Paul Aterman

About

Paul Aterman offers consulting and training services to tribunals, regulators and government agencies that want to improve access to justice for the people they serve.

He has over 35 years of experience as an adjudicator and manager of administrative tribunals in the fields of social security benefits, immigration and refugee matters, human rights, and workers' compensation. Paul has held senior positions as Chair of Canada’s Social Security Tribunal, Deputy Chair at the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Vice-Chair of the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario, as well as working at Canada’s Privy Council Office. He currently sits as an adjudicator on Ontario’s Law Society Tribunal.

Paul has led the transformation of tribunals by simplifying legal processes, introducing user-centred design and the use of plain language in all communications with tribunal users. He focuses on measurable results that make administrative justice systems simple, quick and fair – so that they work for the people who need to use them.

In addition to consulting and training services, Paul can also help tribunals and regulators solve governance challenges, internal disputes and public complaints about their services.

Paul holds a Bachelor of Arts from Oxford University and a Juris Doctor from the University of Toronto. He was called to the Ontario Bar in 1988 and remains a member of the Law Society of Ontario. He volunteers as the Vice Chair of the Board of Directors of the Center for Plain Language, and as a member of the Board of Directors of the International Plain Language Federation.

Paul’s CV is available upon request.

Simpler process, better access to justice

Paul has led significant process simplification and access to justice initiatives at the Immigration and Refugee Board and Social Security Tribunal of Canada. Applying principles of user-centred design, he can help you streamline processes and enable unrepresented and underrepresented parties to participate effectively.

Find out how to:

• Identify and eliminate process obstacles
• Engage users and stakeholders to improve process
• Introduce navigator services for users
• Benchmark, measure and report on results

Plain language

Paul is active in the plain language community. As a board member of the Center for Plain Language and the International Plain Language Federation, he is committed to promoting plain language, especially in legal writing.

He offers training that is customized to the needs of individual tribunals, regulators and agencies. His training gives participants hands-on experience applying plain language principles, and feedback in real time.

Find out how to use plain language to:

• Write reasons for decision
• Draft rules of procedure, policies and practice notices
• Design forms, letters and websites to communicate effectively with users.

Governance and dispute resolution

Paul has over 30 years of experience managing adjudicators and support staff. He has expertise in organisational design and governance of tribunals, managing internal conflicts and transparent and fair resolution of public complaints about adjudicators and staff.

Find out how to:

• Redesign your organisation to make it productive and harmonious
• Resolve internal conflict
• Address public complaints transparently, ethically and effectively