Heidi Brown outlines the firm's client-first and team-based approach
Top Personal Injury Boutiques 2025 - Bogoroch & Associates Brodie Lawson 00:00:02 Hi everyone. I'm Brodie Lawson with Canadian Lawyer TV, and today I'm speaking with Heidi Brown, Partner at Bogoroch and Associates LLP. The firm has once again, been named one of Canadian Lawyers Top Personal Injury Boutiques for 2025 and we're talking about what drives that sustained success, how the firm is evolving and why personal injury law remains a meaningful and vital practice. Heidi, thank you for being here. Heidi Brown 00:00:27 Brodie, thank you so much for having me. Brodie Lawson 00:00:30 Congratulations on this exciting recognition. How did you and the team react to hearing the news? Heidi Brown 00:00:36 Well, we always appreciate the recognition, and we are humbled and honored, as always, by this tremendous recognition, and we never take it for granted, and we are delighted to be in such good company. What I always tell the lawyers here and the staff is that we must be very proud of the things that we accomplish in the work that we do, but there's a famous saying that says that nothing wilts faster than laurels that have been rested upon. So as as thrilled as we are by the recognition, we can never stop moving forward and trying to continue to do good work on behalf of our clients. Brodie Lawson 00:01:19 And maybe you've already answered this question, but bogaros and Associates is no stranger to this list. What do you think continues to set the firm apart in a really competitive and evolving field? Heidi Brown 00:01:30 It's a really good question, and I always go back to the founding of our firm by Richard Bogoroch in 1999 who had a vision to provide a path to a brighter future for people who have injured, life altering injuries, and I think it really comes down to three things that set us apart Brody, it's execution, compassion and integrity. I'll expand a little bit on those three things, if I may. 1 execution, when we handle a case, we do so promptly with passion, and we bring legal expertise and experience with that. We are so mindful of the delays in the civil justice system, which unfortunately result in cases taking way too long to get to court and to get to trial. So we do our best to implement strategies to move cases quickly through the system, and we also do that by setting very high standards of legal excellence and client service for ourselves. We execute with focus, discipline and attention to detail. We have Mr. Bograch, Richard bograch, with experience more than 40 years, myself over 30 years, Linda walansky, over 40 years. So that combined experience allows us to execute with a great deal of confidence and expertise. Secondly, compassion. We know that our clients are going through the worst times of their lives when they're very badly injured or malpractice upon and we always have to keep front and center the fact that we are going to do what we can to empathize with our clients and help them understand and know that they are in the best hands and that we're going to get their cases completed in an expeditious and professional way. And the final thing that sets us apart, I think, is integrity, and people don't talk about that enough in this business, the personal injury business doesn't always have such a great reputation. We've all heard the old adage about ambulance chasing and things like that, but our firm upholds and holds ourselves to the highest standards of integrity, ethics and professionalism. We do what's right, even when it's not easy and even if it's not popular. We prioritize transparency, fairness in our interactions and our core values aren't just words on the page. We hold ourselves to high principles in our behavior, our decisions and our actions, and they are the foundation of everything that we do and why our clients and team members trust and respect us. I know it was a long answer, but I really wanted to spend some time explaining why I think our firm is different from the rest. Brodie Lawson 00:04:10 Yeah, I think that's excellent. And you've mentioned your clients over and over again, and personal injury law is intensely client focused. How does the firm ensure that each case gets the attention and care that it deserves. Heidi Brown 00:04:24 It's really important in a very saturated field where there's a great deal of competition, to remember what we're doing this for. We never forget what we're fighting for and why we're fighting. We're fighting and it is a fight. I use that word because it often feels like a battle all the time to obtain justice for people and to seek justice and gain access to justice in a system that is becoming increasingly difficult to navigate. We make sure that we meet with our clients regularly, regularly. We update them. Regularly, even if they don't ask us for updates. We feel it is a deep priority to make sure our clients are well informed about their case. We have regular meetings. We We regularly email our clients. We have meetings in advance of every important step, and we make sure not just our lawyers. We don't stand on ceremony, whether it's lawyers, support staff, law clerks, everybody recognizes that this is a team, and as a team, the clients know that they have a multitude of people in the firm to speak to and contact whenever they have questions. We try to get back to people within 24 hours, and we prioritize the communication, because when clients are informed about their case, they're empowered about their case. Brodie Lawson 00:05:47 How do you balance the rigorous legal strategy with the human element that's so central in personal injury work? Heidi Brown 00:05:54 Well, whether it is someone that we are acting for who has sustained a catastrophic brain injury in a car accident, or somebody who has been mis diagnosed, and that misdiagnosis has led to a death or or if it's a birth trauma that has led to a child being born oxygen deprived, We it doesn't matter what the issue is, it comes down to one central thing, empathy. We'll never be able to stand in the shoes of our clients, but we do our best every single day to try to get to a point where they can live their lives with dignity by obtaining a settlement that's going to allow them to do so compensation isn't going to magically change their lives the next day. We understand that, but what it does allow people to do is to live a life that's stress free, not worrying about where the next paycheck is going to come from, so that they can get the care that they need, get the support that they need in the community and be able to afford the things that they need so that they can live a life of dignity. And I believe that's the core value that we try to keep in the back of our minds when, whenever we are handling any case. Brodie Lawson 00:07:17 Can you speak to a recent initiative or case that you think reflects the firm's core values in action? Heidi Brown 00:07:25 Sure, there are so many cases to choose from, and it's so difficult to just choose one, but we recently handled a medical negligence case which it's it's continued to stick with me and and I remember it as a case, and it stands out because of the real tragedy that befell this family and the work that we were able to do, to do what I just described, which is, try it's not going to bring their loved one back. Unfortunately, this was a case about a 35 year old man who suddenly died, leaving a wife and two young children, but it did allow the family, once we were able to achieve a settlement, to have the means. And the financial means is really what I meant, to be able to not have to worry about how they were going to subsist and live without the income that he provided to the family. So this was a case involving, as I said, a 35 year old man who arrived at the emergency room feeling unwell. He had a fever and chills and body aches, and you know, no different from what people present with with the flu. His medical history had involved a history of having had his spleen removed some years before, and that increased his risk of infection if you don't have a spleen. He was seen in the emergency room by a physician who was aware of his medical history and unfortunately, did not give him and prescribe intravenous antibiotic medication for to prevent infection. And shortly within hours after he was discharged from hospital, he returned to the hospital with his symptoms getting worse, and it was found that his condition was deteriorating and it progressed, unfortunately to splenic shock, and that day he died of sepsis. And it was horrible with this young, beautiful family that he left not being able to manage their day to day needs. And what our firm was able to achieve within three very short years is a settlement of several million dollars, with the assistance of tremendously credentialed and terrific experts in emergency medicine and infectious disease, and we were able to develop a theory of liability that that the physician in the emergency room should have prescribed those medications. Drugs and the antibiotics, and then, with the assistance of other experts, we use to develop the damages, what did the family lose by not having our client, the client who passed away income, and what would the client's surviving spouse require in terms of being able to care for her children in the future, and we built a case through excellent admissions that we were able to obtain. Richard bogaros primarily did the discovery of the of the doctors, was able to obtain terrific admissions that made the defense realize that this was a case that needed to be settled and should not have to go to court, and within three years, the case was finished, and the family was grateful, and I'm so grateful that we were able to provide that terrific closure and access to justice for this wonderfully deserving family. Brodie Lawson 00:10:55 As a senior leader at the firm, what is your approach to mentorship, especially for younger litigators that are just entering the field? Heidi Brown 00:11:03 That's a great question, because it's part of my job now that I've been practicing more than 30 years, that I take very, very seriously, and I donate a great deal of my time to continuing legal education, not only within our own office, we have regular continuing legal education meetings in our office where we try to impart not only our knowledge about the law but on strategies and techniques that tend to work, not only in trial but in negotiation, so that we can help our lawyers Learn those hard and soft skills by by listening to us, but it's also by learning, by watching and by doing. We we don't just throw our young lawyers into the fray the fray and say, here's 100 files and never speak to us again. We firmly believe in having our young lawyers watch us several times. We watch them while they're doing a discovery or emotion. We will critique them. We are we are tough, but I think that toughness helps develop a skill set that will enable our lawyers to carry them into the future with confidence and to be able to feel that they have what they need to to be the best lawyers that they can be. So we do internal us, continuing legal education. We mentor by watching and good leadership starts from the top. We we work hard. We expect our young lawyers to work as hard as we do. We set the tone, and we develop our young lawyers from our we like to hire from within. That is our model, and we try and demonstrate the core values for our team each and every day, and expect them to live up to the example that we try to set. Brodie Lawson 00:12:59 So that's a little bit about young lawyers, and perhaps we can take a bit of a broader approach and say, What does effective leadership look like to you in a boutique litigation? Heidi Brown 00:13:08 Setting leadership, in my estimation, means being present. And we've been through a lot. The world has been through a lot since the pandemic, and we have introduced a model in our firm, a hybrid model, where we would like and expect to have people in the office three times a week. Leadership means interacting. Leadership means fomenting relationships and making connections with people. And leadership, to me, means being present and being the person who puts in the hard hours and setting the tone at the firm so that everybody understands what the expectations are, being present, being involved, being engaged, being open and having our doors open to listen, because listening is so important. It's one thing to dictate in lecture, but it's a very different thing to listen and to hear and to understand that the times they are changing, and how are we going to adapt to those times? Brodie Lawson 00:14:18 How do you foster collaboration and high standards across your team? Heidi Brown 00:14:22 We at Bogoroch and Associates believe in the team approach. We don't believe that everybody is an island. No man. And there's a saying, No man is an island today, no person is an island. It is a team. It's a lot of work, and it's a lot of effort that's required in order to bring a case to the finish line, and everybody has to work together. So we work in teams. We have a lawyer, we have a law clerk, we have intermediate and junior lawyers on a team. We have articling students, and no one says stands on ceremony, as I mentioned earlier. Everybody knows their role, understands their role, and collaborates. Rates, and it makes it it makes people feel comfortable, and gives them a sense of security to know that there are multiple pairs of eyes on a file at any given time. Everyone within that team is required to review a file. Everybody is required to engage with our clients and to update them and to get updates from them. And there's a real sense of camaraderie in a team approach, where you can brainstorm and strategize ideas within a team that can only make the level of service higher when everyone's views are being heard and listened to and assessed and analyzed, so that we can bring about the best result for our clients. Brodie Lawson 00:15:42 What changes or challenges are you seeing in the personal injury space that you think firms need to be ready for? Heidi Brown 00:15:48 Thank you for that question, because there are indeed some changes that are are coming and expected in both the accident benefits arena and in the rules of civil procedure more broadly. Firstly, the rules for accident benefits are changing, or they're anticipated to be changing in the summer of 2026 and the government is moving towards a model where unless people purchase enhanced level of coverage, they are likely only to be covered for medical benefits and not for income benefits, and it's going to pose a significant challenge if the brokers who who sell insurance aren't informing the public sufficiently about the products available. Obviously, everybody is suffering, and affordability is an issue in Ontario, people are going to want to pay the least amount that they can for their premiums for insurance, but if that product does not deliver when a person is injured in a car accident, they are really going to be left in a very bad way. And education is something that we are working very hard on in our firm to make sure our clients and the public, the more broad public, is aware of these changes that are anticipated. So I do see that as a very significant change in how car accidents are going to be handled, and there's going to be less money available for people if they aren't purchasing the additional coverage. The second change that's only recently been introduced and that the bar has been made aware of it are changes to the rules of civil procedure that are looking to reshape the entire way that litigation is run. There is a presumption about delay in the system, and that perhaps it is the fault of examinations for discovery that are taking too long, and the rules are looking to, for the most part, eliminate examinations for discovery, which I feel is a dire, dramatic, drastic, harmful change that will affect access to justice, particularly in cases involving medical malpractice and sexual assault. When we examine a doctor or alleged abuser, that is our opportunity to get admissions. That's our opportunity to confront the person on behalf of the client to question them about what happened. The notes and records aren't going to tell the story. We need to have our opportunity to put this witness under a microscope and get them to say things that are going to perhaps create enough risk that will get the case settled to avoid a trial, if that right is taken away and we don't get to confront that person until trial without knowing what they're going to say, access to justice will be sent back, if, in my view, more than 100 years, if not 150 years. We are studying these new rules, we're looking at them, but it will dramatically change the way civil litigation is practiced, if they are passed, and until I know more about it, I am skeptical and highly concerned, and we're looking carefully with working groups to see if there's anything that we can do to change what looks like is being introduced to the new to the new judicial system in Ontario. Brodie Lawson 00:19:24 How has the firm adapted to shifts in technology, procedure or client expectations in recent years? Heidi Brown 00:19:32 We are very proud of Brodie, of our advances in technology in our firm. Richard Bogoroch is a proponent and a pioneer in technology where many, many law firms have lagged behind, and where our courts have also lagged behind. Until recently, with technology, we went paperless more than 15 years ago, we now have adapted. To use DocuSign, electronic signatures so our clients don't have to come often from, you know, parts very far away from Toronto, to have to come into the office just to sign something. We use Zoom and teams for our meetings, for discoveries, for mediations, in certain circumstances, in person meetings are better and they're necessary, but we've been able to pivot over the last several years to have many more meetings done through zoom and teams, and it's a convenience for our clients. They appreciate it. They like it, and we are always looking for the next best software so that it can be efficient for our our team and our staff to function at the highest level. We're fortunate that we when a computer gets broken here, we don't want anybody to be, you know, even for a minute without a functioning system. And we have a terrific team here who, who engages so that we are always functioning at the highest levels during business hours and after business hours. Technology is critical to be able to deliver good results for our clients. Brodie Lawson 00:21:13 What keeps you passionate about this work after 30 years? Heidi Brown 00:21:18 It's a good question. It really comes down to the relationships that we built with our clients. And I'm always proud of the feedback that we get when clients say that they regard us as family. It sounds a little bit cliche, but there are people that we have acted for over the years. Sometimes you're a lot, you're on a journey for many years with them, and you you are a professional, you are their lawyer, but you can't help but become close and develop a warm, caring relationship with the people that you act for. Those people become central to your life. They provide meaning to your life because of what you've been able to achieve, to make their life, to improve their life in some fashion, and they give back by referring other people to our to our firm. We get together with our clients often. We connect on holidays, when I get an email from someone to tell me that their child got married or or someone had a baby, it is, it is so fulfilling to me when when we were in the throws of the case, thinking that this person would never be able to smile again. So those are the kinds of things that propel me and keep me going. It's the people we work for and the people we work with who still make it meaningful. Not every day is going to be a great day, but if more days than than others, we have to have more days that are that are meaningful. And I still find that the majority of the days that I come to work, it is with enthusiasm and passion and joy because of the people we work for as of our clients. Brodie Lawson 00:23:02 Finally looking ahead, what is next for Bogoroch and Associates? Heidi Brown 00:23:07 We are hell bent on continuing to grow and to continue to fight for for justice and to champion access to justice, Regardless of what is being discussed and talked about in terms of changing the way that that justice is delivered, we will, firmly and with great deal of passion and commitment, continue to strive to make the process easier for our clients. Deliver legal services expeditiously, execute and act promptly and to build and grow and expand in medical malpractice, hospital malpractice and any type of personal injury, whether it be a dog bite, a motor vehicle accident, a slip and fall, every client is going to continue to benefit from the growth that our firm is planning so that we can continue to pursue justice at the highest levels, all the way up to the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court of Canada if need be well. Brodie Lawson 00:24:12 Thank you again. Heidi, and congratulations to you and the entire team at Bogorch and Associates. Heidi Brown 00:24:17 Thank you so much, Brodie, it was a pleasure to spend some time with you today, and I wish you well as well. Brodie Lawson 00:24:24 For more stories on Canada's leading law firms and legal professionals, visit canadianlawyermag.com I'm Brodie Lawson. See you next time on Canadian Lawyer TV.