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.” Another confides, “If a lawyer from Paliare is on a case, you can almost feel the advantage they have in court,” concedes one peer. “Judges seem to trust them implicitly, and they earn praise even when they lose.” Speaking to that glowing esteem, it is perhaps not surprising that a Paliare alumnus, Robert Centa, was himself appointed a judge over the past year. “Rob was destined to go to the bench,” speculates a peer. “That speaks to the culture at Paliare, and the firm is in the fortunate position of having plenty of other great litigators to absorb his departure.” Exemplifying this assertion, newly listed future star Emily Lawrence has stepped forward to assume Centa’s previous role as managing partner. A peer declares, “Emily is doing a fabulous job of shepherding the resources there.”
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. Perennial favorite
Megan Shortreed continues to attract accolades for her diverse practice that covers commercial, employment litigation, administrative law and professional liability. 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.”
