Blaney McMurtry LLP Barristers & Solicitors

Katherine L. Higginson, a Blaneys partner and the firm's senior family law lawyer, is one of only a few lawyers in Ontario with expertise in collaborative law, a new initiative in the field of family law.

"It involves two lawyers who represent separate clients but work together with the clients as a team to try and maximize outcome," she explains. "Instead of having a winner and loser, you have two people who can come away feeling that their interests have been met, It's a move away from the legalistic "winner-loser" legal model to discovering what the clients need to maximize resources and stay intact as human beings coming out of the family breakdown."

A member of the Collaborative Family Law Association of Ontario-Toronto, she is one of a small group of lawyers who have fully completed the association's advanced training course.

Katherine's long experience in matrimonial litigation and all areas of family law serves as a foundation for her collaborative law expertise. She represents clients in all types matrimonial negotiations concerning division of property, support custody, parenting issues and divorce.

She also advises on and prepares domestic contracts including marriage, cohabitation, paternity, and separation and custody agreements. Katherine, who has completed a training program in the theory and practice of family mediation under the auspices of the Family Mediation Service of Ontario, also acts as a mediator in family law matters.

A presenter at the Superior Court of Justice Family Information Sessions project in Toronto, Katherine also is the author of many published articles on family law and practice issues. She has lectured on family law and is a speaker with the Law Society of Upper Canada's speakers' bureau, addressing community groups and students on family law issues and the practice of law. She has also conducted numerous seminars for lawyers and client groups on developments in family law.

Katherine L. Higginson, a Blaneys partner and the firm's senior family law lawyer, is one of only a few lawyers in Ontario with expertise in collaborative law, a new initiative in the field of family law.

"It involves two lawyers who represent separate clients but work together with the clients as a team to try and maximize outcome," she explains. "Instead of having a winner and loser, you have two people who can come away feeling that their interests have been met, It's a move away from the legalistic "winner-loser" legal model to discovering what the clients need to maximize resources and stay intact as human beings coming out of the family breakdown."

A member of the Collaborative Family Law Association of Ontario-Toronto, she is one of a small group of lawyers who have fully completed the association's advanced training course.

Katherine's long experience in matrimonial litigation and all areas of family law serves as a foundation for her collaborative law expertise. She represents clients in all types matrimonial negotiations concerning division of property, support custody, parenting issues and divorce.

She also advises on and prepares domestic contracts including marriage, cohabitation, paternity, and separation and custody agreements. Katherine, who has completed a training program in the theory and practice of family mediation under the auspices of the Family Mediation Service of Ontario, also acts as a mediator in family law matters.

A presenter at the Superior Court of Justice Family Information Sessions project in Toronto, Katherine also is the author of many published articles on family law and practice issues. She has lectured on family law and is a speaker with the Law Society of Upper Canada's speakers' bureau, addressing community groups and students on family law issues and the practice of law. She has also conducted numerous seminars for lawyers and client groups on developments in family law.