Law Times

Law Times • June 29/JuLy 6, 2009 NEWS LSUC honours Susan Vella A BY ROBERT TODD Law Times quick glance at Rochon Genova LLP associ- ate partner Susan Vella's resume leaves no questions as to why the Law Society of Upper Canada plans to honour her this year with the Law Society Medal, in recognition of her contribu- tions in the profession. Vella has created a pioneer- ing practice in the areas of civil sexual assault and institutional abuse, and in doing so helped bring into view some of the most jarring stories of abuse in Ontario history. Vella was born in Toronto, in the area formerly known as Weston. She is the eldest of three siblings, and her father, Ed, worked in the typographi- cal industry, while her mother, Shirley, was a stay-at-home par- ent. She attended public school near her home before moving on to St. Michael's College at the University of Toronto for her undergraduate education. She then moved on to Osgoode Hall Law School for her law degree, before being called to the bar in 1988. Vella says she was drawn to a career in law thanks to her "very strong" mother "who taught me not to accept prescribed roles and to stand up for myself." She says she also noted early in life, how lawyers seemed to be respected and make a difference in society. However, she says, "It wasn't one particular experience that prompted me into this business. There really were no other law- yers in my family — my dad's cousin was a lawyer, and that's the extent of it. So it wasn't any question of family tradition or anything like that." Vella articled at Blake Cassels & Graydon LLP, where Kathryn Feldman, now an Ontario Court of Appeal judge, was her mentor. "I learned a lot from her about the practice of law, and also . . . the business of the practice of law as well," says Vella. "That was a wonderful experience." She then moved on to Goodman and Carr LLP, where she continued to develop her practice focusing on civil sexual assault. Vella, who left that firm after its collapse in 2007 and joined Rochon Genova, began developing that area of law at Blakes. She says a key reason for her decision to get into law was her belief that women were underrepresented by the legal profession. "I was a bit of a social activist at law school," she says, noting her involvement with Osgoode's student legal aid clinic. "I was very interested in helping women in some way. Of course I didn't know what way that would be." At Blakes she worked on related pro bono activities, such as speaking to incest survivor groups about reme- dies they might have. At that time such matters were dealt with at the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board and the criminal courts, she notes. From that experience, says Vella, a woman came to her seek- ing representation on an incest case. Vella, then a third-year law- yer, accepted the file, and began looking for relevant case law. "To my amazement, all the sexual assault cases I found were criminal cases. There were no reported civil sexual assault cases," she says. "I realized that the reason for this was the limi- tation period that was seen to be an absolute barrier to these claims. It was the four-year limi- tation period, and this is before the Supreme Court of Canada decision in K.M. v. H.M., which expanded or applied the reason- able discoverability doctrine to these types of cases in a way that facilitated and recognized the reality of these survivors." She notes that Blakes wouldn't typically be the type of firm where a lawyer would be working on civil sexual assault cases. In fact, says Vella, at the time she was working with that client she was also working on a very compli- cated commercial-based fiduciary duty matter. That case forced her to learn more about that area of law, and during that process it occurred to her that the relation- ship she was dealing with in the civil sexual assault case — father and daughter — was really a fiduciary relationship. If that were the case, she realized, there was no fixed limitation period. Vella continued on with A weekly video sneak peek behind the headlines. Check us out on the web at www.lawtimesnews.com. the case, drafted the claim, and showed it to her mentor Feldman. "Cathy looked at it and said, 'It's technically competent, go for it.' So she gave me the green light," says Vella. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court of Canada offered up the K.M. decision, which supported her analysis. It all led to her first reported decision, the 1994 then- Supreme Court of Ontario ruling in P.C. v. R.C. Vella notes the decision was important for a couple of rea- sons: "One was the application of the breach of fiduciary duty; the other was that it was the first case where a court rejected the defence premised on false- memory syndrome." Says Vella: "Sometimes things just go right, and that case ended up being a very important prec- edent. That was a springboard, really, for me to then carry on with this area, and develop it a little bit more." Vella went on to work on the Grandview survivors case, in which she represented some 200 women who were sent to the Grandview Training School for Girls during their childhood. PAGE 3 Vella negotiated another prec- edent-setting "healing package" in that case, which included an apology from the Government of Ontario in 1999 and various forms of compensation. She also represented the first victim to go public in the Maple Leaf Gardens abuse scandal, Martin Kruze, who came for- ward in 1997 with allegations against building employees. Some of Vella's other notable work includes representation of First Nations' survivors of clergy sexual abuse, and the Supreme Court of Canada's 1999 case, Bazley v. Curry, in which Vella successfully advanced the idea that vicarious liability could be applied to make institutional, corporate, and government employers liable for harms caused by their employees' sex- ual misconduct against vulner- able individuals. Vella also worked as commis- sion counsel to the Ipperwash inquiry, which looked into the police shooting death of First Nations member Dudley George at Ipperwash Provincial Park in 1995. She's a past president of the National Association of Women and the Law and past vice chair- woman of the Commercial Registrations Appeal Tribunal. It's not surprising that Vella has had such a remarkable career — her passion for the law is unmistakable. "I get up in the morning and I love going to my job, in 'I get up in the morning and I love going to my job,' says Susan Vella. short," she says. "I have had the privilege of meeting many cou- rageous people, of having many experiences that I would never have had. Going up to various communities in the north. And, intellectually, incredibly stimu- lating work . . . I feel so lucky to do something that I'm pas- sionate about, and to hopefully make a small contribution to the development of the law, and to enhancing access to justice, and, perhaps, a level of education to society at large about these particular issues. And hopefully making a difference in some people's lives, a positive differ- ence, I hope. Really, what more can you ask for?" LT This is the second in our series focusing on recipients of the LSUC awards honouring the best of the profession. To watch a video of the interview please go to our web site www.lawtimesnews.com. 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