Michael Cochrane has been practicing law in Ontario for over 28 years in both the public and the private sector. He was a senior policy lawyer with the Ontario Attorney General and is now a partner with Ricketts, Harris LLP in Toronto. His practice has an emphasis on family law, civil litigation and public policy law. He has appeared before all levels of Court, including the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, the Ontario Divisional Court and the Supreme Court of Canada.

Mr. Cochrane hosted BNN’s Strictly Legal for three successful seasons and has appeared as a legal expert on numerous television and radio programs, including The Dini Petty Show, Jane Hawtin Live, CBC’s Counterspin, TVO, BNN’s MoneyTalk, Canada AM and TD Waterhouse’s Money Talk.

Mr. Cochrane is the author of several books, including:

• Strictly Legal: Things You Absolutely Need to Know about Canadian Law
• Surviving Your Divorce: A Guide to Canadian Family Law,
• Surviving Your Parents’ Divorce: A Guide for Young Canadians,
• For Better or For Worse: The Canadian Guide to Marriage Contracts, Cohabitation Agreements all published by Wiley Canada,
• Class Actions: A Guide to the Class Proceedings Act 1992,
• Family Law in Ontario for Lawyers and Law Clerks, published by Canada Law Book,
• He was also the co-editor of the Annual Review of Civil Litigation, published by Carswell from 2001 - 2004, and
• He is a regular columnist for magazines.

In addition to being trained in Negotiation and Advanced Negotiation at Harvard Law School, Mr. Cochrane was a Fellow at the National Association of Attorneys General in Washington D.C. He has lectured in law at the University of Ottawa, Law Faculty (Legal Institutions, Property Law and Wills), Osgoode Hall Law School (Public Law), Ryerson University (Environmental Law) and is a frequent public speaker on legal issues across Canada.