BRITISH COLUMBIA
Borden Ladner Gervais’ Vancouver office is home to litigators in various capacities. “It’s a very large litigation group with all of these sub-groups,” offers a peer. This team is particularly noted for those attending to arbitration, environmental and land-use, construction and class-action cases. “It’s especially remarkable how much international arbitration work they do,” observes one direct peer. “Robert Deane particularly – he’s all over the place. He’s such great counsel that so many clients want him involved, so he is actually doing more than just arbitration these days, getting pulled in all kinds of directions, but he seems to be able to handle it all. Craig Chiasson is [BLG’s] primary arbitration counsel now. Craig is also sitting as an arbitrator – and getting more appointments than I am getting now, which is annoying!”
Michelle Maniago has emerged as a leader in the class action arena. “Michele is on a lot of these cases,” confirms a peer. “She has a great head on her shoulders for managing these files and carrying them.”
Maniago acts for HSBC in a proposed class proceeding relating to alleged closet indexing in the management of a mutual fund.
Dionysios Rossiheads the firm’s transportation and logistics focus group, maintaining a vibrant practice in this space. “Dino is on for the US ship owner in a case dealing with an environmental maritime claim oil spill,” confirms a peer. One peer confirms, “I have a case on the go with [construction partner]
Michael Skene, and he’s been very effective on that file.” Another contemporary states, “BLG has a strong employment group, and [regional managing partner]
Steve Winder is a name that you see on defense side often. He’s great!”
ONTARIO
Borden Ladner Gervais’ Ontario presence is fortified by offices in Toronto and Ottawa, both stocked with versatile litigators attending to various specialties. These locations are particularly revered for the diversity of practices, covering health and medical, insurance and public law – areas in which the firm has been particularly dominant – as well as both domestic and international arbitration, construction, commercial litigation and securities.
The Toronto office has recently seen an elevation in stature in the securities space. “The entire BLG securities team is amazing,” enthuses one securities-related peer. “Maureen Doherty, we would all consider her a top-drawer securities lawyer. David DiPaolo is excellent lawyer – the cross examinations he did in the Cormark case were just excellent, tight and effective. I think that firm is doing extremely well, it’s really gold standard now, with a lot of cool initiatives.” The Cormark case referenced by this peer was a high-profile win
in a thorny matter in which the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) alleged that Cormark and various other individual and group defendants engaged in illegal distribution of securities, failed to act in good faith and conducted themselves contrary to the public interest regarding certain transactions initiated by the defendants facilitating the 2017 exchange listing of cannabis entity Canopy Growth Corporation. The OSC claimed this series of transactions constituted an illegal distribution of Canopy shares without the required prospectus. Another peer insists, “Crypto is [a] big [trend in the securities space,] and I want to give a shout-out to
Caitlin Sainsbury, who has had a bit of a saga with this.”
Nadia Effendi is also lauded for “fierce dedication to advocacy in the public law space.” Effendi “came up with [celebrated appellate star and Borden Ladner counsel] Guy Pratte and has since taken on her own cases with aplomb.” The Toronto office is also home to several practitioners within the firm’s blue-ribbon health law practice, with
Cynthia Clarke being a noted standout. “Cindy Clarke is on for hospitals, and she’s wonderful with that,” testifies a peer. Clarke
is counsel for Purdue Canada in multiple national class actions and purported class actions related to the sale and distribution of opioids in Canada.
ALBERTA
Borden Ladner Gervais’ Calgary office is particularly noted for its construction practice, largely focused on the energy industry. “In construction, we see BLG a lot, particularly on the higher-end arbitrations,” notes a peer. The construction group is led by Patricia “Trish” Morrison, who is acknowledged as a “leading light.”
Andrew Pozzobon has emerged as one of the most visible commercial litigators in the Calgary office. “Andrew is someone we’ve really come across a lot lately,” observes a peer. “He’s on a lot of energy-related contractual disputes.” Pozzobon acts for acts for French pipeline technology entity ITP SA, which was sued for alleged breach of contract and negligence against a number of parties related to a pipeline failure in Northern Alberta. The pipeline failure resulted in approximately five million liters of bitumen being released into the environment. The value of this matter is over C$700 million. Pozzobon also, along with
Karen Salmon, has been engaged by oil and gas exploration company Shoal Point Energy concerning a paused government license that prevented the client from being able to develop its resources.
Jonathan Liteplo is acting for AltaLink in connection with its 2026-2027 GTA seeking approvals of revenue requirements of approximately C$950 million in each of the two years and related approval of transmission tariffs and deferral accounts. The Application was filed with the Alberta Utilities Commission in Q2 2025 and is being addressed through the Commission’s regulatory approval process, with a decision expected in early 2026.
QUÉBEC
Borden Ladner Gervais’ Montréal office is home to a team dedicated to work that has been recognized as some of the firm’s key calling cards, such as construction, insurance and labor and employment. The latter practice is particularly deep in Montréal. Justine Laurier is the regional manager for this practice and has been particularly visible as one of its top advocates.
Karine Chênevert continues to garner acclaim for her practice that balances a diverse array of class-action matters. Chênevert represents Montréal institution McGill University, which is the subject of a class action brought by two former students of the university seeking damages over the student insurance opt-out system. The Quebec Superior Court certified the action, and the Court of Appeal granted leave to appeal of the authorization judgment in November 2025. Stephane Pitre is cheered by a client for “delivering precious strategic advice” and being “the best sounding board in Montreal in my view.”
