She/Her
Originally from northern Ontario, Katherine was called to the Ontario bar in 1989 with an LLB from Osgoode Hall Law School after studying at the University of Western Ontario and then graduating from Queen’s. Katherine provides legal advice and representation on human resources law, termination and wrongful dismissal, employment contracts and workplace policies and issues. She works with individuals as well as businesses and organizations in the public and private sectors. Representing both sides of the employment relationship provides firsthand insight into opposing perspectives and this strategic advantage is passed on to clients in order to support realistic results when there are competing interests at hand.
Katherine has extensive experience in workplace investigations in the private sector and in the unionized workplace setting in the public and health care sectors. Her experience includes conducting investigations into intensely acrimonious conflicts between two staff members involving a small number of witnesses through to complex and longstanding multi-party conflicts between ingrained factions in organizations where the scope of the investigation involves a large number of witnesses. The hallmark of her approach is to work efficiently to establish a fair and comprehensive process that respects the terms of workplace policies, collective agreements and is proportional to the nature of the conflict and the interests of the parties and the employer. The end product is a report that comprehensively analyzes the evidence within the framework of the issues that define the scope of the investigation, applies relevant legal principles and a healthy measure of common sense and experience to inform the outcome.
Katherine has an active interest in corporate governance. She is the past Chair of the Board of The Ottawa Hospital and was a member of the Board of the University of Ottawa Heart Institute. Katherine has also served as a member of the Departmental Audit Committee for the RCMP and was previously a Board Member and Committee Chair of NAV CANADA, the country’s privatized air navigation service provider.
