Ontario

Firm overview

Lax O’Sullivan Lisus Gottlieb (LOLG) is Canada’s preeminent business litigation firm. LOLG supplies only one thing: litigation solutions to the most difficult commercial problems. Its trial and appellate lawyers have unparalleled experience in bet-the-company litigation across the country.

LOLG is regularly engaged as trial and appellate co-counsel by peer law firms, and as court officers in large and sensitive litigation mandates. The firm practice business litigation including class actions, insolvency, securities, insurance, trusts, infrastructure, breach of contract, franchise and select public law matters in which substantial commercial interests are at stake. 

LOLG has one of Canada’s leading restructuring & insolvency practices. The firm’s insolvency counsel are ranked among the top nationally and have material roles in Canada’s largest and most complex insolvency proceedings and restructurings.  LOLG also has a dedicated insurance litigation practice. The firm is engaged as leading counsel advising policyholder clients on insurance claims and litigating coverage disputes against major insurers.

LOLG’s practitioners are leaders at the bar, holding positions on the Chief Justice of Ontario’s Advisory Committee on Professionalism and the Supreme Court Advocacy Institute, and fellowships in elite trial organizations. Its associates are of the highest caliber, recruited primarily from judicial clerkships at the Supreme Court of Canada, provincial Courts of Appeal, and the Commercial List of the Superior Court of Justice. LOLG’s partners are among the most consistently recommended counsel in Canada and represent clients in Canada, the United States, and from overseas. 

Firm overview

Thornton Grout Finnigan LLP (“TGF”) focuses its practice in two areas: (i) commercial litigation; and (ii) insolvency and restructuring. Representative mandates reflect the breadth and depth of the team, and the creativity involved in resolving some of the most complex legal issues in Canada.

TGF is a mix of senior restructuring and litigation lawyers with a full range of experience gained by years of practice, both inside and outside full-service law firms, combined with talented and energetic younger lawyers who thrive in the entrepreneurial environment of a specialty firm.

Representative Mandates:

• Counsel to the first publicly-funded university in Canada to be restructured pursuant to an insolvency statute 
• Counsel to PricewaterhouseCoopers Inc. as Receiver and Manager of Bridging Financial Inc. and its Funds
• Litigation counsel to the constructors of the Eglinton Crosstown LRT, an $8+ billion project, one of the largest infrastructure projects in Canada’s history
• Counsel for Grant Thornton Limited as Trustee in bankruptcy of AP Private Equity Limited and Aiden Pleterski, a 23-year-old self-proclaimed crypto king who was, along with his company, adjudged bankrupt following the obtaining of a Mareva Order.
• Counsel to BDO Canada Limited as court-appointed monitor in the CCAA restructuring of Eve & Co Incorporated, Natural Medco Ltd., and Eve & Co International Holdings Ltd.
• Lawyers for FTI Consulting Canada Inc. as court-appointed monitor in the CCAA proceedings of the Just Energy Group
• Counsel to A. Farbers & Partners Inc. as court-appointed receiver of Pure Global Cannabis Inc. and its related entities
• Counsel to Ernst & Young Inc, as court-appointed Monitor of the Country Fresh Foods Group
• Counsel to Ernst & Young Inc., as court-appointed Monitor in the restructuring of the Carillion Group in Canada
• Counsel to debtor company AgMedica and its subsidiaries, the first licensed cannabis producer to file for CCAA protection in Ontario
• Counsel to Alvarez & Marsal Canada Inc., as court-appointed Monitor of Lydian International Inc. and its subsidiaries, including as foreign representative for recognition proceedings in Jersey, Channel Islands
• Counsel to Ernst & Young Inc., as Monitor of JTI Macdonald Corp. in its CCAA proceeding
• Court appointed litigation counsel to the Litigation Trustee of Cash Store Financial in pursuing nine figure damage claims against Cash Store’s professional advisors
• Counsel to Grant Thornton Limited as court appointed Receiver of the Comsale Group of Companies in a Canadian receivership proceeding with foreign recognition in the US and Malaysia
• Counsel to the Province of British Columbia in the CCAA proceedings of Purdue Pharma L.P.
• Counsel to BDO Canada Limited as court appointed Receiver of Unique Broadband Systems Ltd. in Canadian receivership and Chapter 11 foreign recognition proceedings
• Represented the court-appointed Monitor in a CCAA and Chapter 11 proceeding of Pacific Exploration and Production Corporation in the first Canada / US / Columbia cross-border insolvency proceeding, restructuring $5 billion in creditors’ claims
• Counsel to the court-appointed Monitor in the dual plenary proceedings under Chapter 11 and the CCAA of Performance Sports Group Ltd. and its affiliates, including a US$575 million sale transaction
• Canadian counsel to Square Two Financial Corporation and 17 affiliates in a CCAA and Chapter 11 restructuring of US$400 million of debt involving a stock sale in Canada and an asset sale in the US
• Canadian insolvency counsel to the Trustees of Nortel Networks UK Pension Plan and the UK Pension Protection Fund – the largest single creditor in the global insolvency proceedings of the Nortel Networks group of companies, allocating US$7.3 billion in sale proceeds among 40 insolvency estates in 19 countries
• Retained to resolve what had been described by the judiciary as “the longest running legal saga in Canadian history” and successfully ended the litigation through a creative application of the restructuring provisions of the CCAA
• Counsel to the court-appointed Monitor in the restructuring of the Canadian Abitibi- Bowater entities
• Counsel to Fraser Papers Inc. and its Canadian and US affliates in a restructuring pursuant to the CCAA and Chapter 11 Restructuring counsel to Hollinger Inc. in the windup of Hollinger and its subsidiaries
• Litigation counsel to the court-appointed Chief Restructuring Officer and Litigation Trustee of Hollinger Inc.
• Counsel to the court-appointed Monitor in the restructuring of Stelco
• Represented GE Capital Aviation Services, Inc., a principal stakeholder and the largest creditor in the CCAA restructuring proceedings of Air Canada, Canada’s largest airline
• Counsel for the court-appointed Receiver of the Portus group of companies, recovering over 95% of the more than $800 million of investors’ money
• Counsel to the Agent and lead lender in a syndicate of lenders to Allen-Vanguard Corporation, a publicly traded international military defence corporation, during its restructuring pursuant to the CCAA and its recapitalisation as a private entity
• Counsel to the Insolvency Institute of Canada as intervener on an appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada in Re Indalex
• Counsel to a syndicate of European lenders in connection with a $75M breach of contract claim against a major North American air carrier
• Counsel to a committee of contesting bondholders in the proposed privatisation of BCE Inc., involving the world’s largest leveraged buyout with an enterprise value of $52 billion, including an appeal at the Supreme Court of Canada
• Represented the former principal of Lakeport Brewing Corp. in the successful defence of a $50 million officer and director liability case
• Represented the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS) before a major municipal judicial inquiry
• Counsel to the court-appointed Receiver in the Norshield hedge fund scandal involving the tracing and attempted recovery of over $400 million in investor funds in several jurisdictions
• Counsel to United States Steel Corporation as the DIP lender and largest creditor in the CCAA proceedings of US Steel Canada Inc.
• Counsel to a significant landlord in various retail restructuring proceedings including Target, Sears Canada Inc. and BCBG
  
  

Updated April 2024

Firm overview

Roy O’Connor LLP is widely considered one of Canada’s leading litigation boutiques offering sophisticated advocacy and counsel in the areas of complex corporate commercial litigation, class actions, securities litigation and general civil litigation. Our firm and lawyers are consistently recognized as outstanding lawyers who produce top results for our clients.

Roy O’Connor LLP acts as both plaintiff and defense counsel and acts for many leading public and private corporations, governmental bodies, non-governmental organizations and private individuals in matters that have been high profile or, at other times, very confidential. Roy O’Connor LLP’s lawyers have succeeded in many nationally recognized, precedent-setting cases. By working along side and with our clients, our lawyers apply their creativity and experience to craft the right solution for each client’s often complex problems.

Benchmark Canada - the guide to Canada’s leading litigators- ranks the firm as one of the few recommended firms in Ontario and a firm that shifts “seamlessly between plaintiffs and defence work…” The firm was further recognized with one of the prestigious Benchmark Firm of the Year awards in 2013, 2015, 2017 and again in 2023. The firm also garnered one of the National Impact Case of the Year awards for 2023. The National Magazine, the official publication of the Canadian Bar Association, described our lawyers as among the best class action lawyers in the Country. Lexpert ranks the firm as a consistently recommended leading Toronto boutique in the field of class actions.

Firm overview

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.

• More than 400 advocates
• 500+ trials, arbitrations, tribunal hearings
• Defended 100s of class actions
• 32 specialty areas
• 2022 Benchmark Highly Recommended Firm in all of our regions
• 2022 Benchmark Insurance Firm of the Year
• 2021 and 2022 Benchmark Health Law/Medical Firm of the Year
• Offices in Canada’s 5 largest cities
• Bilingual in English and French
• Celebrating 200 years in 2023

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.