AREAS OF PRACTICE Howard Ryan Kelford Knott & Dixon provides a full range of services to a wide variety of individual, corporate and municipal clients. Our primary areas of practice include real estate, family law, criminal law, wills and estates, civil litigation, corporate/commercial law, employment and labour law and municipal law. EMPLOYMENT AND LABOUR RELATIONS The firm has a well-established practice in the areas of employment law and labour relations. In the non-union environment, the firm acts for large and small employers, as well as individual employees with respect to all aspects of employment law. This includes:
In the unionized environment, the firm has represented numerous employers in collective agreement negotiations and interest and contract arbitrations with several major public sector unions, including OPSEU, CUPE, the Police Association and the Firefighters Association. We have acted on behalf of a number of private and public sector employers in connection with grievances. Usually this consists of legal advice in the “second” and “third” stages of the grievance process and, if necessary, representation of the employer at arbitration if the grievance cannot otherwise be resolved. We have also assisted management representatives in the preparation of submissions to arbitrators, with the actual arbitration then being handled by a member of the management team. Our lawyers have acted on behalf of both employees and employers on numerous employment law matters, including wrongful dismissal litigation and the negotiation of severance packages. We currently provide advice to a broad range of employers in connection with the union certification process and individual grievances. Our firm has acted as principal counsel to several local municipalities with respect to union and non-union labour and employment law issues. This has included both interest and contract arbitrations, collective agreement negotiation and the negotiation of severance packages for terminated employees. Our services in the labour and employment law areas include the following:
For clients with extensive in-house experience in labour relations we often act in a support capacity, providing research and legal advice to assist in negotiations or arbitrations. In those instances, principal responsibility for the negotiations rests with a member of the management team who is experienced and comfortable in the role of lead negotiator. In situations where the client lacks the in-house labour relations expertise, one of our lawyers has assumed the role of lead negotiator, often in co-ordination with a management bargaining committee of two or three persons. NON-PROFIT AND CHARITABLE ORGANIZATIONS Our firm has extensive experience with a variety of non-profit organizations. Our partners sit on the Boards, either as board members or chairs, of several non-profit organizations including the Smiths Falls and Perth Community Hospital, the Smiths Falls Public Library, the Rose Garden Family Support Centre, the Lanark County Brain Injury Association and the Lanark County Distress and Community Information Line. The firm provides a full range of legal services to numerous charitable and non-profit organizations. These services include the initial incorporation and organization of not-for-profit corporations, as well as advice related to the ongoing operations of non-profit and charitable organizations. |