Ontario Injury Law Firm Works With Partners For Succession Planning

As a certified specialist in civil litigation, Rod Ferguson has spent the past thirty years building a firm with a solid track record for bringing early and fair resolution to civil litigation and personal injury litigation cases for their clients, with a particular focus on plaintiff personal injury and other insurance litigation.

When Rod was in law school, he used to joke that he was going to practice law from a Winnebago, travelling around to under-served areas that were in need of a litigation lawyer. After articling in Toronto, Rod did his research and found Midland, on the southern shores of Georgian Bay, to be one of the many geographic areas that was under-served in terms of litigation lawyers. He joined with Gordon Teskey (later the Honorouble Mr. Justice Teskey of the Tax Court of Canada) and grew a busy and well-known litigation practice.

His wife Fran’s family was from North Bay, and on family visits Rod started meeting clients in their local lawyer’s office, anywhere between Midland and North Bay, when they needed a litigation lawyer. One of Rod’s classmates called it his “trapline,” an image that influenced the distinctive log cabin design of the firm’s main office in Midland.

Ferguson Barristers has since grown to include offices in North Bay and Sudbury, and Rod’s trap line has evolved into a large referral network serving Central, Eastern and Northern Ontario. This lawyer referral network is a success story that allows lawyers in smaller communities to offer their clients specialized personal injury and civil litigation services in their home towns.

The program offers a fee sharing arrangement in accordance with the rules of the Law Society of Upper Canada, and is a good example of how collaborative efforts on behalf of the client result in long-term trusting relationships and the best possible representation for accident victims.

Rod Ferguson has been recognized for his contributions to the legal profession by the Law Society of Upper Canada as a recipient of the Bicentennial Award of Merit. Rod was also in the past elected by his peers as Bencher to the Law Society of Upper Canada, a Director to the Advocates’ Society, and the Council and Executive of the Canadian Bar Association and its Ontario branch. His accomplishments have established a solid foundation and positive reputation for the firm locally and within the Canadian legal community.

Rod Ferguson has also been noted for his ability to plan for the firm’s future. His successful succession planning was recognized by the Canadian Bar Association in a related article . Rod’s strategy included founding a “new” firm in 2007 with the current partners, insisting each have independent legal and accounting advice and meeting monthly to review financial statements. This approach has ensured that the Ferguson Barristers LLP will continue operating smoothly for years to come.