Renowned arbitrator Martin Teplitsky dies suddenly

July 15, 2016 at 1:32 PM

It is with great sadness that we advise our members that prominent arbitrator and civil litigation lawyer Martin Teplitsky died suddenly on Thursday, July 14.   
 
Born in 1941, Mr. Teplitsky graduated from the Faculty of Law at the University of Toronto in 1964. He was a senior partner at Teplitsky Colson Barristers and had a reputation as one of the country's best mediator-arbitrators.
 
In 1998, he founded the Law Society of Upper Canada's "Out of the Cold" program, which continues to help feed the homeless in Toronto.
 
“Marty” (as he was affectionately known) worked closely with Local 2002 as Air Canada was emerging from CCAA in 2004. By order of Justice Farley, an expedited arbitration process, known as the “Clean Slate Agreement” was established to deal with multitudes of outstanding grievances within the company. Teplitsky was appointed by Farley to deal with these grievances; after the ‘slate was cleaned’, the relationship with our local continued. Marty was instrumental in the implementation of the local’s expedited grievance procedure that eliminated what was previously a long and onerous process.
 
The numerous decisions Marty made over the years impacted our members in a beneficial and sometimes controversial manner. But his calm guidance through challenging situations helped both the union and employers navigate a forward path in labour related matters.
 
His absence will be felt for years to come and our thoughts and prayers are with his family, friends and colleagues at this difficult time.