Daniel Girlando

Partner

Toronto
[email protected]
416.367.6516

Daniel represents healthcare facilities and staff involved in medical malpractice and class action litigation. He provides legal advice with respect to:

  • privacy and security breach investigation and notification
  • physician credentialing
  • adverse event and risk management
  • other diverse issues that arise in healthcare settings

Daniel regularly speaks on privacy and health law and, to give back to the profession, he teaches Health Law in Practice at Windsor University’s Faculty of Law and co-chairs the Osgoode Certificate in Health Law. He also chairs the Legal Issues Committee of Egale, a national 2SLGBTQI+ advocacy organization. Daniel has been a member of the firm's Diversity and Inclusion Council for over 10 years and, in 2021, he joined the Toronto Office's Student Recruitment Committee.

Called to the bar in Ontario and Québec, Daniel obtained his law degree at McGill University, where he was actively engaged with the McGill Human Rights Working Group's Access to Medicine Campaign.

He also attended the National Law School of India University in Bangalore during a semester abroad, and interned for the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health in Mumbai. Prior to law school, Daniel worked for two years at AIDS Community Care Montreal (ACCM). He is fluent in English and French.

Experience

  • Defends hospitals and hospital staff in medical malpractice cases as counsel to the Healthcare Insurance Reciprocal of Canada, including in long trials and appeals (Hemmings v Peng, 2022 ONSC 2674, Hemmings v. Peng, 2024 ONCA 318).
  • Represents organizations facing large privacy breach class actions and negotiated favourable settlements.
  • Successfully defeated certification in privacy breach class actions arising out the inappropriate access or disclosure of personal health information by staff, had the decision upheld on appeal or was successful in having certification overturned on appeal (Broutzas v. Rouge Valley Health System, 2023 ONSC 1272 and Stewart v. Demme, 2022 ONSC 1790).
  • Acted for employers in successfully defending contractual termination provisions and wrongful dismissal claim (Oudin v. Centre Francophone de Toronto, 2016 ONCA 514)
  • Acted as co-counsel on the Hopkins v. Kay, 2015 ONCA 112 decision, which held that patients in Ontario have the option to sue for breach of privacy both under PHIPA and the common law tort of intrusion upon seclusion, and in the negotiation of the settlement of this class action, which was court approved in October 2023.
  • Represented executive employee in wrongful dismissal claim, with successful motion to declare the contractual termination clause invalid and obtaining resolution (Paquette c. Quadraspec, 2014 ONCS 2431).
  • Represents Egale Canada pro bono in court interventions that promote the rights and interests of the 2SLGBTQI community (Ontario (Health Insurance Plan) v. K.S., 2024 ONSC 2061 and Rainbow Alliance Dryden et al. v. Webster, 2023 ONSC 7050).

Beyond our Walls

Community Involvement

  • Teaches Health Law in Practice at Windsor University’s Faculty of Law
  • Chairs the Osgoode Professional Development’s Health Law Certificate
  • Chair, Egale Canada's Legal Issues Committee

Awards & Recognitions

  • Recognized in the 2025 edition of Best Lawyers in Canada® (Class Action Litigation, Health Care Law, Privacy and Data Security) and since 2024 (Medical Negligence).
  • Recognized in the 2021 edition of the Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory (Medical Negligence)

Bar Admission & Education

  • Québec, 2011
  • Ontario, 2011
  • BCL/LLB, McGill University, 2009 (including a semester at India University in Bangalore)
  • BA (Hons.), McGill University, 2004