Meet Our 2021 Board Members

Neil Maisel

Chair

Neil Maisel is a partner in the Valuations | Forensics | Litigation Group at Crowe Soberman. Neil plays an integral part in the firm’s leadership as the firm’s Ethics Officer. For 16 years he also served as a member of the Management Committee. Neil brings a wealth of experience, having worked in the tax and assurance and advisory practices. For the last 28 years, Neil’s practice focused on matrimonial matters, shareholder disputes, corporate and commercial damage claims, business valuations and other litigation support. Neil is the vice president of Due Diligence Inc. (DDI), a corporation devoted to the detection, prevention and investigation of occupational fraud, waste and abuse. In this role, Neil provides both financial and forensic investigative and accounting services to the commercial, corporate, financial, government and legal sectors. Neil enjoys lecturing on a number of topics, some of which are accredited presentations, and has authored numerous articles on topics including business valuation, litigation, family law and tax matters. Neil has also been active in the community and is an Honourary Director of the Asthma Society of Canada. Neil is also the Co-Chair of the Financial Professionals Section of The Family Dispute Resolution Institute of Ontario (FDRIO) and is a director of the organization.

Professional Affiliations

Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada (CPA Canada)
The Canadian Institute of Chartered Business Valuators (CICBV)
The Chartered Professional Accountants of Ontario (CPA Ontario)

Akbar Ebrahim

Treasurer

Akbar Ebrahim is an Accredited Mediator and a Master Trainer certified by the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution (CEDR), London, England in 2013 and accredited Family Mediator certified by the OAFM Ontario in 2014.

Akbar was appointed by the His Highness Aga Khan on the Regional Conciliation and Arbitration Board (RCAB) for Ontario as Mediator in 1999. He served as Mediator for 6 years and in 2005 he was appointed Chairperson of the Board for 7 years until 2012.

Akbar has mediated over 150 matrimonial, commercial and Wills/Estate related disputes and during his term as Chairperson of the Ontario RCAB, he managed over 400 cases.

In 2014 he has travelled to India, Tanzania, USA and within Canada with other international training faculty members and trained over 200 CAB mediators.

Akbar is also B.Comm, C.A. (finalist) from London, England and Certified Fraud Examiner from USA from 1997 to 2015.

He speaks English, Urdu, Bengali, Gujerati and Hindi.

Laura Bradford

Secretary and Executive Director

Laura is the Executive Director of FDRIO. Laura founded Summit Mediation and provides mediation, parenting coordination and 3rd party screening for power imbalance. Laura is an accredited Family Mediator, Parenting Coordinator and Certified Divorce Financial Analyst. Laura is also a licenced provider under New Ways for Families, an approach for working with high conflict family law clients.

In her practice, Laura focuses on producing a comprehensive and practical plans that works for everyone involved – especially the children. She is passionate about working with parents to move through the most difficult but crucial discussions with an aim to fully prepare them to co-parent successfully and hopefully not need dispute resolution services again.

Laura is a member of the Family Dispute Resolution Institute of Ontario, the Ontario Association of Family Mediators and the Institute for Divorce Financial Analysts.

Laura is also a member of Rotary. As Director of Youth for the Newmarket Club she runs Interact, a youth Rotary club for youth aged 12-18 and Chairs the International Youth Exchange Program for Newmarket.

Lorne Wolfson

Past Chair

Lorne Wolfson is a senior partner at Torkin Manes, Family Law Group, Lorne’s practice includes all aspects of family law, including divorce, custody and access, property, support and domestic contracts. Lorne has been accredited as a family mediator by the Ontario Associate for Family Mediation. He is also a Dispute Resolution Office of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice and sits on the Family Law Rules Committee. Lorne is recognized for his mediation and arbitration expertise and has completed the following specific training:

Harvard Negotiation Institute Mediation Workshop
Law Society of Upper Canada Mediation Course
Mediation and Domestic Violence Training

Community Involvement

Executive Committee, Family Arbitration Section, ADR Institute of Ontario
Past President, Jewish Family and Child Service of Toronto
Board member, Associate of Jewish Family and Children Agencies of North America
Professional Advisory Committee, Jewish Foundation of Greater Toronto
Past Chair, Family Law Specialty Committee, the Law Society of Upper Canada

Julie Gill

1st Vice Chair

Julie is a Qualified Mediator(Q.Med), Separation Coach and Certified Elder Mediator (Cert.EM). Julie strongly believes that for families in conflict there must be HEART between the issues and the resolution. Julie is also a Certified Divorce Financial Analyst (CDFA) helping couples navigate through the financial considerations of separation and divorce. She is an active trainer and public speaker creating awareness of positive and creative ways to manage conflict. While Julie focuses her practice on family conflict resolution, she does facilitate workplace mediations and training as time permits. She is a former TV show host and international conference presenter. Julie was an active member on the CCAC roster of Independent Complaint Facilitators and a mediator with ADR Chambers performing FSCO mediations Julie is an Independent facilitator and trainer with Morneau Shepell. Julie is a Director on the Board of Family Mediation Canada, a volunteer with the Youth Justice Committee and a member of the Durham Elder Abuse Network.

Vicky M. Ringuette

2nd Vice Chair

Vicky M. Ringuette is a bilingual Family Lawyer and Mediator in Hamilton, Ontario. She is a graduate of the University of Ottawa in both the Communications Program (2001) and the Common Law in French Program (2004). Her practice focuses on the niche areas of Family Law, which include Adoption and Fertility and Surrogacy. She is trained in Family Mediation and Arbitration working with families to provide them with the information and skills they need to find a positive solution outside of Family Court and when necessary, to make the final and legally binding decisions.

She is a panel lawyer with both Legal Aid Ontario and the Office of the Children’s Lawyer. She is active in the legal community both with the Hamilton Law Association’s Family Law Subcommittee and as the President of the Haldimand Law Association. She is a member of the Board of Directors of l’Association des juristes d’expression française de l’Ontario. She is a member of the Legal Aid Ontario French Language Services Advisory Committee. Vicky was born and raised in a small Francophone town in New Brunswick and has made Ontario her home since 1998.

Matthew Krofchick

Director

Matthew Krofchick is a Chartered Business Valuator (CBV) and a Valuations Manager at Krofchick Valuations in Toronto. Matthew specializes in forensic accounting including income determination and business valuations for matrimonial purposes. His work includes complex tracing analysis, income determination for child and spousal support calculations, pension valuations, and business valuations. He has led a team of valuation and forensic specialists in numerous valuation and investigative assignments in many diverse industries.

In addition to holding the designation of CBV, Matthew is also a Certified Management Accountant (CMA), Chartered Professional Account (CPA), Certified Management Consultant (CMC), and Certified in Financial Forensics (CFF). His diverse background provides him with the tools needed to address the financial and valuation issues surrounding marital breakdowns and to provide legal professionals and divorcing spouses with an understanding of the financial issues that arise in a divorce.

Matthew has previously lectured on topics including business valuations in the context of marital breakdowns, emerging issues and methodologies in pension valuations, and income determination for the purpose of determining spousal support. Matthew has also authored and co-authored a number of articles dealing with the financial issues surrounding marital breakdowns.

Raheena Dahya

Director

Raheena is the founder and chair of FDRIO’s Family Violence Section. She is also the chair of the Diversity and Inclusion section.

Raheena is a lawyer with experience in family and child protection law; and a family law mediator certified by the Family Dispute Resolution Institute of Ontario (FDRIO). She has earned degrees in European and International Law (LL.B.) and Canadian Common Law (LL.M.); and is a School of Psychotherapy and Counselling Psychology (Regent's College, London) accredited civil mediator. She is also a former roster mediator with St. Stephen’s Community House. Her mediation practice integrates a variety of approaches and modalities, such as interests-based, trauma-informed, transformational, psychotherapeutic, high-conflict, and community-informed mediation.

In addition to her roles with FDRIO, Raheena also serves as a member of the Executive Board for the Ontario Bar Association’s Alternative Dispute Resolution Section.

Raheena is an avid yoga practitioner; and is a certified yoga teacher.

Jennifer Daudlin

Director

Born in Leamington and raised speaking both French and English in Chatham-Kent and Essex counties, Jennifer graduated from McMaster University in 2004.

After obtaining a Juris Doctorate in 2007 from the French Common Law program at the University of Ottawa, and completing her articles in Sudbury, she was called to the Bar in Ontario and began practicing as an agent for the Public Prosecutions Services of Canada in Oshawa.

In 2009, Jennifer joined Legal Aid Ontario as a bilingual designate in the GTA where her practice was focused exclusively to family law. There, she committed herself to representing disadvantaged litigants at both the Ontario and Superior Courts of Justice in Toronto.

During her time with Legal Aid, Jennifer worked extensively on custody, access and support issues, frequently with clients who had experienced or been charged with domestic violence.

In 2013 she founded Daudlin Law, and expanded the scope of her practice to encompass all areas of family law, including the division and equalization of property and the negotiation of domestic contracts.

With a demonstrated dedication to her clients, Jennifer is committed to representing her client's interests and providing them the best legal advice and representation.

A lifelong athlete, Jennifer continues to enjoy various athletic endeavours, loves to travel and is an avid salsera.

Nick Esterbauer

Director

Nick Esterbauer is an associate lawyer at Hull & Hull LLP who assists families with matters involving capacity issues and death. He has experience assisting clients in resolving matters involving all aspects of estates, trusts, and capacity law, including will challenges, dependant’s support claims, family law elections, fiduciary accounting disputes, guardianship applications, life insurance disputes, international estate administration issues, and trust claims, and frequently represents clients at mediation and at court.

Nick holds a Bachelor of Arts (Honours), Certificate of Competence in French, and Juris Doctor from Queen’s University.

Nick is the co-author of various papers and other publications. He has been a member of FDRIO since 2015 and has been its webinar coordinator since the fall of 2019.

Dr. Linda R. Ennis

Director

Linda Rose Ennis, Ph.D, is a psychoanalytic therapist in private practice who specializes in divorce empowerment, a FDRP Med. Certified Specialist in Family Mediation, an author, a course & workshop trainer and York university lecturer. Dr. Ennis is the former academic chair of FDRIO and the present chair of the Voice of the Child Committee, as well as a committee member of the Training & Accrediting Course Committee.

Her education includes the following; a Ph.D. in Psychology and Education; a Masters in Education (Early Childhood specialist); a Diploma in Child Study and a teaching degree from the University of Toronto. She has written and spoken extensively on her research in her area of expertise, “On Combining Motherhood With Employment”, which was the first qualitative piece done in this area. She has written contributions in the Encyclopedia of Motherhood, discussing the “empty nest”, the “mommy track”, and has contributed a chapter entitled “Contract-Faculty Mothers: On The Track To Nowhere” in O’Brien Hallstein & O’Reilly’s book entitled “Academic Motherhood in a Post-Second Wave Context” (Demeter Press:2012). Most recently, she has published her own edited collection, “Intensive Mothering: The Cultural Contradictions of Modern Motherhood” (Demeter Press: 2014) and “After the Happily Ever After: Empowering Women and Mothers In Relationships” (Demeter Press: 2017).

Mary Lee

Director

I currently hold the part-time position of Program Coordinator, Faculty of Business, Humber College. I am responsible for the coordination of the ADR Graduate Certificate Program. In addition, I have a part-time appointment as the Chair, Toronto Licensing Tribunal.

Prior to that, I was the Local Planning Appeal Support Centre's first Executive Director, April 2018. I also had numerous leadership roles in my career working for provincial government ministries, boards and tribunals. I am an expert in mediation, adjudication, operations and business services, I served as director of strategic business services for Ontario’s tribunal clusters (SJTO and SLASTO) and oversaw the province-wide operation of 8 boards and tribunals while Director of Operations. I also served as Vice Chair at the Social Benefits Tribunal and the Ontario Rental Housing Tribunal. I hold a LL.M from Osgoode Law School.

Avagene Skervin

Director

Avagene is a family law lawyer and notary public. She was called to the Ontario Bar in 2005 and has practised exclusively in family law for the last 15 years.

Prior to being called to the Ontario Bar, Avagene received her Bachelor of Laws with Honours degree from the University of the West Indies, and her Legal Education Certificate from the Norman Manley Law School in 2001, both institutions located in Jamaica, her proud island home. She was called to the British Virgin Islands Bar in 2001. There she practised corporate law for two years.

Before studying law, Avagene completed a Bachelor of Arts degree with Honours in French from the University of the West Indies. She also completed a French Business Certificate issued by the Chambre of Commerce and Industry of Paris.

Avagene is the founder of Skervin Law, a family law firm in Mississauga, Ontario. She promotes the resolution of family law issues including custody, access, support and property, through a variety of alternate dispute resolution processes. She is a member of the Ontario Family Law Limited Scope Services Project and is currently pursuing accreditation as a family law mediator.

Avagene retired her soccer shoes a few years ago but continues to live soccer, vicariously, through her favourite teams.

Meet Our 2021 Board Members

Neil Maisel

Chair

Professional Affiliations

Akbar Ebrahim

Treasurer

Laura Bradford

Secretary and Executive Director

Lorne Wolfson

Past Chair

Community Involvement

Julie Gill

1st Vice Chair

Vicky M. Ringuette

2nd Vice Chair

Matthew Krofchick

Director

Raheena Dahya

Director

Jennifer Daudlin

Director

Nick Esterbauer

Director

Dr. Linda R. Ennis

Director

Mary Lee

Director

Avagene Skervin

Director

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