Medal winner Jim Simmons (middle), Law’68, with Martha McCarthy, President of The Advocates’ Society, and Janet Minor, Treasurer of the Law Society of Upper Canada, at the awards dinner in Sudbury’s Vale Cavern.
Medal winner Jim Simmons (middle), Law’68, with Martha McCarthy, President of The Advocates’ Society, and Janet Minor, Treasurer of the Law Society of Upper Canada, at the awards dinner in Sudbury’s Vale Cavern.
Jim Simmons steps off his tricolour floatplane to visit a client in Killarney, Ontario.
Jim Simmons steps off his tricolour floatplane to visit a client in Killarney, Ontario.

“I was surprised, and flattered,” says Jim Simmons, Law’68 (Arts’65), of Weaver, Simmons LLP in Sudbury, on his being awarded with The Advocates' Society Medal at an April 14 dinner held at Science North.

The medal is the highest expression of esteem bestowed by the Society, Canada's premier provider of advocacy skills training. “Jim is a consummate advocate,” says Peter Griffin, Law’77, who chaired the selection committee. “He is highly respected as a leader of the bar and has made significant contributions not only to the Society, but to the profession of law and to the well-being of the community at large.”

Simmons, one of the North’s leading lawyers, has had a distinguished and varied career. He’s practised as counsel in civil litigation, insurance, administrative, personal injury, professional negligence and commercial law. “I enjoy doing what I do, and I like to see a client well-served,” Simmons says. “It gives an incredible feeling of satisfaction.”

In 1970, Simmons moved to Sudbury from Toronto, and joined Shea, Mossop, Stoner, Weaver, the predecessor of Weaver, Simmons. The firm has roots in northern Ontario, with many mining industry and First Nation clients. Simmons has worked on scores of high-stakes, high-profile civil litigation cases across the province, mostly involving personal injury, negligence and insurance issues, and did some criminal law early in his career.

Appointed Queen's Counsel in 1982, Simmons and became a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers in 1999. He served on The Advocates' Society board of directors from 1982 until 1985 and again from 1996 until 1998. He won the Ontario Bar Association’s 2011 Award for Excellence in Insurance Law.

In addition, he’s a member of the Lawyer-Pilots Bar Association, and often flies his floatplane to meet with far-flung clients. He got his pilot’s license “to be conversant with what I needed to deal with” after being retained to work on an air crash case in the ‘70s, in which several people were killed.

Nowadays, a pilot’s license comes in handy, as his firm’s catchment area spans Ottawa to Kenora and up to Hudson Bay. “Seasonally, I can get up in my plane, fly to Timmins, do a discovery, and be back in my office by two.”

Whenever he takes to the skies, Queen’s travels with him. “My plane has the tricolour stripes painted on the side, and has floats that match,” explains Simmons. “Queen’s is in my blood: I grew up in Kingston, did my arts undergrad there, and Queen’s Law gave me the background I needed to go on and practice law and love it.”