Who Are Joel Miller and Ricketts, Harris?

Joel Miller is a partner with the Toronto law firm of Ricketts, Harris LLP and the Chair of the firm’s Family Law Practice Group.

Joel Miller
 
Joel has been married for over 37 years and he and his wife have three wonderful grown children. He has lived in Toronto and area since starting law school in 1966 and received his call to the Bar in 1970. Although in his early career he practiced both civil litigation and family law, for the last many years his activities have been exclusively in the field of family law and its many aspects. He’s had the opportunity of appearing before all levels of the court in Ontario on behalf of clients including, successfully, the Ontario Court of Appeal.

He has been involved in a number of community, school, and synagogue organizations. He has spoken about, and been interviewed about, family law topics on national and local TV, radio, and press, as well as having been a guest speaker to various groups.

As someone who believes in the value of education and contribution to others he’s been seminar leader for many years in the Family Law Section of the Ontario Bar Admission Course to help teach people about to become lawyers more about family law and also a regular presenter at the Family Information Session, a mandatory program for people commencing family law proceedings in the Ontario Superior Court in Toronto. He has also been appointed by a Bench and Bar Committee of the Superior Court to be a Dispute Resolution Officer for the Superior Court of Ontario, Family Division, in Toronto, a position he currently holds. Joel is also a member of the Canadian and Ontario Bar Associations.

As well, he’s spoken and presented papers on family law topics as part of the Continuing Legal Education Programme of the Law Society of Upper Canada and several times at Canada's National Family Law Program conferences. He’s a founding member of the Collaborative Family Law Association of Ontario - Toronto Group and one of the original members of its Board of Directors. He has also been a member of the Advisory Board of Divorce magazine.

In addition to all of this he’s been involved in a project to bring family law information and reduced legal fees to the public through membership in the Family Law Centre. That’s a separate enterprise which isn’t connected to Ricketts, Harris LLP.
 
As mentioned above, he also practices Collaborative Family Law where that's an appropriate alternative to the traditional method of handling a family law matter.

His approach

As Joel puts it:

“I'm a firm believer that an informed client is the best client. Too often in family law matters people are faced with having to make decisions swiftly and when emotions are running high. Those decisions may have far reaching impact and often, once made, are difficult to change.

I see my role as one of helping clients analyze the situation they're facing and then presenting to them options for steps they can take. Many times those options aren't attractive, but after looking at each one the client can at least make a thoughtful decision as to what to do next. They'll be aware of the advantages and disadvantages of whichever step they choose - as well as of the steps they reject. In this way, each client is best able to use family law to help them achieve their goals as best as possible in the circumstances.

These considerations were in my mind when I decided to create the Family Law Centre (FLC) website and to create the FLC membership program. I wanted to help people who find themselves dealing with a family law matter access information on their own so they could begin understanding the issues they were facing. Nothing in the information presented on this website should replace informed legal advice from an experienced family law lawyer, but it should help people develop a preliminary understanding of their situation and assist in the shaping of the questions they will want their lawyer to answer. Hopefully I've "succeeded".