1. assessing coverage and providing claims handling advice;
2. resolving coverage disputes through negotiation, mediation and/or litigation; and
3. drafting or assisting in the drafting of insurance policies.
Sébastien has represented clients as counsel and co-counsel at the Ontario Superior Court and Court of Appeal on a variety of complex insurance coverage matters. Sébastien provides advice, including policy drafting, in both English and French. His law background includes both common law and civil law degrees.
Sébastien’s practice involves commercial general liability, municipal liability, environmental or pollution liability, D&O liability, E&O liability, abuse liability, farm liability, employment practices liability, employee benefits liability, excess liability, commercial umbrella liability, builder’s risk, commercial property, municipal property, contractor’s equipment, business interruption, loss of rental income, and comprehensive dishonesty, disappearance and destruction policies.
Sebastien is frequently asked to speak to industry groups regarding recent coverage developments and trends. Along with Marcus B. Snowden and Mark G. Lichty, he is now a co-author of the Annotated Commercial General Liability Policy textbook, a publication which has been cited by courts across the country.
Mark’s practice as Senior Counsel to the firm is restricted, as it was before his 2018 retirement, to insurance and reinsurance coverage matters involving commercial property, liability, D&O and other financial services policies as well as personal lines homeowner’s and residential policies. He has acted as coverage counsel for clients involved in claims in various Canadian provinces and in the US involving Canadian-based coverage, also acting as an expert on Canadian insurance law in US proceedings. His background for clients also includes drafting various liability and property policy forms, reviewing their underwriting manuals and associated materials
Mark is the co-author of the leading insurance law text, Annotated Commercial General Liability Policy. A previously peer-rated Lexpert (most frequently recommended) and Best Lawyers in Canada acknowledged leader in the Canadian and international insurance bar, Mark has a well-respected reputation in the insurance, reinsurance and risk management community. Before his 2018 retirement, he was, and in returning to practice in 2019 he still remains a well-recognized senior insurance & reinsurance coverage lawyer who has been involved in some of the most significant domestic and cross-border commercial insurance coverage issues over the last several decades.
In 2005 Mark was elected to the Federation of Defense and Corporate Counsel and has spoken in educational programs for industry, client and the profession both locally and in the US on insurance-related topics. Mark has also previously been acknowledged in Who’s Who Legal: Insurance & Reinsurance (2015’s most highly recommended Canadian insurance practitioner), Guide to the World’s Leading Insurance & Reinsurance Lawyers and Euromoney’s Guide to the Best of the Best. For his service to the profession and the community at large, Mark was the 2016 recipient of the Toronto Lawyers Association’s Honsberger Award.
Fabia was called to the Ontario bar in 2008. Starting her career at a well-respected Toronto firm, Fabia worked principally with Marcus as coverage counsel, as well as in insurance defence. The former gave her exposure to a drafting-intensive practice while the latter provided invaluable courtroom experience. She also contributed to various publications addressing coverage issues. She then relocated to The Hague, where she acted as a law clerk and as a trial attorney prosecuting criminal matters before international tribunals. Her duties involved the management of complex evidentiary and legal matters, and significant oral and written advocacy. A graduate of the University of Toronto Faculty of Law, Fabia is pleased to return to coverage work, for which she has always had a fondness. Based in France, she will be assisting Snowden Law as consultant counsel and providing editorial support to the co-authors of Annotated Commercial General Liability Policy.
Called to the Ontario Bar in 1994, Pearl has developed a diverse civil litigation practice in many areas of insurance and commercial law. Her insurance practice includes coverage matters for Canadian, US & UK insurers, reinsurers, self-insured corporations, hospitals, and other non-profit organizations as well as professionals.
When acting as coverage counsel, Pearl drafts opinions, reservation of rights and position letters, and defence cost-sharing agreements. She also represents clients in court applications, at trial and on appeal, in cases involving coverage disputes over issues ranging from the duty to defend, additional insured rights, equitable contribution, breach of conditions and relief from forfeiture to bad faith conduct. Her insurer clients have benefited from her strategic counsel including securing favourable costs awards. She also advises and represents commercial and residential property insurers in coverage disputes involving Builder’s Risk/COC, and equipment breakdown claims.
In her insurance defence practice, Pearl is retained to defend a wide array of complex and large loss liability claims for wrongful death, premises and taverners’ liability, municipal and road design liability, product liability, construction defect, fire and water damage, railway derailment, environmental contamination, defamation, aviation, marine and automobile accident claims. Her commercial litigation and counsel practice includes handling employment law and wrongful dismissal claims, advising and representing commercial landlords in lease disputes and negotiations, as well as other commercial transactions including reviews of contracts and service agreements.
While in-house counsel at an insurer, internally she led continuing education programs for client handlers and junior counsel and externally led programs for the insurer’s brokers.
Pearl continues to pay it forward. A lifelong learner, she remains active in attending, organizing and chairing continuing development programs for the profession, including the following roles: Board Member, Canadian Defence Lawyers Association, Past Chair of the CDL Women’s Caucus and Chair of the 2023 CDL Women’s Caucus Retreat, Chair of CDL’s 2023 Professional Liability Program, Panelist on Discovery at CDL’s 2022 Boot Camp, Co-chair of CDL’s 2022 Annual Insurance Coverage Symposium, Co-chair of CDL’s Pay Equity Issues facing Women in Law webinar, Speaker for the Ontario Bar Association – Insurance Section’s 2021 Additional Insured issues webinar, Civil Procedure Practitioner / Mentor for the TMU Lincoln Alexander School of Law, Principal / Assessor of Candidates for TMU’s Law Placement Program, Member / Mentor for the Women’s Law Association of Ontario and Coach / Advisor for the Law Society of Ontario’s Coach and Advisor Network, and is a member of both the Professional Liability Underwriting Society and Insurance Supper Club of Canada.
Dean is a graduate of the University of Western Ontario Faculty of Law and articled with the firm before being called to the Ontario bar in 2024. His practice includes research, opinion and position letter drafting, and assisting clients in coverage litigation matters. He supports the firm’s more senior lawyers in all manner of coverage counsel services. Dean also contributes his research and editorial skills as input for the firm’s annual update to the Annotated Commercial General Liability Policy.