes necessary to take the matter through court processes, including trial and appeal. Here, too, we consider it important to achieve the best result as quickly as possible for the least cost.
For many clients, it is essential to be able to work easily and smoothly with their lawyers. We have ensured that our law firm’s technology allows this.
Working with Clients: McCague Borlack LLP maintains a Microsoft Exchange server with intranet and extranet capabilities. This helps you stay up-to-date with progress on the work we are doing on your behalf.
Video Studio: McCague Borlack has a video studio on the premises to record and view witness' evidence in preparation for examinations and trials.
Effective Technology: The effectiveness of our litigation work is increased through litigation support software, including Casemap and Concordance. We have specialty applications for database management, on-line legal research, CD-ROM case and statute databases, and customized applications (such as Amicus).
Staying in Touch: To help you stay in touch with our firm’s members, wherever they are, all of our lawyers and law clerks use data- and voice-enabled wireless handheld units. As well, the firm’s server is accessible from outside the office, increasing the effectiveness and response time of our professionals. We also utilize VPN for outside connectivity.
McCague Borlack LLP, a law firm with offices in Toronto, Ottawa, Kitchener, London & Barrie, knows that our clients count on us to take innovative and leading roles in our profession:
Regional Counsel:
In 2020, McCague Borlack announced its exciting new relationship with Metcalfe Blainey and Burns LLP (“MBB”). Lawyers at McCague Borlack will be counsel to MBB forming a dynamic team that can provide creative dispute resolution services to MBB’s clients. Combining MBB’s knowledge of their clients’ needs with the advocacy skills of the McCague Borlack team will ensure that the clients obtain exceptional results when they find themselves in a potential legal dispute.
National Service:
Canadian Litigation Counsel (CLC) - In the mid-1990s, we recognized that there was no national association of law firms dedicated to providing litigation and alternative dispute resolution (ADR) services to clients. Accordingly, we took the initiative to become a founding member of the Canadian Litigation Counsel (CLC).
Now a nationwide association of independent law firms, CLC is involved in coordinated litigation and related services to the insurance industry and other public and private institutions. The group is specifically structured to serve and respond to our principals’ needs on a national and regional basis. CLC serves clients of member firms to ensure rapid, efficient, and consistent legal assistance across Canada.
To help its members serve you better while controlling costs, CLC is at the forefront of e-mail reporting and computerized file management.
International Service:
The Harmonie Group - In the late 1990s, the Canadian Litigation Counsel (CLC) affiliated with a similar organization in the United States, the Harmonie Group. Like CLC, the Harmonie Group is an affiliation of independent law firms, all specializing in litigation and alternative dispute resolution. The Harmonie Group has 60 member firms with at least one firm qualified to practice law in every U.S. state.
Canadian Litigation Counsel’s association with the Harmonie Group helps give you access to legal excellence in every jurisdiction in North America, the U.K., India and throughout Europe.
Mission Statement
McCague Borlack values and respects the diverse backgrounds, cultures, orientation and traditions of all firm members, potential candidates and the clientele we serve. We are dedicated to providing excellence through our people, our work and our relationships. To achieve these goals, we maintain our core value of diversity by recruiting the best people with the strongest legal skills to work in an environment that is free of discrimination. In keeping with this commitment, we foster a workplace that welcomes the acceptance and inclusion of our national mosaic in the recruitment, retention, development and promotion of our lawyers and staff.
We believe there is no greater strength than that which we achieve when we embrace the differences in all of us.
Objective
In order to promote our Mission Statement, we have established a Diversity Committee within our firm. The committee provides leadership to allow our firm to accomplish the following:
If you have any questions regarding this policy, please contact our Diversity Committee:
In response to client demand arising from trends developing regionally throughout the province, McCague Borlack LLP has expanded into strategic locations outside the Greater Toronto Area. The purpose of this expansion is to provide our clients with the same top-quality, cost effective legal services in regional offices with lawyers residing and often educated in their local community. These lawyers have the knowledge, contacts, reputations and specific skill sets designed to best suit the local environment and regional court jurisdiction in which our clients require our services. By offering our clients the benefits of local representation supported by the bench strength of our head office and other regional offices, we are able to optimize our success.