Lawrence Herman was born in Montreal, Quebec on May 2, 1952.

Lawrence is a graduate of McGill University’s Faculty of Law National Program where he obtained his Bachelor of Civil Law (B.C.L., 1975) and Bachelor of Laws (LL.B., 1976).

Called to the Bar of the Province of Quebec in 1977 and the Law Society of Upper Canada in 1986, Lawrence practiced business law and commercial litigation for over 20 years before commencing his mediation career in 2000.

From 1988-1999, Lawrence was National Bank of Canada’s Assistant General Counsel, Ontario and Western Canada. As a key member of the Bank’s senior management team and its lead in-house counsel for its operations in Canada outside Quebec, Lawrence was integrally involved in the successful resolution of high profile court cases and investigations.

Interested in learning about and applying cutting edge methodologies to settle business disputes, Lawrence studied alternative dispute resolution at the postgraduate level and received his LL.M.(ADR) from Osgoode Hall Law School in 1998.

From 1983 to 1987, Lawrence was counsel in the Royal Bank of Canada Law Department. He practiced in diverse areas relating to financial services and banking litigation, representing the Royal Bank in legal proceedings and settlement negotiations of complex claims.

Lawrence began his career as a litigator and business lawyer in Montreal where he practiced law for 5 years with a sports and entertainment boutique law firm.

Lawrence started his mediation practice in 2002. Prior to opening his firm, Lawrence conducted close to 600 mediations as a statutory mediator of motor vehicle accident benefits claims with the Financial Services Commission of Ontario. He was subsequently retained by the global insurer Allianz to represent it in motor vehicle accident benefits mediations and arbitrations.

Lawrence has published many articles and he speaks frequently at conferences on practice issues for ADR professionals and mediation counsel. He is a Chartered Mediator member of the ADR Institute of Canada and, since 2013 serves on the board of directors of the ADR Institute of Ontario.