This non-profit organization's mission is to be a voice and a resource for civil defence lawyers providing a national perspective, quality defence-specific education and networking opportunities.
CDL offers defence lawyers access to defence-oriented Continuing Legal Education (CLE).
It presents in-person programmes in Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Toronto, Ottawa, Halifax and Moncton.
Canadian Defence Lawyers is a member organization within Defense Research Institute (DRI – The Voice of the Defense Bar), a 22,000-strong group of insurance and corporate litigation lawyers based in Chicago, Illinois.
The Lee Samis Canadian Defence Lawyers Award for distinguished service, named for the founding president of CDL, was created to recognize exceptional contributions and/or achievements by members of CDL to the legal profession in general, to jurisprudence in Canada on the law of insurance.