Lecture: Advocacy for a Process

Guest speaker: Daniel Shapiro, KC

Called to the bar in 1979, Daniel Shapiro will discuss the common human threads tying together the arc of his career, from litigator – as passionate advocate for the catastrophically injured – to neutral decision-maker and ultimately leader of the claimant-centred Independent Assessment Process or IAP, part of the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement, in which tens of thousands of Indigenous Canadians brought reparations claims stemming from historic racism, discrimination and abuse. The IAP ended in 2021 after paying out over $3.2 billion in compensation, part of what was then the largest class action settlement in Canadian history. The focus of the talk will be on the unique challenges of leading the IAP.

Time permitting, Mr. Shapiro will discuss mass tort settlement distribution in the context of his work involving the Hepatitis C 1986-1990 class action settlement, for which he has been an arbitrator for 25 years, and his consultant’s role in the recent record $32.5 billion historic settlement of claims arising from specific tobacco-related diseases.

Biography:

Present: From September 2020 to March 2025, Mr. Shapiro served as court-appointed consultant to the Mediator (retired Ontario Court of Appeal Chief Justice Warren Winkler) regarding the development of the Pan Canadian Compensation Plan (PCC) and Quebec Administration Plan (QCAP) established for the benefit of victims of tobacco-related diseases (lung cancer, throat cancer, COPD Grades 3 and 4) through the CCAA proceedings involving the three Big Tobacco companies in Canada. Upon the ultimate approval of the settlements on March 6, 2025, Mr. Shapiro was appointed by Ontario Chief Justice Morawetz as Administrative Coordinator in respect of the administration of these plans. The role of Administrative Coordinator is more fully described in three separate Sanction Orders. This is one of the orders. 

This work builds upon Mr. Shapiro concluding, in 2021, a multi-year project adjudicating and ultimately leading the Independent Assessment Process (IAP) and Indian Residential Schools Adjudication Secretariat, created by what was then the largest class action settlement in Canadian history. This is summarized below. Although Mr. Shapiro continued with a limited amount of non-IRS arbitration, tribunal, and mediation work throughout his time with the Secretariat, with the end of the IAP, in addition to the work on the Tobacco settlements noted above, Mr. Shapiro returned to his former mediation and arbitration practice, with a focus on labour and commercial arbitrations.

Prior work: For almost three decades, Mr. Shapiro handled numerous civil, medical negligence, injury, wrongful dismissal, insurance, labour relations and human rights cases. He appeared as counsel in all levels of courts throughout Saskatchewan and Alberta as well as the British Columbia Supreme Court, the Tax Court of Canada and the Supreme Court of Canada. He served as counsel in many precedent-setting court decisions in areas of public interest litigation, medical negligence, fatal accidents, aviation litigation, Criminal, Charter, and personal (including catastrophic) injury cases. Since 1994, after completing formal mediation training with Daniel Hamoline, the focus of Mr. Shapiro’s practice shifted from the role of advocate to that of a neutral, which has exclusively been the case since 2000.

Mr. Shapiro taught Trial Advocacy at the College of Law, University of Saskatchewan, as well as in many Continuing Legal Education programs, and has been a frequent guest lecturer in the fields of ADR, medical negligence, Aboriginal Justice and Policy and labour arbitration.

Mr. Shapiro served as President of the Saskatchewan Trial Lawyers Association, member of the Canadian Bar Association National Health Law Section, and Inaugural Chair of the Canadian Bar Association (Saskatchewan Branch) Health Law Section. He chaired the Law Society of Saskatchewan/Canadian Bar Association Joint No-Fault Committee. He served many terms as District Governor (Saskatchewan and Manitoba) of the American Trial Lawyers Association.

Event Details

When:
Time:
11:45 AM - 12:45 PM CST
Location:
MLT Aikins Lecture Theatre (Room 150), College of Law, 15 Campus Drive

Contact

Katie Richard