Martin & Hillyer Associates is proud to announce the beneficiary of the 2013 Annual Charity Bowl-A-Thon…

This year Martin & Hillyer Associates will be raising funds in support of Food 4 Kids! Food4Kids provides backpacks of healthy food for kids aged 5 - 14 years with limited or no access to food each weekend. Packages of healthy food are prepared by volunteers and delivered to schools each Friday to ensure children have nourishment over the weekend. Each food package contains kid friendly, non-perishable and easy to prepare meals with maximum nutrient value. Over 1,200 children in Hamilton, 250 in Halton and 600 in Niagara sustain each and every weekend without food. Help fight child hunger in our own community.

The annual event will once again take place at Burlington Bowl on Harvester Road at Walkers Line on Thursday May 9, 2013.  Bowling runs from 6:00pm - 8:00pm and during the course of the evening there are many other events happening such as the silent auction, brown bag raffle and returning this year, the Pie Smack! 

Information on how you can contribute to our event will be posted in the near future.

2012 OTLA Award winners recognized at Fall Conference

The Ontario Trial Lawyers Association (OTLA) recognized several members for their contributions during the association's 2012 Fall Conference in Toronto, held Oct. 24-25 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.

OTLA members were recognized with the Distinguished Service Award for longstanding dedicated service to furthering the goals and ideals of OTLA. Claire Wilkinson of Martin & Hillyer Associates and Greg Monforton (above) were presented their awards by  Andrew Murray.

MPP Jane McKenna, Joe (Superintendent District 3), Rudy, Laura Hillyer (Martin & Hillyer), John Karapita(OTLA), Craig (Emma's Back Porch) say make the call before you drive after drinking this season 905-634-6665.

OTLA (Ontario Trial Lawyers Association) is very excited once again to be working with the Ontario Safety League to bring Operation Red Nose to 11 communities in Ontario this year. The official kick-off was held at the Halton Regional Police Headquarters in Burlington and was attended by members of St. John Ambulance, Halton Regional Police, MPP Jane McKenna, representatives from OTLA, Laura Hillyer (Martin & Hillyer Associates) and John Karapita and Craig Kowalchuk (Emma's Backporch).

Operation Red Nose has a distinguished history of providing a valuable service that has kept our roads safe during the holiday season over many years in various communities across the country.

In fact, last year, here in Ontario, there were zero crashes, zero injuries and zero fatalities in communities like this whenever Operation Red Nose provided this valuable service. That's an incredible achievement!

Operation Red Nose (ORN) is a unique program devoted to the prevention of drinking and driving. It is a volunteer driving service offered during the holiday season to all drivers who have been drinking or do not feel fit to drive their own vehicle for any reason.

The ORN service is provided by driving teams; each comprised of three volunteers.  Two of the volunteers, a Driver and a Navigator, ride with the client in the client's vehicle while the other volunteer, the Escort Driver, follows behind in the escort driver's own car.  In this manner, the client arrives home safely along with their own vehicle and without the need to retrieve the client's vehicle the next day.  

Other volunteers work from a headquarters location and provide valuable services such as dispatching calls from clients to driving teams and organizing food, beverages, and entertainment for volunteers on duty.

The service is confidential and free.  Donations from clients are gratefully accepted, as are donations from other sponsors within the community.

If you need a ride this holiday season please contact ORN at 905-634-6665.

Martin & Hillyer Associate's

Annual Bowl-a-thon returns in 2013

Martin & Hillyer Associates annual bowl-a-thon raises money for local Burlington charities.   Amounts raised in previous years range between $15,000 to $21,000. If you are part of a non-profit or charitable organization we would like to hear from you.

Please write a letter telling us about your organization and what you could do with the money raised at our  bowl-a-thon!  Please submit your letters by email to: bowlathon@mhalaw.ca

The cut-off date for submissions is December 7th, 2012.

The chosen organization will be announced in January and the bowl-a-thon will take place in May 2013.

The organization and our firm will work together to make this event a success!

We look forward to receiving your letters!

June 20^th, 2012 - Martin & Hillyer Associates held an anniversary party at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Burlington to celebrate their 40^th year!

The gathering was attended by staff, colleagues, friends, family and clients. The lawyers at the firm enjoyed putting on their aprons and working the buffet line while greeting their guests. The food was great, the weather was hot, the drinks were cold and the band was smokin'.

Thank you to everyone who came out to celebrate this milestone with us and to everyone who has contributed to our success over the past 40 years.

Robert Martin & Bruce Hillyer

David Hayward, Claire Wilkinson, Bruce Hillyer & Stephen Abraham

James Page & Laura Hillyer

Kennedy Nolan & Stephen Abraham

Martin & Hillyer Associates are pleased to welcome Kennedy Nolan to their practice and would like to congratulate him on his call to the bar, June 13th, 2012.

Kennedy Nolan, B.A., LL.B.

Personal Injury Law

Tuesday May 15^th, 2012

 It was a beautiful sunny day outside, the sun was also shining inside the gymnasium at Tecumseh Public School!  A group of 25 Grade 2 students were treated to a fun, interactive presentation about the importance of wearing bike helmets.  Michelle Gregory-Brooks from ThinkFirst led the presentation which included educating the students on the functions of the brain and the importance of protecting it from injury by wearing a helmet.

 A soft, green, slimy jello brain was passed around so students could get an idea of how delicate our brains are, the brain was met with "ooh's","ahh's" and grimaces!  Another dramatic representation to drive home the message of the importance of wearing your helmet , was the melon drop. Michelle climbed a ladder where she then dropped a melon wearing a helmet off the top, the melon landed safe and sound!  She then climbed the ladder with another melon who wasn't wearing a helmet and dropped it off the top, and SPLAT!!!!  The kids enjoyed the demonstration but also saw the damage that can happen to your skull and brain if you don't wear your helmet.

 All of the students were then fitted with their own brand new bike helmet courtesy of three local law firms; Martin & Hillyer Associates, The Munn Law Firm and Brechin & Huffman. The law firms also donated helmets to the Grade 1 and 3 students.

Laura Hillyer, of Martin & Hillyer Associates in Burlington, organized the event in association with OTLA (Ontario Trail Lawyers Assocation) and BIAPH (Brain Injury Association of Peel-Halton).

 We would like to thank Ward 4 City & Regional Councillor Jack Dennison for his participation in the event, Cst. Erin Toth of the Halton Regional Police for attending the event, Jorun Rucels of BIAPH, and Angela DeMaria, Public Health Nurse with Halton Region for their participation.

Pictured above alongside the Grade 2 class and teachers from Tecumseh, from left to right:

Angela DeMaria - Public Health Nurse with Halton Region, James Page - Lawyer at Martin & Hillyer Associates, Cst. Erin Toth - Halton Regional Police, Claire Wilkinson - Lawyer at Martin & Hillyer Associates, Bruce Hillyer - Lawyer at Martin & Hillyer Associates, Stephen Abraham - Lawyer at Martin & Hillyer Associates, Laura Hillyer - Lawyer at Martin & Hillyer Associates, Jorun Rucels - BIAPH.

MEDIA RELEASE

May 15, 2012

Local law firm to distribute bike helmets to

Tecumseh Public School students

More than 4,000 to be donated this year through OTLA's Helmets on Kids program

Burlington, ON - On May 15^th, 2012 a local representative of the Ontario Trial Lawyers Association (OTLA) will be at Tecumseh Public School where they will hand out more than 80 bicycle helmets to students in Grades 1, 2 and 3.

Laura Hillyer is a Burlington-based personal injury lawyer with Martin & Hillyer Associates, and Chair of the OTLA's Helmets on Kids task group for Halton. This year, OTLA's Helmets on Kids initiative will help distribute an estimated 4,000 bicycle helmets to school-age children in cities and regions across Ontario.

OTLA's Helmets on Kids Community Partnership was started by OTLA members in 2002. Since its first event, held in London, Ontario, this initiative has distributed more than 15,000 helmets to elementary school students.

Starting in 2008, OTLA members have worked together to expand the Helmets on Kids campaign to other cities and regions across the province. This year, OTLA's Helmet on Kids events will take place during May and June in Ottawa, Toronto, London, Aurora, Halton Region (Burlington), Peel Region, Quinte Region (Trenton), Sudbury, Windsor, Simcoe County (Midland), and Thunder Bay.

The mandate of OTLA's Helmets on Kids program is to put a helmet on the head of every child who needs one, and provide education and awareness to school-aged children about bicycle helmet use.

"Helmet use is key to injury prevention," said Laura Hillyer, a Burlington-based personal injury lawyer and Chair of OTLA's Helmet on Kids Campaign for Halton. "OTLA lawyers dedicate their professional time to assisting those who have been injured. Every day we see the devastation that is caused by serious accidents. We consider it a privilege to work directly with youth in our communities each spring, bringing them the message of head injury prevention."

Numerous OTLA lawyer members and law firms have made financial donations to help purchase helmets for the Helmets on Kids campaign and all work is done by OTLA members, on a volunteer basis. Each event is also supported locally by a number of community partners, such as Public Health, regional chapters of the Ontario Brain Injury Association, local police and hospitals and other safety associations and organizations committed to brain injury awareness and treatment.

The Helmets on Kids program has been recognized with awards from the Brain Injury Association of Canada (BIAC), the Ontario Brain Injury Association (OBIA) and the Ontario Safety League (OSL) for its contribution to promoting injury prevention awareness and safety education.

According to the Canadian Institute for Health Information, cycling injuries are by far the most common injury from summer sports and recreational activity, accounting for half of all hospital admissions. Among the most severe cycling injury admissions of the past decade (those requiring admission to a special trauma centre), 78% of those hospitalized with a head injury were not wearing a helmet when their injury occurred.

There is good news though. While the number of cycling injuries has remained static over the past decade, the good news is that many studies are showing that the widespread use of helmets has resulted in fewer serious head injuries among children, according to Pamela Fuselli, Executive Director of Safe Kids Canada.

The most recent statistics indicate that in 2009-2010 cycling injury hospitalization rates were the lowest in Ontario and Nova Scotia, as compared to other provinces.

For more information: Laura Hillyer, Barrister & Solictor at Martin & Hillyer Associates; laura.hillyer@mhalaw.ca; Chair, Helmet on Kids Campaign for Halton, 905-637-5641.

About the Ontario Trial Lawyers Association - www.otla.com

Founded in 1991, the Ontario Trial Lawyers Association (OTLA) is an organization of more than 1,300 plaintiff lawyers, law clerks, articling students and law students. Our purpose is to promote access to justice for all Ontarians, preserve and improve the civil justice system, and advocate for the rights of those who have suffered injury and losses as the result of wrongdoing by others, while at the same time advocating strongly for safety initiatives.

I presented this paper at the fall conference of the Ontario Trial Lawyers Association. With the implementation of the new Ontario automobile insurance legislation in September 2010 adjusters have increased discretion in determining whether an injured person qualifies for benefits. With added discretion comes added responsibility, however. The paper reviews the responsibilities adjusters have in reviewing automobile accident benefits claims, and how injured persons can be unfairly denied benefits.

To read this paper click here.

OTTAWA, December 16, 2011 - The Honourable Rob Nicholson, P.C., Q.C., M.P. for Niagara Falls, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, today announced the following appointments:

The Honourable Suzanne M. Stevenson, a lawyer with Martin & Hillyer in Burlington, is appointed a judge of the Superior Court of Justice of Ontario (Toronto) to replace Madam Justice A. Hoy, who was appointed to the Ontario Court of Appeal on December 1, 2011.

Madam Justice Stevenson received a Bachelor of Arts from McMaster University in 1988. She received a Bachelor of Laws from Osgoode Hall Law School in 1991, and was admitted to the Bar of Ontario in 1993.

Madam Justice Stevenson has practised with Robert Martin (now Martin & Hillyer) since 1993. Her main area of practise was family law and wills.

Madam Justice Stevenson was a member of the Canadian Bar Association, Halton County Law Association, Hamilton Halton Collaborative Law Practice Group and International Academy of Collaborative Professionals and an associate member of the Hamilton Law Association. She has been a guest lecturer on family law at Queen's University Law School, Trial Advocacy Course. She presented public seminars regarding the introduction of the Child Support Guidelines in Ontario in 1997. She was a member of Woodview (Mental Health and Autism Services) Board of Directors and Services Committee and has been involved in several community organizations.

This appointment is effective immediately.