Joni became a partner at Legate in 2012 having joined the firm 6 years before. Her practice is restricted to serious personal injury disputes, with a particular focus on medical malpractice and motor vehicle collisions. She has represented injured people both at trial and on appeal. Joni believes that an injured person should have a strong advocate who will go the full distance when required to obtain fair results.
With over 16 years of practice, Joni strives to be the best lawyer she can be. Every day she is inspired by her clients.
Joni has been recognized in 2020 by Best Lawyers in Canada as Lawyer of the Year in Personal Injury Litigation.
Joni has been drawn to medical malpractice as a challenging and fulfilling area of law. The medical malpractice cases that she litigates range from surgical errors, infectious disease, birth trauma and misdiagnosis.
Called to the Ontario Bar, 2001
Bachelor of Laws, The University of Western Ontario, 1999
Chair of the Medical Malpractice Section, 2014 – 2016
Committee Member, Standards of Excellence, 2014 – 2015
Conference Chair, OTLA Medical Malpractice Round Table, June 2016
Conference Co-chair, It’s All About the Medicine, OTLA Medical Malpractice Conference, February 2016
Mentor, Mentoring Dinner 2016 & 2017
“Perfecting the Causation Analysis”, OTLA Medical Malpractice Round Table, June 2016
“Medmal 101: Understanding the Medical Negligence Case”, The Litigator, June 2016
“A-typical Presentation of Myocardial Infarction: aka – I think I’m having a heart attack!”, It’s All About the Medicine, OTLA Medical Malpractice Conference, February 2016
“Damages Panel”, The Ninth Annual Personal Injury Conference, Middlesex Law Association, December 2015
“Salt in the Wound – Proving the Retrospective Hypothetical”, OTLA Medical Malpractice Roundtable, July 2014
“Brave New World – Perfecting the Causation Analysis”, Canadian Bar Association New Brunswick, Tricks of the Trade, October 2013
“Special Circumstances: Understanding its Applications and Limits”, OTLA Medical Malpractice Conference, April 2013
“Summary Judgment: Where are we Now?”, Middlesex Law Association, December 2012
“You Can’t Be a Little Bit Pregnant: How the Paisley Snail Saved Ontario’s Mothers-to-Be from Cross Border Shopping for Care”, The Paisley Snail International Conference, Scotland, May 2012
“Lauden v. Roberts and Bedard v. Amin: Implications for Mary Carter and Pierringer Agreements”, The Fifth Annual Straight from the Bench Litigation Conference, Middlesex Law Association, April 22, 2010 (also presented at OTLA Spring Conference, May 2010)
“Assessing Claims in Colon or Rectal Cancer Cases: Could it, Should it, Would it be Prevented”, The Litigator, June 2009
“Dazed and Confused: Use and admissibility of medical records at trial”, OTLA Medical Malpractice Round Table, January 2008
“Developing Your Bad Faith Claim in Accident Benefits Litigation”, OTLA Fall Conference, October 2008
“Update of Medical Negligence Law: New and Not so New Developments over the Past Six Months”, OTLA Guide to Medical Negligence Practice VI, Spring 2007
Joni was a member of the Board of Directors from 2013 to 2016, and the Vice President of Parents of Technologically Dependent Children of Ontario. This organization supports children who have become very medically fragile or dependent on technology as a result of illness, accident or a genetic condition. She supports the Children’s Health Foundation through the partnership with Legate. As a Western University Alumna she gives back to Western Law.
In the past, Joni was an active volunteer with the Brain Injury Association of London and Region Editorial Committee, London Lawyers Feed the Hungry, London Block Parent Program, and the Neighbourhood Watch Program.