ADAIR GOLDBLATT BIEBER
Toronto boutique Adair Goldblatt Bieber illustrates is bench depth at the younger level with a healthy grouping of star players.
Julia Wilkes makes the leap from future star to litigation star in this edition. “Julia is a real star,” asserts a peer. “She brings brains and just the right demeanor for the cases she handles. She’s tough but still pleasant and fair, and she’s as responsible as anyone for carrying the excellence of that firm’s brand.”
Robert Stellick, who made his debut as a future star last year, continues to attract acclaim from peers. “He is emblematic of where more young litigators need to be going,” opines one. Stellick acted for an applicant in an urgent oppression-remedy case. Nathaniel Read-Ellis is considered one of the firm's young new leaders. A peer insists, ““I’ve known Nate since law school,” confirms one peer. “He is a solid litigator and very insightful. We refer each other cases. He is not one of these people who is blinded by ego, he is just all about, ‘How do we move this forward?’ He’s very professional and has maturity and civility beyond his years. He’s going to wind up with one of those ‘civility’ awards.”
BABIN BESSNER SPRY
Newly nominated all-purpose commercial litigator Brendan Monahan made partner at Babin Bessner Spry in 2025 and is already appearing as lead litigation counsel on several matters. Monahan is part of a firm team purusing a high-profile action concerning a contractor’s loan to finance the construction of an 85-story mixed-use tower presently under construction in downtown Toronto known as “The One.”
CRAWLEY MACKEWN BRUSH
At Crawley MacKewn Brush, Michael Byers has said to be representative of the depth of younger talent at the Toronto securities boutique. Byers was part of a team acting as counsel for the plaintiff in a certified class action seeking damages relating to the collapse of a high-risk ETF that attempted to earn income from the purchase and sale of volatility futures.
Dana Carson is seeing a swift ascent in profile in securities regaulatory matters. A client calls Carson “a tireless and fearless advocate. She brings a sophisticated approach to commercial litigation and is a subject matter expert.”
FARRIS
At Vancouver's Farris, Kevin Smith has emerged as one of the firm's most prominent players. He attending to a diverse range of own novel matters, with recent examples illustrate the firm’s “sweet spot” of high-end family disputes that intersect with business-interest elements. Yun Li-Reilly, whose multi-pronged practice further typifies the commercial/family law intersection Farris, is being increasingly sought out for, has also gained considerable traction. “I think she’s quite smart and has a lot of ‘upside’ to take that practice as far as she wants,” asserts a peer.
Erica Miller, who made partner in 2022, attends to a broad range of disputes, including corporate/commercial litigation, construction disputes, administrative and regulatory matters, estate and trust disputes, international trade matters and general civil litigation. She has represented parties in a variety of matters before all levels of court in BC, as well as before various administrative tribunals, including the Canadian International Trade Tribunal, BC Utilities Commission, and Hospital Appeal Board.
FILLMORE RILEY
Aaron Challis with Winnipeg's Fillmore Riley attends to a diverse bucket of matters that encompasses commercial and insurance litigation. Within the past year, Challis has appeared as lead counsel in on several such matters, succeeding on his clients' behalf in both.
GUILD YULE
Shauna Gersbach in the Vancouver office of Guild Yule is largely dedicated to the firm specialty of insurance. She also has an employment-related practice, with much of her work being on behalf of religious entities.
Dean Winterton led a case in which he was retained to represent The Lawyers Indemnity Fund (BC), the plaintiff in an application to strike the plaintiff’s claim brought by Air Canada. The case concerns a passenger who suffered an in-flight injury sustained after being struck by a service cart.
HUNTER LITIGATION CHAMBERS
Vancouver boutique Hunter Litigation Chambers boasts an ample roster of young talent.
Aubin Calvert attends to a practice largely dedicated to constitutional and administrative law, private international law, and appeals work. Calvert works alongside more senior team members on some of the firm's most recent wins, including a successful 2024 representation of an aviation company in a jurisdictional challenge.
Monique Evans attends to a practice that touches on elements of commercial and administrative law. She also maintains a niche in transportation litigation, with a particular focus on railway and container trucking files.
Nicole Gilewicz practices administrative and criminal work. She also co-heads a firm team dedicated to forestry work, which peers acknowledge as the top in British Columbia.
Rebecca Robb maintains a growing practice that is largely dedicated to "criminal work with a civil adjacent." Robb was part of a firm team brought on for a crypto trading platform that was having its accounts sequentially frozen and thus was unable to conduct any trades. Julia Roos practices civil and commercial litigation, class actions and administrative law. Roos is part of a firm team acting for a multi-national vitamins, minerals and supplements brand in a certified Canada-wide class proceeding alleging that the client sells a natural health product that is not as advertised, in breach of consumer protection and competition laws.
JFK
At Indigenous law specialty shop JFK, Aria Laskin acts as part of a firm team on several matters for Indigenous peoples. She also provides lead counsel for two defendants in a high-profile defamation lawsuit brought by an author for allegedly defamatory tweets. Claire Truesdale attends to a practice focusing on the resolution mechanism of “specific claims” against the Crown. “Claire has two massive ones of these on the go right now,” declares a peer. “She is also one of the firm’s more frequent flyers at the Supreme Court, and also does a lot of water litigation.”
JSS BARRISTERS
Cassandra Sutter with Calgary boutique JSS Barristers attends to a varied practice that encompasses elements of energy-related commercial work as well as employment work. This latter practice includes work for insurers of employers, and many of her employment files have wound up at the Alberta Court of Appeal.
LANGLOIS
Quebec's top regional firm Langlois is a hotbed for some of the province's top up-and-comers.
Annie Bourgeois is one of several employment lawyers at the firm. Her client base includes Montréal institution McGill University, who she defended in a suit filed by a student contesting her exclusion from the school's medical program.
Antoine Brylowski attends to a practice largely dedicated to banking work. Brylowski was recently retained to represent and assist the National Bank of Canada in retrieving over $3 million that some of the defendants allegedly defrauded by an illegitimate use of a client’s bank account of the Bank. Gabriel Querry maintains a unique practice that straddles civil securities work and white-collar criminal defense work. Many of these files concern fraud claims involving novel financial instruments, including crypto.
LAVERY
Myriam Brixi is one of the youngest and most prominent leaders in the litigation capacity at Quebec regional firm Lavery. Acclaimed by peers and clients alike, Brixi maintains a specialty in class actions, an area for which she has developed a reputation for both her skills and versatility. "Myriam takes on a lot of class actions," testifies a peer, "including some funny ones, such as one dealing with whether olives were 'the right color.'"
LAWSON LUNDELL
Camille Chisholm of the Vancouver office of Lawson Lundell has made a name for herself for a multi-pronged practice composed of commercial litigation and arbitration work. Chisholm was lead counsel for an investment group on a recent shareholder oppression proxy dispute.
LAX O'SULLIVAN LISUS GOTTLIEB
Toronto boutique Lax O'Sullivan demonstrates a level of gold-standard recruits at the "next-generation" level, with several nominees.
Danielle Glatt joined from a rival Toronto boutique within the past year. Peers are unanimous in the consensus that Glatt's hire was a "particularly good get for Lax."
Zain Naqi is also developing his profile. “He’s really ‘the brains’ on a lot of these files,” opines one peer. “He’s the reason the lead trial lawyers can do what they do.” Another confirms, “Zain does a lot of the Rogers work with Crawford, and he also does a lot of the public law work. It’s ridiculous, if you search names of people who’ve done commercial cases in the Court of Appeal, he’s on so many of them!”
Bradley Vermeersch has been tipped as one of Lax O'Sullivan's top rising stars for several years running. Vermeersch was part of a firm team that provided litigation counsel to the Ottawa Light Rail Transit Constructors, a joint venture of some of Canada’s best-known construction entities, who built a major Light Rail Transit project in Ottawa that has been bedevilled by delays and other issues.
LCM
Montréal boutique LCM continues to brim with young talent, with several members of its bench being recognized as such for several years running.
Julien Archambault is involved in a broad array of commercial disputes. In one such file, he is part of a firm team acting for Hydro-Quebec in its defense of a $24 million lawsuit regarding the construction of a substation in an urban and densely populated area. Nicolas Roche has developed a profile for his acuity with civil and commercial litigation. As with several others at the firm, he also has a demonstrated fluency with inunctions, seizures and enforcement of foreign judgments. Marie-Noël Rochon is known primarily for securities and corporate-governance matters, for heavily regulated clients who are vulnerable to litigation not only by plaintiffs but also regulators.
PALIARE ROLAND ROSENBERG ROTHSTEIN
At Toronto litigation shop Paliare Roland, Glynnis Hawe is singled out by a number of contemporaries. One ventures, “You’re going to hear more about her, she is a six-year lawyer, and a new partner, who is already getting a lot of traction.”
Lindsay Scott in particular has developed a profile as one of the most prominent young players dedicated to the employment specialty at Paliare Roland. “Lindsay has already done great and is very active in employment law,” extols a peer, “and she’s young enough that she’s got plenty of headroom to work with to build it out further.”
POULUS ENSOM SMITH
Recently formed Vancouver boutique Poulus Ensom Smith has attracted a notable level of young talent with its few short years of existence. A name partner and founder,
Joseph Ensom has been steadily gaining traction for his all-purpose commercial practice. A peer testifies, "We had a file recently where we needed another counsel, so we brought in Joe Ensom, who seems just perfect in this sweet spot.”
Kelly Ann Maw, a recent "emerging talent" winner at the Benchmark Canada awards, is a peer and client favorite who is generating a proncounced level of acclaim in Vancouver for her commercial litigation practice. A recent case found Maw acting for Real Estate Webmasters in litigation concerning a customized web platform.
Kyle Thompson, an "emerging talent" winner at the 2025 Benchmark Canada awards, is developing a profile for his commercial and securities practice. Thompson acts on a file representing the defendant in an action brought by the BC Securities Commission, alleging that the defendants carried out three different pump-and-dump schemes over four years that artificially inflated the price of three BC companies.
SB LLP
Tanner Kovacs with Edmonton's SB LLP attends to a broad commercial litigation practice, including collections, security enforcement, bankruptcy and insolvency matters, insurance matters, leasing disputes, environmental disputes, corporate disputes, and condominium disputes.
SINGLETON URQUHART REYNOLDS VOGEL
Jesse Gardner and James Little of Singleton Urquhart Reynolds Vogel both appear alongside either of the firm's two name partners in most of the firm’s highest-stakes construction and infrastructure mandates. “I’m actually starting to see more of them,” declares one Toronto peer in the infrastructure field on Gardner's and Little's behalf. “They have learned from the best and are now running with it. They do a lot of his own business development and take active roles on these files, which has really paid off.” Little has also said to have been "grinding it out all year on a very contentious $100 million arbitration concerning a particular popular transit line." A relatively new partner,
Cheryl Labiris has quickly developed ardent acclaim. “Cheryl is able to assess complex issues and claims,” states a client. “She takes the time to review the documentation to understand all the details. She can meet tight timelines and make herself available for last-minute discussions. Cheryl is highly respected within the team and her input is always considered when determining a strategy.”
Evan Rankin is unique in that he is one of the firm's few partners to focus on commercial litigation rather than the construction specialty that has become the firm's calling card. Rankin acts for claimants on an action concerning an indigenous treaty, which had been allegedly breached by the government.
