Paliare Roland Rosenberg Rothstein earns a pride of place amongst Toronto firms for its litigation pedigree. Peers (throughout Toronto and beyond) are nearly unanimous in their praise and appreciation of its practitioners. One peer testifies, “Paliare is on the other side of a pretty big case from us, which is pretty typical. That firm is always in the running on some of the bigger and more difficult cases.” One peer – who is also a source of referral work – states, “Paliare Roland lawyers are professional, extremely knowledgeable, and results oriented. I appreciate that as a referring lawyer and also as co-counsel when we are working on files together.” Another contemporary sings the team’s praises for being “exceptional colleagues at the bar and also just very good people, which is not always the case. Sometimes in these matters people can be excellent advocates but also have elbows up, but that’s not the case with the Paliare group. They are a lot like [fellow revered Toronto litigation boutique] Stockwoods in that way – although both firms do different type of work, they are both thoroughly a class act.” It is also noted that “Paliare has some young people who are just awesome, really strong at their vintage.”
While the firm attends to a varied basket of work, the firm occupies a near-dominant position in employment law space, with almost all of its practitioners having at least some experience with these types of cases. “Considering that they are not exclusive to this practice like an employment law boutique, Paliare is one of the most uniquely positioned to handle that work, and they do it quite often.” Lindsay Scott, historically a commercial litigator, has been one of the firm’s most visible employment litigators of late. “There was quite a bit of this during the pandemic, as you can imagine,” voices a peer. “Mandatory vaccinations, accommodations, etc., and Paliare, and Lindsay in particular, is developing quite a niche in the C suite. Lindsay has also done a lot of workplace investigations.” Scott, Ken Rosenberg, Odette Soriano and Jeff Larry composed a team that acts as class counsel in a certified class proceeding in which they recently obtained judgment in favor of the class. The class members are holders of registered accounts at BMO Nesbitt Burns and BMO InvestorLine who allege that, between 2001 and 2011, those companies charged undisclosed fees on foreign exchange transactions in their registered accounts. The Court ordered disgorgement of the profits the defendants generated on the approximately $102.9 million it obtained in breach of trust and breach of fiduciary duty, with the quantum to be determined at a subsequent hearing. Soriano has a class-actions focus, with an additional niche in defamation. Larry meanwhile has a practice that emphasizes real estate litigation, with much of this touching on estates litigation. “They get a lot of good briefs in this area lately, and Jeff Larry is attracting these because of his commercial background,” offers a peer. A client concurs, “Jeff Larry is an excellent lawyer with good commercial sense and strong legal knowledge.” Perennial favorite Megan Shortreed continues to attract accolades for her diverse practice that covers commercial, employment litigation, administrative law and professional liability. A client remarks, “Megan is an excellent lawyer and leader at her firm. She has a positive attitude and is extremely bright and hard working.” One peer observes, “There has been a lot of arbitration work because of the lack of access to the courts, and [senior statesman] Chris Paliare and [future star] Ren Buchholz are doing a lot of this work. They are going up against some of the top firms in Toronto on some huge files.”
