Mary Jane Stitt is an arbitrator and mediator primarily of commercial insurance disputes with over 40 years of commercial litigation and arbitration experience. Her insurance dispute resolution practice includes directors’ and officers’ liability, CGL, complex property, representation and warranty, crime, cyber and professional liability insurance claims and reinsurance disputes. She has resolved disputes between primary and excess insurers, lawyer’s professional negligence claims, product liability matters, director/officer breach of fiduciary and statutory duty claims, insurance broker negligence and other complex commercial matters. She is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and received her advanced mediation training at Harvard.
Mary Jane Stitt is an arbitrator and mediator primarily of commercial insurance disputes with over 40 years of commercial litigation and arbitration experience. Her insurance dispute resolution practice includes directors’ and officers’ liability, CGL, complex property, representation and warranty, crime, cyber and professional liability insurance claims and reinsurance disputes. She has resolved disputes between primary and excess insurers, lawyer’s professional negligence claims, product liability matters, director/officer breach of fiduciary and statutory duty claims, insurance broker negligence and other complex commercial matters. ...more She is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and received her advanced mediation training at Harvard.
She is a retired partner of Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP where she practiced for 30 years. Since 2013, she has practiced as an independent counsel and neutral and now works exclusively as an arbitrator and mediator. Her litigation and arbitration practice as counsel included acting as coverage counsel for major public companies and financial institutions (TSX, NYSE, NASDAQ listed), large private companies, crown corporations, and numerous boards, audit and governance committees and senior executives in connection with director and officer indemnification and insurance issues, regulatory and criminal investigations and proceedings, product liability matters, and claims under CGL, representation and warranty, fidelity, crime, and cyber insurance policies and financial institution bonds. She also acted in litigation and arbitrations involving product liability, shareholder and partnership disputes, misrepresentation and breach of warranty claims involving asset and share purchase agreements, securities and other investment products and class actions. She was also retained by insurers for opinions and advice on new policy wordings, coverage issues and claims handling concerns. Her insurance related mediation and arbitration appointments are by both policyholders and insurance carriers as well as brokers.
She is widely recognized as a leader in the Canadian commercial insurance field and for her expertise in many rankings and publications including the 2025 and 2024 Editions of Best Lawyers in Canada - Alternative Dispute Resolution and International Arbitration; 2025 Best Law Firms in Canada – Alternative Dispute Resolution and International Arbitration; Who’s Who Legal: Canada 2024 and 2023 Canada, Insurance and Reinsurance (Recommended); Best Lawyers in Canada, 17th Edition, 2023 (Alternative Dispute Resolution, Corporate and Commercial Litigation, Director and Officer Liability Practice, Insurance Law, International Arbitration, Legal Malpractice Law and Product Liability Law); Who’s Who Legal WWL Canada 2022 and 2021: Insurance & Reinsurance (Highly Regarded) where she is described as a "pre-eminent practitioner"; Expert Guides, The World’s Leading Practitioners in Insurance and Reinsurance 2014 – 2022; and Expert Guides, Women in Business Law 2015 - 2022 where she was described as one of the leading insurance and reinsurance practitioners in the world.
