Pictured: George MacDonald, Q.C. at Pink Larkin’s Halifax Office (Photo by: Diane Slaunwhite)
Featured in the article, The Dominant Alternative, published in today’s Lexpert Special Edition on Leading Litigation Lawyers, George MacDonald, Q.C. shares insights into the litigation process along with thoughts on alternative dispute resolution.
An excerpt from the article reads:
DURING THE EARLY 1990s, George MacDonald, QC, a partner with Pink Larkin in Halifax, got a call, via Montréal, regarding a contractor in France that had a dispute with the Calgary company building the Confederation Bridge, the 12.9-kilometre link between PEI and mainland New Brunswick.
Rather than begin what could have been a lengthy and expensive litigation process, MacDonald recommended the parties agree to an arbitration hearing, which they did. Because his clients wanted to give evidence in French, the arbitration took place in Québec.
“We had a decision one year to the day after the process began,” says MacDonald. “If we had gone to court, I doubt we would even have had an exchange of pleadings in a year.”
MacDonald offers the anecdote as just one possible example of how arbitration may be preferable to litigation. “Litigation today is prohibitively expensive and getting more so,” he says. “It is also very time-consuming, so it should be avoided, if possible, at all costs.”
You can read The Dominant Alternative in full here.
This article was featured in The Globe and Mail’s Report on Business Magazine, December 2016 issue.