Legal Services
Advisor and Negotiator
KAPLAN • LAW provides advice, litigation support and settlement counsel for clients with pensions and benefits administration issues, claims and disputes. Ari Kaplan has 25 years experience as a solicitor, litigator, and negotiator representing pension and benefits funds, regulators, plaintiffs and defendants, applicants and respondents in courts and tribunals across Canada.
Arbitrator and Mediator
“A mediation hearing was held before Ari Kaplan a well-known and very recognized expert in pension law and litigation. The mediation resulted in the settlement reached by the parties.”
Ari Kaplan has dedicated over 2,000 professional hours as an independent investigator, mediator and arbitrator to help parties resolve legal disputes. See e.g. Case Study. Ari Kaplan is Canada's first Qualified Mediator (Q.Med) with expertise in pensions and benefits law. Ari has been appointed expert witness on Canadian law and appointed representative counsel in cross-border proceedings. For more about Ari Kaplan's alternative dispute resolution (ADR) practice at Kaplan Law, please see MEDIATION • BENEFITS.
Group and Class Actions
KAPLAN • LAW acts in representative proceedings, most recently IBM Canada Limited v. Ceci, 2024 ONSC 1771 and Brewers Retail v. Campbell, 2023 ONCA 534. Ari Kaplan was appointed class action mediator in Denluck v. Boilermakers’ 359 Pension Plan 2021 BCSC 242, Lacroix v. CMHC 2018 ONSC 532, and TEAM v. MTS 2014 MBQB 236. He has career-long experience negotiating class action settlements, e.g.: Waterston v. CBC, TTC v. Signorile, Dhillon v. City of Hamilton, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre v. Lorenz, National Trust Company v. Smallhorn, CBS Pictures Canada Inc. v. Dillon.
“... achieved a result that is significantly more beneficial to the class than the original offer.”
“... negotiations at arm’s length with the benefit of expert advice. The parties have been well served.”
Restructuring and Insolvency
KAPLAN • LAW advises clients on pension and benefit interests in cross-border commercial proceedings and helps parties negotiate solutions and compromise during restructuring and transition. Ari Kaplan is the court-appointed representative counsel to U.S. pensioners in Re Imperial Tobacco, the largest restructuring in Canadian history. See also, Re Nortel Networks ("Top 10 Business Decisions"). Ari Kaplan's book Pension Law was cited as an authority in Re Indalex, the Supreme Court of Canada's leading decision on company insolvency and pensions. Ari has appeared for pension funds and benefit interests also in British Columbia (Re Catalyst Paper Corporation) and Quebec (Re Bloom Lake, g.p.l.).
Regulatory and Administrative Law
“The complex statutory and regulatory framework to which pension plans are subject cannot be overlooked (see A. N. Kaplan, Pension Law)”
KAPLAN • LAW acts for clients involved with regulators, governments and tribunals. Ari Kaplan represents regulators (2021 NBCA 30) and leads negotiations during public sector pension transitions to joint governance. Ari has appeared twice at the Supreme Court of Canada on matters of pension regulation (2004 SCC 54) and (2009 SCC 39). Kaplan Law negotiates and facilitates conversions to new pension plan models including jointly-trusteed and target benefit plans and centralized investment management (CIM) structures, and advises on all pensions and benefits compliance, trust and fiduciary matters, funding and surplus, indexation, expenses, communication, enrolment, adjudication, termination and wind-up, investment, administration, transfers, and beneficiary entitlements.
Families and Benefits
“Provisions protecting a spouse’s entitlement to benefits exist in pension legislation across the country, a helpful overview of which is provided by Ari Kaplan”
KAPLAN • LAW helps negotiate family settlements and is retained by family lawyers, professionals and individuals for advice on pension and benefit issues. Ari Kaplan wrote Canada's book in Pension Law and is an authority on how family law and spousal rights intersect with pensions and benefits. Ari mediates and arbitrates family disputes and is trained in conflict reduction and screening. He is a co-founder of the Family Dispute Resolution Institute of Ontario and helps resolve questions around Family Law Value Statements, support/equalization, parenting and retirement issues, succession and generation transfers: for more, see Family Mediation.
Kaplan Law refers family law representation matters to lawyers in their network. Ari Kaplan is not a family lawyer.