Socken Law

About Socken Law

Socken Law is a small firm at 133 Berkeley Street in Toronto, founded and run by principal Allan H. Socken. The practice concentrates on estate, capacity and trust litigation, covering contested wills, passing of accounts, power of attorney disputes, guardianship proceedings and dependant support claims, along with real estate purchases, sales and refinancing, and landlord and tenant matters. Socken holds a J.D. and an LL.M. in Alternative Dispute Resolution, both from Osgoode Hall Law School, and a B.A. from York University. Before starting the firm, Socken articled and practised real estate law at Blaney McMurtry LLP, then moved into estate, trust and capacity litigation at Hull & Hull LLP.

Mediation is a central part of the practice, not a sideline. Socken teaches Theory and Practice of Mediation as adjunct faculty at Osgoode Hall Law School and leads the landlord and tenant division of the school's Mediation Clinical Programme, and has written several papers on mediating estate disputes, including on power imbalances in dependant support claims and the use of shuttle negotiation and caucusing to resolve estate conflicts. Socken belongs to the Ontario Bar Association, the Toronto Lawyers Association, The Advocates' Society and the Advocacy Centre for the Elderly. The firm offers a complimentary thirty minute initial consultation, and for matters outside these areas it works from a referral network of other practitioners.