M. GAYLANNE PHELAN

Gaylanne obtained her Bachelor of Arts from McGill University in 1970 and her Bachelor of Laws from the University of Western Ontario in 1976 (Dean's Honour List). She was called to the Ontario Bar in 1978 (receiving the Joseph Sedgwick First Prize and the Vera L. Parsons Prize).

Since 1978, Gaylanne has practised in the area of estates, trusts and substitute decisions. Her practice includes estate and tax planning, mediation of estate disputes, family business succession, administration of trusts and estates, and estate litigation. A main focus of her practice has always been "plain language drafting". As an adjunct to her estates practice, she has overseen significant sales of businesses and corporate reorganizations. She also has acted as Executor, Trustee and Attorney for Property for large Canadian Estates and as director of their affiliated private corporations.

Gaylanne was a partner in a large Toronto law firm and, subsequently, co-founder of a boutique law firm. She also is a founding partner of The Centre for Estate Mediation (established in 1999) and continues as an active mediator with that organization. She is a Past President and a Privileged Member of the Estate Planning Council of Toronto, and currently is on the Executive of the Ontario Bar Association's ADR Section, where she is Chair of Civil Justice Reform. In 2006 she was a member of the Ontario Bar Association's Civil Justice Reform Project task force.

Gaylanne speaks French fluently, and is a Past President of Le Groupe Francophone de l'Association du Barreau Canadien de l'Ontario - Région de Toronto.

She is a keen athlete and has been an active competitor at the Osler Bluff Ski Club for many years. She is a member of the Granite Club, the Queen's Club (Toronto) and the Coral Beach and Tennis Club (Bermuda).