We are pleased to announce that Alfred Mamo of McKenzie Lake Lawyers LLP will be speaking on Friday, February 5th at our upcoming Family Law program for the OBA’s Institute 2016. Alf has been practising family law for over 40 years, and in this time, he has substantially influenced development of the law and improved the delivery of service to the public in the family law court system. As a long time member of the Province of Ontario’s Family Law Rules Committee, and a former advisor to the provincial Attorney General on family law matters, Alf is a champion in this area in many ways.
In his significant report commissioned by the Attorney General of Ontario in 2007, titled Recapturing and Renewing the Vision of the Family Court (familiar to the profession as the ‘Mamo Report’), Alf identified a comprehensive model of best practices in terms of service delivery and court operations that could be implemented in all family court sites.
In 2009, as part of the provincial family law summit Home Court Advantage, hosted by the Ontario Bar Association, Alf provided input into the report Creating a Family Law Process That Works, which was presented to then Attorney General Chris Bentley in 2011. That report built on the Mamo Report , and made substantial recommendations regarding provision of early information for separating spouses and children, assessing parties and directing them to appropriate and proportional services through a triage approach, facilitating greater access to alternative dispute resolution processes, and streamlining the family court system.
The majority of Alf’s time is now spent as a neutral expert conducting mediation, and assisting parties and their lawyers in forming creative solutions that meet the needs of each case. In addition, he is often called upon to arbitrate cases when people wish to opt out of the court system and have their issues resolved privately, so he can effectively provide perspectives from both ends of the family law spectrum. Also with 52 works listed in the catalogues of the Law Society of Upper Canada library, Alf undoubtedly brings a wealth of knowledge, information and experience in family law to the table.
What really makes Alf special, however, is his passion and dedication to his clients. Most of his reports and recommendations are focused on the client’s perspective, and in this light, he will be speaking on best practices for managing your clients in the context of mediation at the OBA’s upcoming Institute 2016. Alf will join a panel of mediators to provide expert insight on strategies to optimize your success at mediation, to enhance your written and oral advocacy, and to get your client the deal they want.