The Minerva Group
family law solutions
ABOUT MINERVA
The Minerva Group is an association of senior family law lawyers with over 150 years of combined experience practising family law in Ontario. We offer timely access to mediation, arbitration, and litigation management services.
WHY MINERVA
The Minerva Group believes in cost-effective and fair resolutions to every family law dispute. We bring an empathic and innovative approach to mediation using our foundational best practices. We are committed to providing prompt arbitration decisions. Our services are accessible in person or online, no matter where you are located in Ontario.
SERVICES
We offer mediation, arbitration and litigation case management services for family law disputes, both online and in person.
Mediation
Mediation is a dispute resolution process in which parties use an experienced neutral trained family lawyer to help them resolve or narrow their issues themselves. The process is generally confidential unless the parties agree otherwise. The mediator brings valuable legal experience to evaluate the issues and develop creative resolutions.
Minerva offers mediation services tailored to the specific case and Minerva’s best practices include evaluative feedback, regular progress reporting, domestic violence screening and a goal of drafting binding Minutes.
Arbitration
Arbitration is a formal process in dispute resolution that replaces a trial. The arbitrator, after hearing the evidence and the law presented, has the authority from the arbitration agreement executed by the parties to make a binding decision, which is enforceable like a court order.
Minerva members will conduct arbitrations in a manner agreed to by the partes, and commit to delivering interim and final decisions on a fixed timeline.
Litigation Case Management
Litigation Case Management is a hybrid model where the parties appoint an arbitrator for some or all of the attendances before a Trial, without waiving the rights to the final determination by a Judge in Court. The arbitrator can make interim orders, manage disclosure and keep the case on track.
Minerva offers tailored litigation management and timely assistance designed to work in tandem with the court process.
OUR MEMBERS
Five senior lawyers with a passion for family and a shared commitment to the efficient resolution of disputes got together during the pandemic to brainstorm how family law problems could be better resolved. The Minerva Group was born.
Please contact one of our lawyers directly if you would like to inquire more about our services.
Georgina Carson
Mediation, Arbitration, Litigation Management
Georgina is a senior family law lawyer and founding partner of Carson Chousky Lein LLP. Georgina has practised exclusively family law for 30 years and is named in both Best Lawyers and Lexpert. Georgina’s solutions-based approach helps clients resolve complex custody, support, property, taxation and jurisdictional issues through co-operative negotiation, alternative dispute resolution and advocacy. Georgina is an appointed Dispute Resolution Officer in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, contributing author to Ontario Family Law Practice, former Chair of the Family Law Executive of the Ontario Bar Association, and frequent speaker, author and instructor.
Kelly D. Jordan
Mediation
Kelly is the Principal Lawyer with Kelly D. Jordan Family Law Firm in Toronto, where she practises in the areas of family and fertility law. Practising since 1995, she is certified as a Specialist in Family Law by the Law Society, accredited as a Family Mediator and is a Specialist in Online Dispute Resolution. She is also a member of the Office of the Children’s Lawyer. Kelly has particular expertise in the LGBTQ community and assisted human reproduction.
Martha McCarthy
Mediation, Arbitration, Litigation Management
Martha is the Founding Partner of McCarthy Hansen & Company, a full-service family law boutique in Toronto, and has been a family lawyer for over 30 years. Martha is a Family Law Specialist and an experienced mediator and arbitrator. She completed the Harvard Law School Mediation Workshop, and is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and the International Academy of Family Lawyers. Martha is a Past President of The Advocates' Society and was awarded the Law Society Medal for outstanding service within the legal profession.
Laurie H. Pawlitza
Mediation, Arbitration, Litigation Management
Laurie is a fully trained family law mediator/arbitrator, and a senior partner at Torkin Manes LLP. She has practiced family law for 35 years and is consistently recognized for her family law excellence, including in L’Expert and Best Lawyers in Canada. She was elected by her peers as the Treasurer (president) of the Law Society of Ontario---as only the 3rd woman to hold the post since the Society’s founding in 1797. She also has an Honorary Doctorate for her work in the profession. You can read her regular family law column in the National Post.
Avra Rosen
Mediation, Arbitration, Litigation Management
Avra is a founding partner of Rosen Sack LLP in Toronto. Practicing family law since 1987, she is certified as a specialist in Family Law by the Law Society of Ontario. In addition to her extensive trial and appellate experience, Avra is an accredited Family Mediator since completing the Harvard Law School Program of Instruction for Lawyers Mediation Workshop in 2002. Avra has been the President of Holy Blossom Temple, the largest reform synagogue in Canada, since 2019.
