Hassell Trial Counsel

About Hassell Trial Counsel

Hassell Trial Counsel is a small civil litigation firm based in Toronto, with a second office in Collingwood, Ontario. The firm was founded by Mick Hassell, and its work is limited to a single focus: preparing for and running civil trials and private arbitrations. It's most often retained as co-counsel or trial consultant, stepping in on the trial stage of a case that another lawyer or law firm is already running for a client. The firm also accepts a limited number of trial and arbitration retainers directly, taking on matters it describes as meaningful because of the amount in dispute, a point of principle, client hardship, or the potential for legal precedent.

Hassell holds a B.Com. from McGill University, an M.Phil. from the University of Glasgow, and an LL.B. from Western Law, along with a Canadian Securities Institute CIM designation, and is a member of the Law Society of Ontario as a barrister-at-law. The firm organizes its approach to a claim under a self-developed framework it calls the VAST Claims Methodology (Value, Assemble, Settle, Trial), used to move a case from early valuation through to a settlement or a trial. Practice areas span real estate, estates, personal injury, contract, employment, construction, defamation, fraud, and general civil and commercial litigation, argued before the Ontario Superior Court of Justice or in private arbitration.