McEwan Partners is a litigation boutique with a focus on complex corporate, commercial, and securities matters. Formed in the fall of 2017, the firm is headed by Ken McEwan K.C., Bob Cooper K.C., and Emily Kirkpatrick, three nationally and internationally recognized litigators. The firm’s lawyers share a dedication to exceptional advocacy, professionalism, rigourous legal analysis, and business-minded practicality. Just six months after its inception McEwan Partners was the recipient of Benchmark Canada’s Litigation Boutique of the Year award for 2018, an honour repeated in 2019 and 2021. Benchmark Litigation has also recognized McEwan Partners as 2020 and 2022 BC Firm of the Year and 2021 BC Litigation Firm of the Year, and our partners are recognized as Litigation Stars or Future Litigation Stars.
Although our litigation expertise is broad, the firm’s primary focus is on business disputes. Most of our lawyers have experience in full-service corporate commercial firms, working closely with business lawyers on complex securities and corporate litigation and arbitration. We strive to understand our clients’ businesses and to deliver practical results tailored to their interests.
Our firm’s lawyers include former judicial clerks and members of the American College of Trial Lawyers, the International Society of Barristers, and International Academy of Trial Lawyers. Our lawyers have delivered successful results for clients in trials and appeals across Canada, including significant victories at the Supreme Court of Canada. Our recent highlights including rankings among the top 50 trial lawyers in Canada, 2019 and 2022 Lawyer of the Year, and 2019 and 2020 Litigator of the Year.
In addition to all our lawyers acting as counsel, our senior lawyers also arbitrate and mediate disputes. Two are members of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and Ken McEwan, K.C. is an author of Commercial Arbitration in Canada and contributing author to A Practitioner’s Guide to Commercial Arbitration.
McEwan Partners’ Representative Experience:
Administrative and Public Law: Ken McEwan, K.C., Bob Cooper, K.C., and Emily Kirkpatrick have acted for and against a range of administrative bodies in regulatory tribunal hearings, judicial review proceedings, administrative appeals, and constitutional challenges, particularly in the professional regulatory sphere.
Class Actions: Our lawyers have expansive, precedent-setting experience in class actions across a wide range of disputes. Lexpert and Best Lawyers recognize Ken McEwan,
K.C. as a leader in the area of class actions, and Best Lawyers named Ken its class actions lawyer of the year in Vancouver for 2018. Ken, Bob Cooper, K.C. and Emily Kirkpatrick each do both plaintiff and defendant work.
Commercial: Commercial litigation is the core of our practice. In Este v. Esteghamat-Ardakani, Ken McEwan K.C. and Emily Kirkpatrick successfully upheld a ruling obtained at trial that the plaintiff ’s claim amounted to an abuse of process due to the taking of inconsistent positions. Both at trial and on appeal in Maxam Opportunities Fund Limited Partnership v. 729171 Alberta Inc., Bob Cooper, K.C. led a successful defence on behalf of a company against whom it was alleged that there existed an obligation to borrow funds from the plaintiff.
Competition/Antitrust: Ken McEwan, K.C. successfully led the defence of Fortress Paper Ltd. and Fortress Specialty Cellulose Inc. against a claim alleging knowing assistance in breach of trust, breach of confidence, and inducing breach of contract in Sateri (Shanghai) Management Ltd. v. Vinall.
Corporate and Shareholder: Our lawyers have represented shareholders and public and private corporations in a range of matters relating to corporate governance, oppression claims, derivative actions, and challenges to corporate control. In Rogers v. Rogers Communications Inc., Ken McEwan, K.C. and Emily Kirkpatrick successfully represented the authorized representative of the majority shareholder in a dispute as to the validity and effectiveness of a consent resolution to remove and replace five of the company’s board members. Benchmark recognized the case as a 2022 Impact Case. In Arkansas Teachers Retirement System v. Lions Gate Entertainment Corp., Ken and Emily successfully defeated a shareholder application to bring a derivative action against current and former directors and officers of Lions Gate.
Insolvency and Restructuring: Our lawyers have acted for debtors, creditors, and other stakeholders in both restructuring and collections matters.
Product Liability: Our lawyers have acted in significant product liability cases on behalf of Daimler Chrysler, Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company (3M), and Imperial Tobacco, among others. Ken McEwan, K.C. is consistently recognized in this area, having been described by Who’s Who Legal: Product Liability for 2018 as “incredibly skilled” and “a practitioner who consistently impresses clients with his encyclopedic knowledge.”
Real Estate: Our lawyers have acted for developers and owners in a range of property-related disputes. In The Owners, Strata Plan LMS 3905 v. Crystal Square Parking Corporation, Ken McEwan, K.C. and Emily Kirkpatrick successfully represented the respondent at the Supreme Court of Canada in a case addressing the test for pre-incorporation contracts and the rights and obligations arising for the covenants in those agreements, as they apply to strata corporations.
Ken, Bob Cooper, K.C., and Emily have similarly acted in cases concerning the interpretation of the Real Estate Development Marketing Act (Bison Properties Ltd. (Re)), the priority and charge schemes under the Land Title Act (Bison Properties Ltd. (Re) and Yi Teng Investment Inc. v. Keltic (Brighouse) Development Ltd.), the relief from forfeiture provisions in the Law and Equity Act, in the context of commercial leases (Hudson’s Bay Company ULC v. Pensionfund Investment Ltd.), and the wind-up provisions under the Strata Property Act (Owners, Strata Plan VR2122 v. Bradbury).
Securities: Our lawyers are recognized for their expertise in litigating securities-related disputes. Recently, Ken McEwan, K.C., and Emily Kirkpatrick successfully defended one of two shareholder groups against allegations by the incumbent board that they were unlawfully acting jointly or in concert with others in a take-over bid, among other allegations (DIRTT Environmental Solutions Ltd. (Re)) and represented the successful appellant in a case establishing the requirements for the BC Securities Commission to obtain and maintain freezing orders under the Securities Act (Party A v. BC (Securities Commission)). In Aurizon Mines Ltd. v. Northgate Minerals Corporation, Ken successfully upheld a standstill agreement and enjoined a take-over bid both at summary trial and on appeal. Extraordinarily, the time from the commencement of the action, through trial and appeal, and to the appeal judgment was 28 days.
Updated April 2024
Norton Rose Fulbright Canada LLP is a global law firm. The firm provides the world’s preeminent corporations and financial institutions with a full business law service. The firm has more than 3000 lawyers and other legal staff based in more than 50 cities across Europe, the United States, Canada, Latin America, Asia, Australia, the Middle East and Africa.
Litigation:
The firm’s global litigation and disputes lawyers advise many of the world’s largest corporations and financial institutions on complex, high-value and sensitive multi-jurisdictional disputes. With more than 50 offices across the globe, the firm has one of the largest disputes legal practices in the world, with significant experience resolving domestic and cross-border mandates, international arbitrations and investigations and enforcement for clients across all the key industry sectors, including financial institutions; energy, infrastructure and resources; transport; technology; life sciences and healthcare; and consumer markets.
The firm’s lawyers both prevent and resolve disputes by providing clients with practical, creative legal advice that focuses on their strategic and commercial objectives. The firm’s experience includes the full spectrum of dispute resolution and litigation mechanisms ranging from negotiation, mediation, conciliation and conflict resolution to vigorous courtroom strategy, multi-party and class action lawsuits and appellate proceedings. The firm have acted on some of the world’s highest profile domestic and multijurisdictional investigations, including high-profile regulatory inquiries, regulatory enforcement, criminal investigations and prosecutions, and related civil disputes and litigation. The firm is experienced in advising on risk and public relations issues in the context of legal disputes.
The firm have a unique offering of ‘on the ground’ strength, advising clients on disputes issues across emerging markets, including Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Latin America, together with deep experience in the mature markets of the United States, Europe, Australia and Canada. Members of the team offer fluent capabilities in more than 20 languages across the globe.
As a key component of the firm’s disputes practice, its global practice support team provides clients consistent and proven methodology for complying with document preservation and production requirements throughout the course of disputes, assisting in developing case strategies and priorities while managing and reducing costs for clients.
BLG is widely recognized as Canada’s foremost litigation law firm, with a national team of more than 400 advocates helping clients with everything from appellate advocacy to trade disputes.
When the stakes are highest, organizations from across Canada and around the world trust us to help solve their problems. From claims that interrupt day-to-day activities to bet-the-company litigation, we understand the issues that keep our clients up at night, using this knowledge as the foundation for responsive, strategic and practical advice. Complex, precedent-setting, novel cases in specialized areas of the law - particularly when they make it to the Supreme Court - are how we’ve built our reputation. We use this experience to advocate for the best outcomes for organizations of all sizes, from tech start-ups defending their IP to global automakers facing a class action. We use mediation, arbitration and eDiscovery technology, when appropriate, to increase efficiency and decrease cost. We are smart, resourceful, creative, driven, humble and always civil.
We are the external partner that feels like part of the in-house team. And clients never get just one of us -because behind every BLG advocate is the most powerful group of litigators and legal staff in Canada.
Kornfeld LLP | Kornfeld, Shapray & Partners, is a Vancouver - based boutique commercial and litigation firm that specializes in corporate and commercial work – transactional, litigation, arbitration, alternate dispute resolution and strategic advice.
The firm is known for dynamism, ingenuity and common sense, which, when matched by the wealth of the collective experience of our lawyers, results in timely, pragmatic solutions.
The firm’s clients range from entrepreneurs to major Canadian and US-based corporations. Our work frequently involves large, complex or high-profile disputes, and we routinely manage intricate, multi-party litigation and document-intensive cases.
Our lawyers have represented clients before all levels of court in British Columbia and Canada, as well as in Alberta, the Yukon, and Ontario.
Our disputes practice considers all available options in our goal to achieve a favourable resolution. As such, we are highly skilled in the art of negotiation and strategic positioning. Our expertise also extends to mediations and arbitrations.
The firm has come into existence from the merger of Shapray Cramer Fitterman Lamer LLP, formed in 1993 when Howard Shapray, KC, for many years the head of the litigation department of one of Vancouver’s leading firms, established an innovative and focused litigation boutique. Kornfeld LLP was formed in the same year by Neil Kornfeld, KC, with a focus on real estate development, acting for commercial and residential developers on the acquisition and redevelopment of noteworthy and unique sites in British Columbia. The two firms worked closely together, each developing sterling reputations for doing high quality, high stakes commercial work. For over three decades, lawyers at the two firms have provided expert advice and effective advocacy to B.C. entrepreneurs, developers, governments, financial institutions, and professional associations, as well as national and international entities.
Over time it became clear that the synergies and cultures of each firm accorded such that the strength in unity from a merger made perfect sense. The merger has increased the litigation department’s bench strength and capacity to handle large complex matters.
Shapray Cramer Fitterman Lamer LLP and Kornfeld LLP formally merged to become Kornfeld LLP | Kornfeld, Shapray & Partners effective Jan 1, 2022.
Key Areas of Expertise:
Updated April 2024