Foreword by Justice Eileen E. Gillese

• Author: Ari N. Kaplan
• Profession: Partner, Koskie Minsky LLP. Faculty of Law, University of Western Ontario
• Pages: 27-28

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FOREWORD

Pension law is fascin ating. At a human level, its impact on a rapidly

aging population cannot be overestimated. At a legal level, the chal-

lenge posed by issues in t he f‌i eld of pension law is unparalleled. Two

factors contribute to this challenge.

First, as a newly emerging area of law, its structure is not fully es-

tablished. Until th at occurs, the predictability one needs and expect s

from the legal system cannot be had. The task of putting structure into

this area is made more diff‌i cult by t he fact that pension law is the inter-

section of a number of areas of law including contr acts, trusts, labour

and employment, f‌i duciaries, and the Charter, all made more compli-

cated by an overlay of statutory regul ation.

Second, pension law requires a person to analyze any given i ssue

from two very different perspectives. On the one hand, pen sion law

issues must be understood f rom a broad theoretical perspective. On the

other hand, no understand ing will be complete or accurate without a

descent into a morass of complicated, often-conf‌l icti ng, detail.

Even a brief consideration of these factors ex plains the burn ing

need for a single text on pension law to which one can tur n for educa-

tion and assista nce. Until now, there has been no such tex t. Ari Kaplan’s

Pension Law f‌i ll s the void.

Ari Kaplan h as written a book th at provides a framework within

which to understand pension law. It is balanced and comprehensive

in its treatment of the is sues. But, in addition, the book explai ns and

explores the detailed considerations that underlie each issue. An enor-

mous amount of work has been done to locate the relevant materials

and then to dissemi nate the information in an organi zed, readable

fashion.