Ontario

Firm overview

Crawley MacKewn Brush LLP is a leading corporate and securities litigation boutique based in Toronto. We are best known for our expertise in representing clients who participate in the capital markets and financial services industry. Our named partners have been ranked nationally among the best of their peers.

Our dedicated team of lawyers has successfully represented clients in some of the most significant and high profile securities law cases in Canada. Our practice includes investigations and enforcement proceedings brought by the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC), the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC) and the Mutual Fund Dealers Association of Canada (MFDA). We also have significant experience with cross-border investigations involving the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) and other US regulators and law enforcement agencies. Our familiarity with the Canadian securities regulators allows us to deliver practical and current advice to resolve issues in a constantly changing regulatory environment.

Our civil litigation practice has a focus on securities class action defence and corporate litigation. We act for companies, directors, officers, securities dealers, advisors, investment funds, fund managers, traders and other capital market participants in a wide range of securities class actions brought in provinces across the country. Our lawyers have extensive experience with the litigation and resolution of corporate disputes, including oppression claims, fair value applications, corporate governance and accounting issues and corporate investigations. We are frequently retained as litigation counsel to work with corporate law firms on contested shareholder meetings, takeover bids and transactions that require court approval through plans of arrangement or otherwise.

All of the lawyers at Crawley MacKewn Brush have an active commercial litigation practice. We have extensive experience with professional negligence claims involving securities industry professionals and accountants. We have litigated significant contract disputes in the courts and through a range of arbitration processes in Canada, through JAMS in the US and the Rules of the ICC. We have experience resolving a wide range of issues that arise for our clients in the business environment, including employment disputes, defamation claims and tax litigation matters.

The lawyers at Crawley MacKewn Brush are litigators first and foremost. We focus on achieving the best outcome for our clients, no matter how challenging the circumstances. We endeavour to apply and instill in all our lawyers best practices in trial advocacy and dispute resolution in order to provide professional and skilled representation that both serves and reflects well on our clients.

Last updated March 2020

Firm overview

Experienced. Strategic. Committed.

We are a renowned legal team

We succeed for our clients because we don’t stop until we find the right answer. Our team works collaboratively, leveraging diversity of style and expertise to produce better legal outcomes.

We have more experience, expertise, and success in appeals than any other lawyers in the province of Ontario.

We are strategic

We simplify the complex. We distill our cases down to their most important elements. We continually analyze the case from different angles, uncovering opportunities that tip the scales in your favour.

We are known throughout the profession and by the courts as exceptional advocates.

We are in your corner

We thrive on doing the impossible for our clients. Our job is to solve your problems and get you results, whether in or out of court. We listen to your needs. We’re committed to your case. We care about the outcome.

Last updated April 2020

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 highly focused firm.

Representative Mandates:

• Counsel to Ernst & Young Inc., the Monitor in the ongoing restructuring of the Carillion Group in Canada
• Counsel to Ernst & Young Inc. the 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 debtor company AgMedica and its subsidiaries, the first licensed cannabis producer to file for CCAA protection in Ontario
• Counsel to Grant Thornton Limited as court appointed Receiver of the Comsale Group of Companies in a Canadian receivership with foreign recognition proceedings in the U.S. and Malaysia
• Counsel to the Province of British Columbia in 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, the largest privately-owned oil and gas producer in Latin America through 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 UK Pension Claimants) – the largest single creditor in the global insolvency proceedings of the Nortel Networks group of companies. TGF successfully obtained (i) a ground-breaking pro rata allocation of US$7.3 billion in sale proceeds among 40 insolvency estates in 19 countries, (ii) a CDN$600 million judgment following the disallowance of a claim by the Monitor
• 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
• Retained by the Ontario Securities Commission in the CCAA proceedings commenced by Sino Forest and coordinated those proceedings with the enforcement proceedings brought by the Ontario Securities Commission staff against Sino Forest, certain of its directors and officers and its former auditors
• Counsel to the court-appointed Receiver of Blockbuster Canada, in effecting an orderly liquidation of approximately 440 retail stores with significant cross border issues
• Counsel to the court-appointed Monitor in the restructuring of the Canadian Abitibi-Bowater entities, one of the world’s largest publicly traded pulp and paper manufacturers
• Counsel to Fraser Papers Inc. and its Canadian and US affiliates in a restructuring pursuant to the CCAA and Chapter 11, successfully obtaining amendments to pension legislation to address the company’s pension liabilities 
• 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., in successfully harvesting litigation assets in the estate
• Counsel to the court-appointed Monitor in the restructuring of Stelco, one of the largest integrated steel companies in Canada
• 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, following a Court of Appeal decision that significantly changed the pension and restructuring landscape in Canada
• 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. This case drew international attention as it sped through three levels of court in less than 9 months, including arguing the 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 landlord of various properties in the Target Canada restructuring, in completing a pre-emptive transaction for its properties outside of the court ordered sales process and in various other retail insolvencies. Also represent the landlord in other retail proceedings including Sears Canada Inc. and BCBG
• Represented the court-appointed Monitor of Mobilicity, a Canadian mobile virtual telecommunications network operator
• Counsel to Endurance Energy Ltd., an exploration and production company focused on the acquisition and development of natural gas assets in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin, in its restructuring pursuant to the CCAA commenced in Calgary, Alberta.

Last updated July 2020

Firm overview

McMillan is a business law firm serving public, private and not-for-profit clients across key industries in Canada, the United States and internationally. With recognized expertise and acknowledged leadership in major business sectors, we provide solution-oriented legal advice through our offices in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Ottawa, Montréal and Hong Kong.

For more information, please visit our website at www.mcmillan.ca or contact info@mcmillan.ca.

McMillan’s Litigation Group is one of Canada’s leading domestic and cross-border corporate commercial litigation firms. Our lawyers are recognized for their creativity and effectiveness in bringing disputes to satisfactory conclusions, both inside and outside the courts. And with specialists in key areas such as competition, intellectual property, real estate, securities and other areas, McMillan’s Litigation Group always strives to deliver a complete solution – no matter the nature of your corporate or commercial disputes.

As experienced litigators, we always assess risk and opportunities before advising clients on the likelihood of success and helping them weigh their options. We also understand that litigation is not always the preferred option, and help clients pursue a full range of resolution avenues including early negotiated settlements and alternative dispute resolution methods. If we proceed to court, however, we are recognized for our ability to tenaciously advance our clients’ commercial interests.

Litigation Practices:

• Arbitration
• Class Actions
• Competition / Antitrust
• Corporate Commercial
• IP Ligation
• Product Liability
• Restructuring litigation
• Securities Litigation
• White Collar Crime & Investigations

Vancouver

Joan Young

Co-Chair, Litigation

t: 604.893.7639  |  e: joan.young@mcmillan.ca

Calgary

Andrew Stead

Partner, Litigation

t: 403.531.8748  |  e: andrew.stead@mcmillan.ca

Toronto

Robert Wisner

Co-Chair, International Arbitration

t: 416.865.7127  |  e: robert.wisner@mcmillan.ca

Montréal

Éric Vallières

Co-Chair, Quebec, Competition, Dispute Resolution

t: 514.987.5068  |  e: eric.vallieres@mcmillan.ca

Ottawa

Martin Thompson

Office Managing Partner

t: 613.691.6104  |  e: martin.thompson@mcmillan.ca

Hong Kong

Stephen Wortley

Executive Partner, Co-Chair, China Practice Group

t: 852.3101.0390  |  e: stephen.wortley@mcmillan.ca

Ofiices:

Vancouver | Calgary | Toronto| Ottawa | Montréal | Hong Kong


Last updated: March 2019