Meet Jordan Assaraf, Personal Injury lawyer and the Co-Host of our latest feature: Butter Torts
The first thing you’ll note when you meet Jordan is that he’s full of life.
Throwing in a story to lighten up the mood or just casually poking fun at his “COVID man-bun”.
He’s the antithesis of what lawyers are often thought to be.
He currently serves as an Associate Lawyer at Gluckstein Lawyers, and his practice is devoted to all areas of Personal Injury litigation on behalf of plaintiffs.
However, growing up, being a lawyer wasn’t even an afterthought for Jordan.
He was an avid athlete coming from a tennis family where he was immersed in all things tennis.
His favourite tennis player: John McEnroe
As a young graduate from York University, he started to get involved and work with the Ontario Tennis Association by organizing tournaments. In the meantime, he knew he wanted something more, something that was going to keep him on his toes, challenge him, and stimulate the mind. His thoughts then drifted to law school… in Australia.
He received his Juris Doctorate degree from Bond University in 2012 and characterizes that time as, “The absolute most incredible time of my life.”
The call for home eventually became impossible to ignore, so he went on to complete his Canadian Accreditation that same year.
Upon Jordan’s arrival, he was finding it quite difficult to launch his legal career.
Nonetheless, he persisted and in the meantime sent his resume to Gluckstein Lawyers.
Jordan is one of the very few that can point to a woman falling to the ground as the beginning of their career. The need for context has never been greater.
Jordan explains,
“I was at a baseball game and I was walking up to get some drinks and as I was walking there’s a man and a woman. The man and the woman are walking side-by-side and suddenly the woman wipes out. As she wipes out, the gentleman that she’s with just continues walking, he didn’t even realize she just fell. So I went up to him and I said ‘Excuse me, sir, I think your wife fell back there.’
He looks back and says ‘No, no that’s not my wife, but I am with her so let’s go see if she’s ok.’
We walked over and asked her if she was ok, then being a wisecrack I said, ‘You should probably call your lawyers.’ Little did I know, but the two of them said, ‘Oh we are lawyers.’
I looked at the gentleman and in the back of my mind I thought ‘Is this Mr. Gluckstein?’ ”
Long story short, yes it was, it was Mr. Bernard Gluckstein.
Jordan has been at Gluckstein Lawyers since 2012 and has found great satisfaction in his practice.
He elaborates,
“When a client calls you at the outset of a case, they are vulnerable. Something has happened to them that has completely turned their life around. They are looking to you for help, for guidance and legal advice. They’re also looking for you to restore their life back to where it was before that accident happened. At the end of a case when a client calls me and says thank you so much, you’ve got me the treatment or help I needed, and you did the best you could to get me back to where I was, it’s rewarding and it feels great to be able to give back to people.”
Nonetheless, in his years of practice, Jordan has noticed the significant needs of the justice system.
“It’s crucial for the courts to be more transparent, to let clients know why there is a certain delay, or why another case is ahead of theirs. Understanding the court process and what is going on behind the scenes is one of the greatest needs in civil litigation. I don’t think it’s that far off, we see the courts are trying to change and catch up with technology and the times, and I believe this is a giant leap forward.”
Does he see a place for legal innovation in the discussion?
“I see the need for legal innovation and technology every day in my practice. Multiple companies have started shifting to more efficient resources for reviewing medical records, which has made our job easier as well. But it’s tough when other parties are not using the same product or platform as you, such as the courts. Regardless, the market for legal tech is huge.”
Jordan is currently spearheading, along with his co-host Brenda Agnew, the podcast Butter Torts, intentionally aimed at raising awareness on Personal Injury law.
Find out more here: Butter Torts: A Truly Canadian Legal Podcast
Jordan is also an avid volunteer and gives his time to several charitable initiatives. These include the Brain Injury Society of Toronto, Variety Village Children’s Charity, ParaSport Ontario’s Next-Gen Board, and the American Association of Justice.
You can connect with Jordan on:
Listen to episodes of Butter Torts at:
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