ONTARIO
Miller Thomson stands out in Ontario for the diversity of its bench, its clients and its work, which spans a greater variety than that of many other firms, particularly those that are Toronto-centric. “Miller Thomson has an unusual model,” observes a local peer. “They are one of the biggest firms in Canada and cover almost every province. They have grown aggressively but have done so in a smart way. They went after a different market, a broader variety and a different strata of clients, in which they were able to undercut other firms on fees and actually land a good number of quality files this way. They do work that other firms don’t do, like insurance defense and family law.” One satisfied client addresses Miller Thomson as, “A terrific business law shop that is building significant bench strength in various areas. They are professional, and the lawyers we dealt with understand First Nations issues very well.” The firm is one of the few national entities whose strategic expansion has focused on developing bench strength in areas of Ontario such as London and the Kitchener/Waterloo region, to the point where its concentration of litigators there is as dense as it is in Toronto. In Kitchener/Waterloo, Rohit Kumar attends to a varied commercial practice. Also occasionally operating from the Kitchener/Waterloo office but primarily in Toronto, Adam Stephens is namechecked by a peer as a “very good and able lawyer, particularly in shareholders’ rights cases.” Stephens also acts as the chair of the firm’s litigation group nationally. Also in Toronto, Kelly Charlebois acts almost exclusively on behalf of high-net-worth individuals in her trust-and-estates litigation, and area in which Miller Thomson maintains almost national-level niche. All-purpose senior commercial litigator and Bay Street mainstay Paul Morrison – a venerated alumnus of McCarthy Tétrault – continues to stay active and visible. “Since Paul has joined Miller Thomson, I’ve never seen him so content,” observes a peer. “He’s especially great with class actions, he loves that work.” On the opposite end of the generational spectrum, Toronto future star Eric Sherkin is counsel to 30 individual plaintiffs, all of whom were pre-construction purchasers of condominium or freehold townhouse units in a new real estate development. The developer sold the project to another developer who refused to assume the existing purchase agreements and re-sold the units to new buyers at much higher prices than the plaintiffs had paid. The plaintiffs sought a certificate of pending litigation over the property pending the outcome of the trial. Sherkin attends to a practice that balances commercial litigation with insolvency, defamation and professional negligence work.
QUÉBEC
The firm’s Montréal team is regarded by peers as “fighters, who are not complacent. They are fighters in the right way, and I respect that a lot.” In particular, Yves Robillard is considered by peers to be “difficult but talented, a true generalist as well. He takes on all manner of stuff. Yves has street smarts, experience and knows what it’s like to be in a courtroom. He deserves more recognition. He works a lot with Fadi Amine, who does a lot of class actions – Fadi was involved in the Lac Mégantic class action!” Amine representedPriceline.com and Kayak Software, who are being sued, along with others, for supposed violation of the Québec Consumer Protection Act. The case is now certified. Amine also represents Ticketnetwork, along with other defendants, who were being sued in the context of a consumer class action, for not having immediately refunded tickets to consumers who had their events cancelled, postponed or rescheduled due to COVID-19 pandemic related closures and lockdowns. While several other defendants and their respective counsel opted to settle, in April 2022, Amine took a bolder stance and was able to convince the court that the case should be discontinued against his clients even before certification. Stephan Trihey, who joined the firm from the respected-but-since-imploded Heenan Blaikie, is viewed by peers as a trial lawyer first and foremost. A peer quips, “When he was considering coming to Miller Thomson, a colleague there said, ‘Hire him! I don’t ever want to go against him again!’” Trihey concentrates on construction, real estate and trust and estates work. Trihey is representing a majority shareholder, director and officer and several operating and holding companies in a multifaceted and fiercely contested commercial and shareholder dispute before the Court of Appeal in the area and real-estate ventures and property developments projects. In October 2022, the Court of Appeal rendered a unanimous judgment in favor of the client. Trihey also represents Lundberg as defense counsel in a multimillion-dollar damage claim instituted by Fortress and its insurers in compensation for business interruption losses and material damages resulting from a severe explosion that occurred in a pulp-and-paper plant located in the city of Thurso, Québec within the tertiary air registers of a recovery boiler. During the depositions of the Fortress witnesses, multiple objections were raised by their counsel based on litigation and client-solicitor privilege to Trihey’s request to obtain full access to all the internal investigation inquiry documents generated by Fortress in respect of the causes of the explosion. By way of an interlocutory judgment rendered in February 2022, the Superior Court of Québec, concluded that the privileges asserted by Fortress to protect the confidentiality of its internal investigation findings did not apply.
ALBERTA
Miller Thomson’s Alberta footprint further exemplifies how it has set itself apart, devoting equal resources to both its Calgary and Edmonton offices. “They are one of the only firms in Alberta that is actually an ‘Alberta firm,’ as opposed to being a ‘Calgary firm,’” declares a local contemporary. In the latter office, Scott Hammel is a peer favorite. “Scott was brought in on a dispute I was on one time,” testifies a Toronto-based partner, “and I didn’t know him before but I was very impressed upon witnessing him at work. I found him to be a very strong construction lawyer.” Hammel also focuses on insurance, professional liability and general commercial work. Based in Edmonton, Debra Curcio Lister attends to a practice that balances commercial litigation, trust and estates work, and family law. “Miller Thomson is one of the only major firms in Alberta to really get involved in family law to any real extent,” states a peer. “Most of the other firms don’t touch that work.”
BRITISH COLUMBIA
Miller Thomson’s Vancouver office boasts a younger crop of star litigators, which peers view favorably as “a sign of reinvigoration and growth.” One such example, Kelsey Sherriff, is noted as “someone who should be on your radar. She was involved in the opioid litigation, and I was impressed with her skills.” Sherriff is a commercial litigator with a niche focus on regulatory health law work. Another, Bryan Hicks (a recent recruit from Blake Cassels & Graydon), is viewed as “a real up-and-comer” in the commercial and securities fields. Hicks has experience representing clients before the British Columbia Securities Commission as well as in court. Sarah Hansen, a commercial litigator who also has significant experience with matters involving First Nations, is acting for an Indigenous tribe in the judicial review of a decision by the BC Ministry of Mines to issue a permit amendment to the Canadian National Railway, a Crown corporation, allowing it to continue to mine for ballast at a location near an Aboriginal fishery, which, the client argued, would potentially suffer grave environmental and fish count damage. The client submitted an action for judicial review and, in a case heard in the BC Supreme Court in 2021, a decision was rendered finding that the Crown failed to consult adequately and meaningfully with the client, returning the matter back to the decision-maker for an attempt at a proper consultation.