Category: news

WATERLOO — Dean Benard and his colleagues are private eyes.So it's all stakeouts and surveillance, disguises and dark alleys?Once in a while, perhaps.But more often than not, a typical day involves interviews, research and paperwork. Lots of paperwork. 

The case of D’Mello v. The Law Society of Upper Canada was released by the Ontario Court of Appeal on December 22, 2014 and deals with the thorny issue of privilege as it applies to regulatory investigations, where a lawyer who was the subject of such an investigation commenced a defamation action against his regulatory body.

Practice directions are frequently used by courts as a means of providing guidance on practices courts expect parties will follow in preparing for and conducting court proceedings.  Examples of practice directions issued by courts include: assistance for self-represented parties, use of electronic devices in the courtroom materials for use in court proceedings, and scheduling.

As we have been operating for over ten years and have worked with many different regulators, we observed that there is a need for support in the area of hearings. All regulatory bodies must conduct hearings from time to time and they have an obligation to ensure fair, consistent, reliable, and transparent processes.

The services offered by Benard + Associates have been popular and our client base has continued to grow as we supply the finest investigation, mediation, and locates services available anywhere.

When decisions are reached and findings are made in an investigation, parties involved  may not always agree with the results. However, they are more likely to accept the outcome if they feel that the investigation process itself was fair. Maintaining the following key principles of fairness will help parties feel confident in the process and the outcome.

March is

We want to thank all of those who applied for the investigator job posting. We are currently evaluating the applicants and will be announcing the latest addition to our team in due course. 

Media ReleaseFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Local Waterloo Region investigation firm celebrates 10 years 

Don’t waste time deciding what to do – Be prompt in making the decision to investigate. Delays make things more difficult and may create procedural challenges to an investigation. Delays may result in people becoming entrenched in their positions and gives more time for discussion to occur among the parties and potential witnesses to incidents. This is not to advocate being hasty in your decision to investigate but being expedient in moving the process forward is recommended.