Michael Giesbrecht

About Michael Giesbrecht

Michael Giesbrecht's courtroom experience already spans the Superior Court of Justice, Small Claims Court and the Provincial Offences Court in Ontario. The work behind it is a mix of commercial litigation and insurance defence, with disputes ranging from contract fights and property damage claims to motor vehicle accidents, personal injury and professional liability.

Law is a second chapter. Giesbrecht managed a major party candidate's campaign in the 2021 federal election and, before law school, worked on Parliament Hill in legislative, communications and administrative jobs. Called to the Ontario bar in 2025, Giesbrecht now practises as an associate in Gowling WLG's Ottawa office.

Arbitration holds a particular pull. Much of the published writing, often with James Plotkin, sits in that field: an ADR Institute of Canada article on an Ontario decision that set aside an ICSID award, a case comment in the Canadian Journal of Administrative Law and Practice, and a Kluwer Arbitration Blog post. The interest goes back to the University of Ottawa, where a spot on the Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot team steered later studies, including a paper on the way Canadian judges handle claims that an arbitrator was biased.