Maia L. Bent

• Practice Group Leader, Plaintiff Personal Injury Group (2019 – present)
• Author, The Law of Costs in Personal Injury Actions, LexisNexis (2019)
• Partner, Lerners LLP (2005 to present)
• Past President, Ontario Trial Lawyers Association (present)
• Skills Instructor, The Advocates’ Society (2013 – present)
• Adjunct Professor, Western Law, Western University (2017)
• Treasurer’s Liaison Committee, Law Society of Ontario (2015-2016)
• The Advocates’ Society Courthouse Series (Co-chair 2010 – 2013)
• Middlesex Law Association Mentoring Program (Invited Mentor, 2011)
• Brain Injury Association of Sarnia-Lambton Conference (Chair 2008 – 2011)
• Brain Injury Association of London Conference (Chair 2010)
• Associate Lawyer, Lerners LLP (1998 -2004)
• Associate Lawyer, Pensa & Associates (1997-1998)

Maia works on serious personal injury, fatality, sexual and physical assault, nursing home negligence, disability and insurance cases for adults, children and their families

• Certified as a Specialist in Civil Litigation by the Law Society of Ontario
• Best Lawyers in Canada, Personal Injury Litigation
• Recognized and consistently recommended by Lexpert as a leading lawyer in the area of personal injury (2014 – 2022)
• Recipient, Ontario Volunteer Service Award (2007 – 2014)
• Ontario Trial Lawyers’ Association Women’s Caucus Award (2012)
• Ontario Brain Injury Association’s Professional of the Year Award (2012)
• Past President, Make-a-Wish Foundation of Southwestern Ontario
• Past President, Sarnia Brain Injury Association

“I wanted to write you to thank you for all you’ve done for me. You never expect to need a lawyer. I certainly didn’t, and I didn’t want one. I thought “why make it bigger? Cost won’t be worth it… etc. But I needed to be the best advocate for my self and I was the least capable I had ever been to do so. I floundered for a while, I asked for minor support from the insurance company – they said yes – until they said no. A good friend recommended you and I’m so grateful they did.You worked to get me to therapies that allow me to be functional, you treated me respectfully, even as I stammered or lost where I was going in conversation etc. I would not be as much of my former self without your involvement. A truly terrifying thought. I’m able to be a husband and a father (and a person) because of your efforts. So, as I’ve said before, thank you isn’t enough but I don’t know if anything could convey the appreciation I have for you good people. So it’ll have to do. Thank you – for taking me on. Thank you – for fighting for me. Thank you – for helping me. Thank you – for being available when I had questions and concerns. Thank you for recognizing that I needed you.”
Isaac

“As a member of the hospitality industry I am in the midst daily of trying to preach to my staff and live the importance of customer service. Since the first day that I started to work with you and your team as the executor of K’s estate, and even before that when K, while still alive, would rave about how compassionate and kind you were, you and your team have impressed me with your care, compassion and heartfelt concern about K’s and, following her death, her two son’s well-being. Your ability to help me personally through a lot of situations that came up with her case that were at times overwhelming is something I will always remember. You will be at the very top of the list of lawyers that I will recommend to anyone who needs legal assistance. Your passion for doing the right and ethical thing seems to be something a lot of professionals struggle with, but you have perfected. K was very fortunate to be referred to you and I appreciate every you and your team have done over the past couple of years to help the family get through some very trying times.”
Allen Morgan, Manager, Ivey Spencer Leadership Centre

“It is difficult to put into words and accurately express my gratitude to you and your support staff. All my uncertainties and questions were met with a calm, personable and professional assurance that all would be looked after. Your overall attention to my inquiries and complaints made the process a very tolerable one. I was always impressed with how you and your staff would field my questions and issues with prompt and informed direction. I constantly found you and your staff current and well informed with my specific file and you consistently gave me undivided attention with my endless inquiries. I have absolutely no hesitation or reserve to recommend Lerners and specifically you Maia to be legal counsel.”
Kim S.

“Thank you so much for your effort, time and skills you contributed on my case. We are very happy with the result of the settlement. We can imagine how hard this case was. We can also imagine how much effort you have put into the case. We appreciate the smooth communications between us. I feel lucky to have chosen you as my lawyer.”
Michael X.

“We cannot put into words the respect and admiration we have for you. Thank God you came into our lives. It has been hard for us, but you and your staff were there for us all the way. We put our trust in you and you didn’t disappoint us and for that we thank you.”
Michael B.

• Armstrong v. Van Meeteren –  Obtained a jury award of $1,223,229.70 for a snowmobiler run over by a snowplow
• Mallat v. Personal Insurance – successful arbitration to establish that a student seriously injured in a motor vehicle accident is catastrophically impaired and entitled to enhanced accident benefits
• Hamilton v. Kember – this motion established that parents who leave their children alone knowing they will be serving alcohol to minors have a duty of care to those who are hurt as a result
• K.K. v. K.W.G. – successful trial verdict, upheld by the Court of Appeal, for a client who had suffered severe sexual abuse as a child at the hands of her now-deceased father
• Mazur v. Elias – successful trial verdict, upheld by the Court of Appeal, which compelled an insurance company to pay benefits to an accident victim

*past results are not necessarily indicative of future results and that the amount recovered and other litigation outcomes will vary according to the facts in individual cases*

• “Procedural tips and issues at the License Appeals Tribunal” (Panelist, Accident Benefits Spring Symposium 2018, Canadian Defence Lawyers)
• “Medical Reports: Ghostwriting, Bias & Duelling Assessments – Sourcing Reliable Expert Evidence” (Speaker, Motor Vehicle Litigation Summit 2018, Law Society of Ontario)
• “Catastrophic Impairment (CAT): Medical-Legal Insights and Continuing Developments Under the New Definition” (Speaker, Accident Benefits 2018: What’s New, What’s Important?, Osgoode Hall Law School PD)
• “Putting Your Best Foot Forward: Evidence Obtained on Social Media” (Panelist, Keeping Up with the Times; How to Survive and Thrive in the Age of Digital Litigation, Ontario Bar Association’s Institute, 2018)
• “Ethical issues that the Modern Lawyer  Faces” (Panelist, Oatley McLeish Guide to Motor Vehicle Litigation, the Law Society of Ontario, 2017)
• “What Grandma Saw: Nursing Home Negligence” (Speaker, Spring Conference, Ontario Trial Lawyers Association, 2017)
• “Statutory Accident Benefits” (Speaker, 2016 Colloquium, Sudbury and District Law Association, 2016)
• “Effective Cross-Examination” (Webinar, Ontario Trial Lawyers Association, 2016)
• “LAT: The Knows and Unknowns” (Webinar, Ontario Trial Lawyers Association, 2016)
• “LAT: The Beginning” (Speaker, Spring Conference, Ontario Trial Lawyers Association, 2016)
• “The Most Important AB Cases of the Past Year” (Speaker, Accident Benefits 2016, Osgoode Hall Law School, 2016)
• Skills Instructor (Trial from A to Z, The Advocates’ Society, 2016)
• “The Budget and its Implications for Auto Injury Benefits Claimants” (Speaker, Rehab First, 2015)
• “Reform of Ontario’s Auto Insurance System” (Speaker, Canadian Institute of Actuaries Evidence Seminar, Quebec, 2015)
• “Settling the SABS before Tort: A Word of Warning on Improvident Settlements” (Speaker, The Tort Case: Thinking Strategically From Start to Finish, Ontario Trial Lawyers Association Conference Program, 2015)
• “Rule 49 Offers to Settle” (Panelist, Straight from the Bench, Civil Litigation Conference, The Middlesex Law Association, 2015)
• “Limitations and Discoverability” (Speaker, The Oatley-McLeish Guide to Motor Vehicle Litigation, The Law Society of Ontario, 2015)
• “Precedent Power: A Manifesto” (Speaker, Spring Conference, Ontario Trial Lawyers Association, 2014)
• “Bulletproof Offers to Settle” (Speaker, Spring Conference, Ontario Trial Lawyers Association, 2013)
• “Armstrong v. Van Meeteren, A Case Study” (Speaker, Personal Injury Conference, Middlesex Law Association, 2013) • “Tort Law Survey” (Speaker, Tricks of the Trade, The Advocates’ Society, 2013)
• “Grace Under Pressure” (Speaker, Spring Conference, Ontario Trial Lawyers Association, 2012)
• “Understanding Serious Injury: Adjuster Training and Education” (Speaker, Insurance Institute of Canada, 2012)
• “Surviving from Accident to Settlement” (Speaker, Amendments to the SABS Conference, 2010)

• Board Member, Ontario Trial Lawyers Association
• Canadian Bar Association
• Middlesex Law Association
• The Advocates’ Society
• Brain Injury Association of London and Region

• Admitted to the Bar, Law Society of Ontario (1998)
• Bachelor of Laws, The University of Western Ontario (1996)
• Bachelor of Arts, University of Alberta (1989)

Film, theatre, golf, cooking, reading, travel