Robert Besunder, B.A., LL.B., Q.Med, MCIArb
Robert has focused his legal practice on insurance and personal injury litigation, with an emphasis on motor vehicle and medical malpractice cases, and with experience in representing both injured claimants and insurers. Robert also represents clients in general litigation matters.
Robert also provides mediation and arbitration services through Besunder Dispute Resolution.
Robert has represented clients before all levels of courts in Ontario, and has conducted trials on behalf of both plaintiffs and defendants, before judges alone and juries. He has appeared numerous times before various tribunals including the Licence Appeals Tribunal, the Financial Services Commission of Ontario, the Workplace Safety and Insurance Appeals Tribunal, the Social Security Tribunal, the Pension Appeals Board, the Ontario Municipal Board, the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board, the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal, Coroner’s Inquests and the Ontario Labour Relations Board. He frequently represents clients in Alternative Dispute Resolution proceedings, and in particular, private mediations and arbitrations.
In March 2006, Robert was appointed as a Deputy Judge of the Small Claims Court, a division of the Superior Court of Justice, for the Central East Region.
Robert has a particular interest in legal research and writing, and was co-editor and contributor for a monthly newsletter, The O.I.C. Update, published in 1994 and 1995. He has contributed a chapter concerning practice before the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board for the Personal Injury Practice Manual, published by LexisNexis Canada.
After graduation from McGill University’s Faculty of Law in 1989, Robert was called to the bar in Ontario in 1991. Prior to that, Robert obtained his Bachelor’s degree in English Literature from the University of Toronto in 1986. He has completed both the Alternative Dispute Resolution Workshop and the Advanced Alternative Dispute Resolution Workshop through the University of Windsor / Stitt Feld Handy Group, Toronto.
Robert is a member of the Law Society of Ontario (formerly known as the Law Society of Upper Canada), the Toronto Lawyers Association, the York Region Law Association, the Ontario Deputy Judges Association (of which he is President), and the ADR Institute of Ontario (ADRIO), from whom he has received the designation of Qualified Mediator (Q.Med). He is also a member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators.