About

Effective Representation of Children & Families Affected by Avoidable Injuries

The Birth Injury Lawyers’ Alliance of Canada (BILA) was formed in 2016 by a group of lawyers from across Canada with considerable experience in birth injury cases to promote the effective representation of children and families affected by avoidable injuries occurring at or around the time of birth. The founding members of BILA practice law in every Province and Territory in Canada, with the exception of Quebec.

BILA lawyers have largely dedicated their professional lives to representing the children and families suffering avoidable birth injury. We recognize that these are complex, heart-wrenching and challenging cases.

Complex Legal Issues

Birth injury cases pose unique challenges to lawyers acting for affected children and their families. Elsewhere on this website there is a detailed explanation about how these claims must be proved. The discussion is about proving a breach of the standard of care and causation – both issues to be addressed by medical expert evidence. The medical evidence needed to prove these cases is particularly challenging in that it is both complex and always changing or evolving. To properly pursue these cases, the lawyer must be familiar with and current on the evolving medical literature – something BILA lawyers continuously collaborate on.

Collective Knowledge & Experience

In a sense, every client, no matter who their particular BILA lawyer is, will benefit from the collective knowledge and experience of all the members of BILA. There is a considerable benefit to having access to this impressive depth and breadth of experience.

BILA lawyers share access to legal and medical resources to ensure that all their birth injury clients receive the highest quality representation and the most current information needed to effectively prosecute these difficult cases. Regular communication and contact between the members of BILA is intended to maintain competency in acting in these matters.

From time to time BILA will hold educational meetings or seminars for lawyers, health professionals and families affected by birth trauma. As well, BILA lawyers will make themselves available to present at educational meetings organized by other legal groups, health care providers and organizations involved in promoting the interests of affected children.

BILA members also write regularly on topics of interest to families affected by birth injuries, lawyers and health care professionals. Helpful information on a variety of topics is regularly posted to the BILA website.

Available to Discuss the Potential Merit of Your Claim

BILA lawyers are easily accessible by phone or email to discuss enquiries from families and lawyers about the potential merit of any claim.

Separate & Distinct Legal Practices

BILA lawyers maintain their separate and distinct legal practices in the Provinces in which they reside and practice. They are not partners and are not associated in any other way than that described above. When you are represented by a BILA lawyer, your solicitor client relationship is with that BILA lawyer and the law firm in which he or she practices. You will not be represented by any other BILA lawyer. When you retain a BILA lawyer any fee arrangement is with that particular lawyer and his or her law firm. No other BILA lawyer outside that particular firm will participate directly in your case or receive any remuneration.

Education & Collaboration for Justice

The Birth Injury Lawyers Alliance is a not-for-profit corporation. Its goals are to educate and collaborate to ensure that children suffering from birth trauma get capable and informed lawyers. BILA seeks to facilitate access to justice for these children.

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Canadian Birth Injury Law Blog

HOW DO YOU KNOW WHEN YOUR BABY WAS INJURED? FETAL HEART RATE PATTERNS

This is the third in a series of three articles about how medical experts determine when a newborn brain injury occurred. The first article in this series dealt with neuroimaging. The second discussed cord blood gas analysis. A newborn with signs of neurologic injury can suffer that injury any time during pregnancy, during labour and […]

A Letter to Moms of Children with Cerebral Palsy

If you are a mom, you have likely experienced “mom guilt” at one point or another. As a working mother, I have had my fair share. The more I speak with other mothers, the more I realize that it is an almost universal feeling. It is rarely rational and logical, but that feeling remains, all […]

WHAT’S AN APGAR SCORE (and why is it important to my baby)?

What does a 65 year old test have to do with the health of your baby? Although you may not have heard of her, Dr. Virginia Apgar has played a role in the assessment of the well-being of virtually every newborn baby born in Canada, the United States and elsewhere in the world for the […]

HOW DO YOU KNOW WHEN YOUR BABY WAS INJURED? UMBILICAL CORD BLOOD GASES

This is the second in a series of three articles about how medical experts determine when a newborn brain injury occurred. The first article explains how birth injury lawyers use medical imaging to determine the timing of a brain injury. The third will discuss fetal heart rate changes. A newborn with signs of neurologic injury […]

Proving causation on the basis of an adverse inference: Benhaim v. St-Germain

In the realm of birth injury lawsuits, one of the most important, and at times, most difficult issues for a plaintiff to establish is the legal element known as causation. In order to succeed with a birth injury claim, not only must the plaintiff prove that the doctors or nurses fell below the standard of […]