THUNDER BAY - A local lawyer who will be advocating on behalf of the northwest region hopes his seat at the Ontario Bar Association board will create a sense of provincial connectedness across the legal profession.
“Legal issues vary from region to region in the province,” said Thunder Bay labour lawyer Warren Mouck.
“The issues in Toronto are different from the northwest. It’s a good opportunity to be able to advocate for what I see are the issues in the region and liaise with other lawyers in the region and bring those issues forward.”
Mouck was recently named as the northwest representative to sit on the Ontario Bar Association board of directors.
The Ontario Bar Association is a province-wide professional organization for lawyers that focuses on education and advocacy on legal issues.
A graduate of the Bora Laskin Faculty of Law in Thunder Bay, Mouck was called to the bar in 2016 and practices labour and employment law with O’Neill Associates.
Mouck said being named to represent the northwest on the OBA board is a great opportunity to advocate on behalf of lawyers in the region.
“I think one of the biggest issues I see about law is education and people understanding what the justice system does,” he said. “I think there’s a lot of misinformation or people have a different understanding of what the justice system does and what lawyers do necessarily.”
Mouck added that in the northwest, as is the case across the province, there are many underlying social issues that result in people becoming involved in the justice system, which need to be addressed.
“The justice system can only do so much. You arrest someone for committing a crime and you impose a sentence and hope the justice system resolves it,” he said.
“But there are underlying issues that need to be addressed and you need to be creative in how you go about those. If you keep doing the same thing and expect a different result, that’s not a logical approach.”
The COVID-19 pandemic has also resulted in many challenges for the justice system, but Mouck said from the perspective of those practicing in Northwestern Ontario, it has also created opportunities to become more connected to the rest of the province.
“It has created a kind of connectedness across the province,” he said. “I think that’s one of the issues, is that Thunder Bay and northwest region have more of a seat at the table.”
While remote or virtual hearings will never take the place of in-person appearances, Mouck believes it will provide more options for lawyers required to participate in hearings in other parts of the province.
“On the one hand I think most parties and litigants prefer to be in person, because the ability to run a hearing in person it has a more personified feel to it,” he said. “But the other side of that is if you need something done expeditiously and cost effectively, remote hearings are probably here to stay to some extent.”
Mouck’s term on the Ontario Bar Association Board of directors will begin on Sept. 1 and the term is one year.
