Howie Sacks & Henry committed to continued expansion as it sets its sights on the future

Greg Greenberg  00:00:06 

Hello, and welcome to Canadian Lawyer TV. I'm Greg Greenberg from Key Media. And today we're speaking with Paul Miller and Renée Vinett, Co Managing Partners at Howie, Sacks & Henry LLP. The firm was recently named as an excellence awardee at Canadian Lawyer's Boutique Law Firm of the Year category, Paul and Renée welcome, and thank you for joining us. 

Renée Vinett  00:00:27 

Thank you for having us. 

Paul Miller  00:00:28 

Thanks for having us. Happy to be here. 

Greg Greenberg  00:00:30 

First off, congratulations on the award. What does this recognition mean to each of you starting with you, Paul?  

Paul Miller  00:00:34 

Oh, for me, it just reaffirms the standing of this firm within the legal community. It is an honor to be one of the recipients of this. And it just tells everyone at the firm the type of work we're doing, and how it's acknowledged by the legal community. 

Greg Greenberg  00:00:58 

And what about you, Renée?  

Renée Vinett  00:01:00 

First of all, it's such an honor, because when you are awarded or bestowed an award like this by your peers and the legal community, it's it's very humbling. Edit also is such a sincere recognition of all the hard work that we've been doing advocating for our clients, but also shows our legal expertise and the acknowledgement of that as well. 

Greg Greenberg  00:01:27 

Paul, can you tell me more about the firm and how your practice is unique? 

Paul Miller  00:01:32 

Firm has been around for just over 21 or 22 years now. And started out as a thick a five person personal injury law firm, dedicated to just personal injury, and over the years, it has grown and expanded it now I look at this that most of my most of my partners and lawyers here work on what I consider catastrophic personal injury cases. We have one of the best medical malpractice departments in the country. We have one of our partners does, Ltd and now is going into employment law. Melissa Miller has done amazing work in the nursing home litigation. And I came over to this firm in 2017. And I brought my class action, mass tort practice here to further expand the type of work Howie, Sacks & Henry does. 

Greg Greenberg  00:02:27 

Well, Renée, Howie, Sacks & Henry clearly has a diverse practice with 21 lawyers and a team of over 100. It's one of the largest PI boutiques. So can you tell me what unites everyone at the firm? What's the mission? What's the goal? And what do you all strive for every day?  

Renée Vinett  00:02:43 

Our focus is on the needs of our clients. That comes with the very human element of the work we do. Listening to our clients, looking them in the eye, understanding where they're coming from the challenges that they're experiencing, and, you know, empathizing with the fear that they have as to what their future may hold. And although we are miracle workers, we can't change their injuries. We can't change their circumstance in the moment. But we can as a team, and I mean, I'm talking about our clerks, our paralegals, our staff, working together to ensure that they access the best treatment possible to ensure the best recovery. If we can do that for them, then we'll take care of the legal part. And that is fiercely advocating for the rights and recovering a fair and just compensation for that. 

Greg Greenberg  00:03:52 

Paul. Can you give me more details on the fly Jamaica settlement? Because I understand you played a pivotal role in that case. 

Paul Miller  00:03:59 

I wouldn't say I was pivotal. I was part of a team within this firm, and with our Co-counsel camp here on tape, Matthews in Vancouver, and it was a really important case. In terms of how we assess the damages in a class action on this matter. What we did was we actually did individual assessments on every single class member, so that we could actually go in and try and sell the case for real dollars that represented real injuries from those on the plane. We were really proud of the fact that when we went to get approval for the settlement, there wasn't one objective from the class saying that their settlement wasn't or the the dollars allocated to them. Were not fair. And that is a huge, huge accomplishment in my mind, because while times in class actions, the individual gets forgotten, because they're part of such a large group. But in this case, our two firms pulled together, did full assessments. And we were able to get a really good result for our clients.  

Greg Greenberg  00:05:14 

And staying with you. Paul, can you share the recent updates? Regarding the Havana Syndrome Mass Tort? 

Paul Miller  00:05:21 

It is an evolving piece of litigation, especially in light of 60 minutes reporting on March 31 of this year, in which 60 minutes collaborated with Dr. Spiegel, which is a magazine from Europe, and really uncovered some critical evidence of who was potentially behind this, and what is potentially behind this. Unfortunately, we can't get the Canadian government forget the litigation, the government to actually listen to what's going on. Whereas in the United States, somehow I'm able to meet with Congressman Swalwell, from California, Ambassador John Bolton, I attended the congressional hearings and met with General Counsel from the Intel Committee. I wish the Canadian government would take the same interest in dealing with our diplomats as the US is right now.  

Greg Greenberg  00:06:23 

And Renée, this is, I suppose, breaking news for the firm. You recently had a big class action win against Ukraine International Airlines. What's your reaction to that development? 

Renée Vinett  00:06:33 

Well, it just speaks legions as to the area of expertise that our firm has developed. And Paul Paul was that lawsuit, and he can probably speak to it better than I can. But the firm overall is hugely proud of Paul's work and the accomplishment of succeeding in that that particular case. 

Greg Greenberg  00:07:00 

Well, Paul, I'd like to hear more about that, when regarding Ukrainian international airlines, and how it sets the stage for the rest of 2024. Should we expect more of the same from Howie, Sacks & Henry going forward? 

Paul Miller  00:07:13 

I think 2024 is going to be a fabulous year, and 2025 and 2026. And onward. We've got growing areas of litigation, we've got great cases coming in. And the thing that stands out about this firm is the dedication of every lawyer. And then it feeds down into their teams to want to do everything possible for our clients to get the success. Because at the end of the day, it's all about our reputation for a law firm. And we pride ourselves on having a reputation where we're respected, honest, and known as the trial lawyers law firm.  

Greg Greenberg  00:08:00 

And then finally, Renée, anything else to add about what's next for the firm? 

Renée Vinett  00:08:03 

The sky's the limit. We we have really diversified our areas of practice, keeping it within the personal injury realm. But we're just looking forward. We are, especially if I look at, for example, the work that Melissa Miller is doing, advocating for the most vulnerable in our society, the elderly. And the recognition she's received through the documentary about her work, stolen time. I think you're seeing cutting edge, you're seeing lawyers that are willing to take a challenge head on, and truly roll up their sleeves and get get a little dirty, so to speak, to get the job done for their clients. And you know, it's it's, it's about doing the right thing, and being helpful to other people. And that's exactly what our firm does.  

Greg Greenberg  00:09:09 

Paul & Renée. It's been a pleasure chatting with you both congratulations again on the award. And thank you for sharing some insight into what makes Howie, Sacks & Henry top tier. 

Renée Vinett  00:09:18 

Thank you so much for having us. 

Paul Miller  00:09:20 

Thank you. 

Greg Greenberg  00:09:21 

And thanks to our viewers for joining us today. Make sure you stay tuned for more awards spotlights. I'm Greg Greenberg for Canadian Lawyer TV