Ontario

Firm overview

Stockwoods LLP is one of Canada’s most experienced and highly-regarded boutique litigation firms. Our lawyers are routinely ranked among Canada’s very best commercial, regulatory and criminal litigators. Because of our broad strength and expertise across the litigation spectrum, our firm advises and represents clients who face complex litigation exposure in different areas of the law.

Stockwoods’ high quality of judgment and advocacy, and its reputation for efficiency, has repeatedly been recognized by our peers – a major part of our practice comes from referrals from other leading lawyers in Canada and abroad. We are often engaged in cross- border and multi-jurisdictional matters.

Our clients include private and public companies, and their directors and officers; public agencies, regulatory bodies across a variety of industries (including energy regulation, professional regulation, policing, health and securities regulation); governmental bodies ranging, including government departments, municipalities and First Nations. Our lawyers have also acted as commission counsel and for parties at public inquiries.

Class Actions:

• Acting for TD Bank in defence of the FX conspiracy and SSA Bonds conspiracy class actions; for Bell Canada Inc. in defence of a class proceeding concerning inmate access to telephone services; for Apotex Inc. and certain natural health retailers and suppliers in a pharmaceutical liability class action.
• Defending the City of Windsor and Town of Tecumseh in class actions seeking to recover allegedly unconstitutional lottery licensing fees over a period in excess of 20 years.
• Acting for corporations and senior executives in secondary market securities class actions concerning the cannabis sector, the solar energy industry, and management of a major REIT, and in competition class actions in the tech and financial industries.
• Acting as Court Monitor and Court Counsel in relation to the administration of Canada’s largest class action settlement in the Indian Residential Schools matter, as well as the pan-Canadian settlements relating to blood tainted by Hepatitis C and the provincial settlement involving the contamination of the public water supply in Walkerton, Ontario.
• Acting for the Law Foundation of Ontario and the Class Proceedings Fund in matters arising from their public mandate to fund class actions litigation in Ontario, and as amicus curiae in a significant appeal concerning counsel fee approval.

Commercial/Civil Litigation:

• Acting for a leading global investment organization in commercial litigation arising out of an attempt to establish a new Canadian bank.
• Acting for a former senior official of the Saudi government in complex worldwide Mareva proceedings.
• Acting as litigation counsel to senior officers, directors and special committees of boards of directors in internal investigations.
• Acting both for corporations and boards of directors, and for dissident shareholder groups, in disputes related to contested proxy fights.
• Acting for the Monitor in the Carillion Inc. CCAA proceeding.
• Acting for a major financial services firm in a series of actions relating to the establishment of a bank.
• Acting for a wind farm owner in an action asserting manipulation of a ROFR process in the energy industry.
• Acting for an institutional mortgage investor in a power of sale action relating to a development property.
• Acting for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in litigation supporting its journalists, and in defence of defamations and other claims against it.

Criminal and Quasi-Criminal Litigation:

• Acting for a former Member of Parliament charged with breach of trust.
• Acting for the former Chairman and CEO of CannTrust charged with insider trading, securities fraud, and making materially misleading statements.
• Acting for corporate clients in workplace safety prosecutions involving fatalities under the Canada Labour Code and Occupational Health and Safety Act.
• Acting for clients in relation to all allegations of criminal wrongdoing, including white-collar crime, cross-border prosecutions, sexual offences, cyber/tech crimes, fraud offences, serious violent offences, drug offences, and national security matters.
• Advising and acting in relation to matters involving searches of sensitive environments (e.g., law offices, media) and the intersection between privacy and electronic surveillance.

Intellectual Property Litigation:

• Acting for a major software-as-a-service provider in the packaging and logistics industry in cross-boarder proceedings enforcing its intellectual property and licensing terms against a major US firm.
• Representing rights-holders in various trade-mark, copyright and patent disputes.
• Acting for the Weir Group PLC on numerous patent disputes concerning key technology used in the oil production sector.

Public & Administrative Law:

• Representing the Government of Canada in the Public Order Emergency Commission.
• Representing a long-term care home in connection with the Government of Ontario’s public inquiry into the COVID-19 pandemic .
• Acting for the Privacy Commissioner in a significant action against Facebook Inc arising from the Cambridge Analytica data breach.
• Acting for the family of Soleiman Faqiri on a high-profile Coroner’s inquest arising out of Soleiman’s killing at an Ontario correctional centre.
• Representing a senior federal government official in an examination by the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner.
• Acting as counsel to parties and interveners in dozens of public law matters at the Supreme Court of Canada and the provincial courts of appeal, including the landmark 2019 Vavilov decision.
• Regularly representing public agencies in administrative litigation and judicial review applications/appeals.

Securities Litigation & Enforcement:

• Acting for underwriters, banks, issuers and senior executives in significant complex OSC investigation, enforcement and settlement proceedings.
• Acting for CI Financial Ltd. in proceedings before the Ontario Securities Commission, brought to overturn a TSX decision refusing to enforce CI’s shareholder rights’ plan.
• Acting for OSC Staff in various high-profile matters including the fraud prosecutions of Weizhen Tang, the self-styled “Chinese Warren Buffett”, and previously of hedge fund manager Sextant Capital Management Inc.

Firm overview

Bennett Jones is consistently recognized for its expertise in domestic and cross-border litigation. The firm is known for its uncompromising strength in the areas of competition and antitrust, securities, class actions, energy, commercial, intellectual property, fraud, construction, restructuring/insolvency, employment, health, and professional negligence litigation and has prominent practitioners in alternate dispute resolution, including international commercial arbitration. We are committed to working with our clients to develop an effective and cost-efficient strategy to identify and achieve their unique goals in the prosecution and defense of business disputes.

With more than 100 lawyers practicing commercial litigation nationally, Bennett Jones litigators have significant experience in all aspects of dispute resolution, and have leading reputations before courts and tribunals. We represent some of Canada's largest corporations, including energy producers, and technology and telecommunications companies, and are skilled in conducting commercial arbitrations, including those involving issues in the oil and gas, mining and construction industries. Our litigation practice is supported by the considerable strength of our appellate advocacy and judicial review practice which provides clients and referring counsel with specialized and strategic advice on all aspects of cases on appeal or under judicial review.

We are frequently retained by major domestic and international corporations in the defense of class actions. Representing parties at every stage of the lawsuit, from pre-certification motions and applications through to trial, we bring to each phase coordinated strategies and effective communications to streamline the litigation process. We also advise clients on mitigating their class action risk and proactively monitor trends in prospective class action developments.

Recognizing that many disputes are settled prior to trial, our commercial and technical expertise provides another valuable set of skills to the negotiation and settlement of litigation. Our team approach ensures that we provide the most timely, effective and innovative support to our clients. Our lawyers' reputations, contributions to Canadian case law, and distinguished history of service have resulted in top rankings in all major legal directories for many of our litigators, in a multitude of litigation practice areas.

Firm Culture:

Bennett Jones reflects the integrity and professional excellence of the firm’s Founding Partners. After more than 100 years of service, the firm has produced some of Canada’s most accomplished legal and business leaders, fostering values that established it as one of Canada’s most successful business law firms. The firm prides itself on offering clients innovative, strategic and forward-thinking approaches to their most complex legal and regulatory challenges and opportunities. Bennett Jones promotes a diverse and inclusive work environment where mutual respect and independent thought lead client and colleague interactions. Bennett Jones is proud to have been recognized for 23 consecutive years as one of Canada’s Best Employers.

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.

Firm overview

Glaholt Bowles LLP is a nationally and internationally recognized trusted advisor with dispute resolution and risk management expertise, focusing on construction and design claims, public and private procurement processes, infrastructure development and building contracts. We provide advice and advocacy throughout Canada and internationally at every stage of the construction development process, in all types of projects, from process plants, power generation and transmission, and other heavy industrial projects, to mixed residential/commercial developments, highways and roads, bridges, urban infrastructure and major recreational facilities.

The firm has a strong reputation in all areas of dispute resolution, ranging from litigation to private arbitration and mediation, and in project dispute resolution procedures such as adjudication and dispute review boards.

The firm’s lawyers have successfully represented clients throughout Canada and internationally in arbitrations over large-scale construction and infrastructure projects such as oil-pipelines, nickel processing plants, natural gas processing plants, and subways, under various institutional rules and ad hoc arbitrations.

Glaholt Bowles LLP lawyers are consistently rated among the most respected practitioners in the area of construction law.

Practice Areas:

• Adjudication 
• Arbitration
• Construction Liens
• Construction Trusts
• Contract Review and Drafting
• Dispute Review Boards
• Litigation
• Mediation
• Professional Liability
• Project Delay Claims
• Surety Bond Claims
• Tendering and Procurement