A new entry into Benchmark this edition, KRB has been steadily elevating its profile in the Montréal market for its offering of litigation services primarily focused on real estate and commercial disputes. “KRB has been very aggressive in the market,” observes a peer. “I think [firm founder] Chris Karambatsos is building himself an empire! He seems to be building himself quite the firm. That ‘eat-what-you-kill’ culture doesn’t seem to be a thing there, and they all seem like they’re under 50!” Another peer observes, “The litigators there have a lot of service flow from the real estate transactional work, and a lot of these cases that are maturing in 2023 were getting started in the days when KRB was more real estate-centric. Now they are dealing with issues like ‘You close on a real estate deal, and you want to back out of it? Well, it goes sideways…’ The dollar amounts they are dealing with used to be the ceiling, and now it’s more like the floor.” Speaking to the individual litigators,
Gabriel Di Genova and Matthew McLaughlin are the two most frequently identified by peers and clients. “I had a shareholder dispute with Gabriel – call him ‘Gab’ – this year, and he ultimately pleasant to deal with,” testifies a peer. A client confirms that McLaughlin “litigated a contract dispute on my behalf as plaintiff. It dealt with finance, due diligence, contracts for purchase and sale of property, corporate structures. Matthew was very detailed, experienced, organized and [used] common sense.”
