Hilary Linton, Mediation Trainer

Hilary Linton is known nationally and internationally as a highly effective family dispute resolution trainer, mediator, arbitrator and parenting coordinator.

After 14 years practising family and civil litigation,  she earned an LL.M. in dispute resolution at Osgoode Hall Law School. With that foundation she built a thriving practice in family mediation, arbitration, parenting coordination and family violence screening. Today her business, Riverdale Mediation, is a collaboration of five lawyers and a retired Family Court judge providing in-person and online services.

Hilary has taught dispute resolution to undergraduate and law students at various universities in Ontario.

At Riverdale, she has designed and developed an extensive array of courses that are delivered in a hybrid online/live model. Using a state-of-the-art learning management system she, along with Training Director Frank Guerriero and a highly experienced teaching team, train hundreds of students each year across Canada and North America.

Since 2005, Riverdale’s programs have become synonymous with high quality, practical and engaging training in the family dispute resolution field, leading a great many students to gain accreditation with organizations including the Academy of Professional Family Mediators (APFM) the Ontario Association of Family Mediation (OAFM) and the Family Dispute Resolution Institute of Ontario (FDRIO).

Hilary also developed an impactful and relevant Mediator-in-Training program for students seeking supervised experience in family mediation, arbitration and parenting coordination. And she and her colleagues are frequently retained by agencies, governments and organizations across Canada to custom-design and deliver specialized training.

Hilary also founded Toronto Family Mediation Services (mediate393) in 2011 to provide government-subsidized family mediation and information services in Toronto’s Superior Court of Justice and two Ontario Courts of Justice.

Hilary’s career has included teaching and speaking engagements around the world including in Europe, South Africa, throughout the Caribbean and across North America. She has written extensively, including on the important subject of screening for power imbalances and family violence, with her work published on Canlii and in the annual Ontario Family Law Practice.  She has served as a volunteer Director at the OAFM, AFPM and FDRIO, where she was one of the original four founders.

Her contributions have been recognized with Awards of Excellence from the Ontario Bar Association and the Family Dispute Resolution Institute of Ontario.