A personal injury lawyer who rides and understands
Ian Brisbin has served clients for over two decades in all areas of personal injury law. This includes motor vehicle crashes, injuries on property like slips or trips, and long-term disability (LTD) claims.
Ian loves cycling and advocates for equity in public access to safe, active transportation. Ian lives his passion for providing specialized legal advocacy for injured cyclists and other vulnerable road users here, at Velolaw.
Serving the community I
ride and live in.
Ian is proud to have been honoured by peer review as one of “Canada’s Best Lawyers” in personal injury since 2020.
He has extensive courtroom experience, having appeared as trial and appellate counsel before all levels of Ontario courts, as well as many administrative tribunal hearings. Ian has served his profession as a chair or member of numerous Hamilton Law Association committees.
In 2000, Ian graduated from the Faculty of Law at Queen’s University. He was also awarded a B.A.(Hons.) in Political Studies and History from Queen’s, in 1996. During his undergraduate studies, Ian was an accomplished varsity athlete for four years, serving as captain of the Men’s Basketball team for two of those years. He was also involved in governance roles in athletic administration and student life, and also served as President of the Queen’s Law Students’ Society during his final year of law school. After graduation, Ian articled at a personal injury law firm in Hamilton, was called to the bar in 2002 and subsequently practiced for 17 years as an associate and a partner of that firm.
He has previously served as the Chair of the Board of Directors of the Royal Botanical Gardens, as Chair of the Official Board of Melrose United Church, and as a member of the Boards of: Share the Road Cycling Coalition; Hamilton Bikeshare Inc.; the United Way of Halton and Hamilton Campaign Cabinet; and the Board of Governors of the City of Hamilton Future Fund.
Ian employs all that he has learned in the course of decades of volunteering wherever he has lived in leadership roles, providing legal analysis and insight to many not-for-profit organizations he loves, on governance and other issues.
Ian is also a current member of The Advocates Society, the Ontario Trial Lawyers' Association and the Canadian Bar Association (Ontario).
My Passions:
Law + Cycling + Community
Ian is an athlete. He has completed an Ironman triathlon, many marathons including two Boston Marathons and a dozen Around the Bay Road Races. He participates in many cycling races and events, including many years riding Paris to Ancaster. Ian spends his summers doing triathlons and competing through cycling, running, and swimming.
Hamilton and Halton are truly home for Ian. He grew up in Burlington and lives in Hamilton’s Southwest community.
For over 35 years, he has also been deeply engaged in the local community from volunteering with the Sound of Music Festival to being the chair of the committee in his early twenties that delivered the annual Canada Day celebration in Spencer Smith Park to over 100,000 people, all free of charge.
He is currently serving as the past chair of the Hamilton Foundation for Student Success and as a member of the board of directors of Supercrawl, a free festival which takes over Hamilton’s James Street North for four days of music, arts and culture and has grown to host hundreds of thousands of people from within the city and beyond.