Award-winning advocacy, trusted by clients and lawyers alike

Brodie Lawson  00:00:07 

Hello and welcome to Canadian Lawyer TV. I'm Brodie Lawson, and today we're speaking to Charles Gluckstein, Managing Partner of Gluckstein Lawyers, a powerhouse firm with a stellar reputation 60 years in the making. Gluckstein Lawyers is where compassionate, client focused service meets exceptional legal skills, known as a team of expert advocates. The firm is respected by clients and fellow legal professionals alike, and I'm delighted to be talking to you today, Charles. So first, you are building quite a legacy. Can you tell me what sets Gluckstein lawyers apart from the competition? 

Charles Gluckstein  00:00:40 

Thanks, Brodie. I just want to clarify, though, that I have not been practicing 60 years. My father is the founder of this firm, and he started the practice over 60 years ago. He's currently 88 years old, and I took over the practice around 2010, or so. And I think, you know, building on my dad's legacy, it was very important that clients be considered first in our view of our mission. And we're a very client centric firm. And in developing our mantra, our mission and even our logo, we've created this full circle care. And our vision is that, you know, we serve the client from the beginning to the end, and even after their case, they're always at the center of our attention as to what we're trying to accomplish. 

Brodie Lawson  00:01:32 

Charles, that sounds like you and your father have built this incredible legacy, but I'd love to hear more about what sets you apart from the competition? 

Charles Gluckstein  00:01:41 

So thank you. That's a very important focus of our firm's mantra is to be client centric. We think we bring a very holistic, practical solution for our clients. Our many of our lawyers are, are trauma, informed, trained, and the empathy that the staff and the lawyers bring to their client in listening to their stories and making sure that they that their journey through the legal system is not going to be as difficult as they think, and making sure that even through their journey, that we're still with them, and we're still with them post settlement, and that's important to us, to be part of their community, to to help them through the rest of their journey. That full circle care is one of the things that I believe keeps us you know, apart from our competition. 

Brodie Lawson  00:02:39 

I understand too that you're able to take on a really broad range of cases. Can you tell me some of the firm's areas of specialization? 

Charles Gluckstein  00:02:49 

So it's interesting, my father started this firm as a personal injury firm, practicing both the defense and plaintiff side of personal injury, and as I started to take more leadership roles. We developed our medical malpractice side of the practice, and then over COVID, we brought in two other areas of specialty in sexual abuse litigation, as well as class action and mass tort litigation. So now we we practice in all four areas, personal injury, medical malpractice, class action, mass tort and medical and sexual abuse litigation. 

Brodie Lawson  00:03:28 

Even with such a wide area of specialties, your firm has earned this incredible recognition within the legal community. How is that reflected in the work that the firm gets asked to do? 

Charles Gluckstein  00:03:40 

Well, Brodie, there are these are all very tough cases, and they're very important cases, and so we have ensured that we have the top expertise in each of our practice areas. And I think nationwide, people know the leaders in our in our office, and they refer to us because they know that they're going to get that kind of expertise. So we're part of a national network with both birth trauma, sexual abuse and mass tort and class action, and it's very important that we're recognized and trusted across the country for that leadership. So you know, we take it very seriously, and we make sure that there's a team behind each of those leaders to make sure that we're going to get those great results. 

Brodie Lawson  00:04:30 

The firm has got longevity, it's got expertise, and it's known for its lawyers thought leadership, which you've already spoken to, and it's on this incredible growth trajectory that's really launching off a record of success. So how do you set things up to ally your injured parties as well as your legal peers?  

Charles Gluckstein  00:04:51 

Well, I wasn't trained to manage the firm. You know, you go through law school and you're trained as a lawyer, and part of becoming involved in. Running the practice, I learned about management, and lawyers aren't always the best managers, so I took some business courses, and we had to focus, because we went from a 20 person firm to a 60 person firm through COVID By bringing in all these other practice areas. And it was important when we created all of the different lines of business that I had succession and technology to help make sure that each of these groups were efficiently run, and a lot of work and planning was done by everyone in the firm to make sure that everyone was set up for success. 

Brodie Lawson  00:05:39 

Gluckstein lawyers is also known for its award winning advocacy, which you've touched on like you said, these are serious cases. These are sensitive cases. And what does it mean to you, and how is it reflected in the way that Gluckstein lawyers approaches their cases?  

Charles Gluckstein  00:05:54 

So Brodie, it's very important for us to showcase our leadership by being involved in community activities by running, you know, CL es for the for the profession, as well as participating in in legal organizations, putting out white papers and, you know, essentially, having lots of excellent material for lawyers to see the work that we're doing. And you know, when we participate in those activities, we bring in the talent across the country, as well as our own talent to showcase our abilities. You know, it's important for us in our mission to serve our clients, it's important for us to push the envelope to prove that we are still you know, at the top of these different practice areas. 

Brodie Lawson  00:06:49 

Charles, you've mentioned how the firm reaches cross country. Can you tell us a little bit more about how you do that? 

Charles Gluckstein  00:06:56 

Brodie, thanks. It's essentially there is a network called The Birth Injury Lawyers Alliance, and these, this is made up of the best birth trauma lawyers that do a specific area of medical malpractice across the country. And so Richard Halpern is one of the founders of this organization, and he is our leader of our medical malpac Practice Group, and he's put together this network that spans from the Atlantic Canada to British Columbia and lawyers in between. And these lawyers will share their expertise. We put on events. We have community manuals for as well as a website called Bela, B, i, l, a, and this group has done tremendous, tremendous work, as well as working on cases together. Secondly, on the heels of bila, we have started a national sexual abuse litigation group called Salah sexual abuse lawyers Alliance. And you know, with the sound same foundation, some of the same firms that are involved, that have the specialty, and some other firms that have been added that have a specific specialty and in historical sexual abuse, and they're building the same national network. There's going to be a conference, a website, so it's salah, S, A, LA, and then thirdly, with class actions and mass torts, our practice area typically works with other Canadian lawyers across the country in working with their groups. It's not a formal group as of yet, but most of these, these types of cases require a group effort, and so other than personal injury, because personal injury is very specific to our province, it's hard to have a personal injury event or a group that's across Canada. We but I did share the at the American Association of Justice, the Canadian caucus group, which put together all the personal injury lawyers of Canada as we meet annually. So there is a national side to all the practice areas that we participate in, and that's very important for us to have that that sort of trustworthiness across the country. 

Brodie Lawson  00:09:16 

You have 60 years of this firm. What does the future look like, Charles, how do you plan to keep operating with such distinction? 

Charles Gluckstein  00:09:25 

So it's always a challenge managing a practice that has all these practice areas, and it's important to be on the latest edge in terms of the law technology and making sure that the talent is there. So despite the fact that we are, I like to think as leaders in using legal technology. I have assured my staff and in fact, proven it that, you know, technology has not replaced any of our staff members. In fact, we've grown, as I mentioned, from 20 to 60 people over COVID and. What that's allowed us to do is to expand in other practice areas. It's allowed us to take on more work and be more efficient for our clients, and as we look forward into the future, it's important that we constantly push that envelope, because, you know, clients are getting more sophisticated, the law demands us to be more efficient, and we have to bring that savings to our client. We have to bring that expertise to our client and ensure that we are working in the best, most efficient way possible. So I think the future is bright in the legal area. I think by diversifying in the four practice areas, we have the right mix of work to keep us engaged in the highest level of very complex litigation for all of these areas. And I think you know, you know, in terms of expanding this across the country, it's very important that we're seen as trusted legal experts in all of those areas.  

Brodie Lawson  00:11:00 

Well, Charles, thank you so much for speaking with us today. 

Charles Gluckstein  00:11:04 

Thank you so much for having me, Brodie.  

Brodie Lawson  00:11:05 

We really appreciate you sharing your insights about what makes Gluckstein Lawyers such a standout space, bringing to the profession, award winning advocacy that's trusted by clients and lawyers alike. And thank you to our audience for joining us today. Until next time. I'm Brodie Lawson for Canadian Lawyer TV.