Ontario

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

Miller Thomson LLP is one of Canada’s leading national business law firms with approximately 500 lawyers. We consistently deliver the highest quality advisory and advocacy skills and expertise required by international clients doing business in Canada. We have more Canadian locations than any other national firm, allowing our lawyers to provide our clients with valuable local knowledge. More specifically, with offices in Montreal, Vaughan, Toronto, Waterloo-Region, London, Regina, Saskatoon, Calgary, Edmonton, and Vancouver, we are uniquely positioned to provide ‘on the ground’ insight and knowledge from the country’s key economic hubs, and under both the common law and civil law systems in Canada.

Miller Thomson’s national advocacy practice comprises close to 200 litigators, organized around a comprehensive range of sub-specialties. Our expertise covers complex commercial litigation, class actions, construction litigation, environmental litigation, insurance defence, IP litigation, health litigation, securities litigation, shareholder disputes, tax litigation, insolvency, and labour & employment disputes, among other areas of litigation support. The national group has extensive experience acting for a wide range of clients in all industry segments in trial proceedings, court applications, arbitrations and appeals at the provincial and federal levels. These clients range from sole proprietorships and individuals to some of the largest and most recognized national and international corporations operating in Canada.

Our litigators look for opportunities for efficient and expedient dispute resolutions. In this regard, our litigators are experienced in mediation and arbitration proceedings of all types, whether required as part of the litigation process or undertaken pursuant to an agreement with the other side to a dispute.

The Group also draws on the firm’s discovery capabilities. Our litigators adopt procedures to drive greater case management and discovery efficiency, thereby mitigating the resource intensive, often costly document production phase of litigation.

We have extensive experience acting for clients in litigation concerning:

• Commercial contracts 
• Class actions 
• Constitutional challenges
• Employment and human rights 
• Real property disputes
• Environmental 
• Tax
• Antitrust
• Tort law
• Civil or extra contractual liability 
• Construction contracts, liens, claims
• Patent and trademark infringement
• Insolvency
• Professional liability claims
• Products liability claims 
• Defamation
• Injunctions
• Interim orders and other relief sought on an urgent basis
• Shareholder disputes
• Securities
• Regulatory
• Disciplinary
• Penal and criminal
• Directors’ and officers’ liability
• Breach of fiduciary obligations
• Health
• Medical Malpractice

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

Paliare Roland Rosenberg Rothstein LLP is a litigation boutique with vast expertise and experience. They are routinely involved in high profile cases, from complex commercial litigation or class actions, professional discipline, labour disputes, and public inquiries to managing the most sensitive legal issues facing all businesses, individuals, labour unions, professional regulatory bodies, academic institutions and public interest organizations. Much of our work is referred from law firms in Ontario, across Canada, and internationally.

Main Areas of Practice:

Corporate Commercial Litigation: Paliare Roland has significant and diverse experience acting on virtually all aspects of corporate commercial litigation. They are regularly asked to act on high-stakes litigation of critical importance to clients, applying a strategic, practical, and singularly effective approach to resolving business disputes. They routinely represent public and private companies, partnerships, shareholders, directors, officers, boards, special committees and professional advisors, arguing in the appellate courts and before the Toronto Commercial List, arbitrators, and mediators.

Class Actions: Paliare Roland represents publicly and privately on leading cases. The team acts for defendants and plaintiffs, bringing versatility and unique insights, and have acted as counsel on class actions at tall stages of proceeding, from certification including all levels of appeal, mediations, examinations for discovery to completion of common issues trials. Their experience includes cases involving usurious interest rates, product liability, Competition Act violations, institutional abuse, auditor’s negligence, franchise disputes, foreign exchange charges, breach of trust, breach of contract, pensions issues, and others.

Aboriginal/Indigenous Law: Paliare Roland has argued many cases at the forefront of Aboriginal/Indigenous law in Canada. They represent a range of First Nations (status and non-status) and Métis clients, providing advice and representation on rights under s.35 of the Constitution Act, 1982, the duty to consult, the scope of federal jurisdiction over Indigenous peoples, the recognition of Indigenous legal systems, the impact of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and related matters. They have helped to shape the interpretation and application of the framework for Aboriginal/Indigenous law and the exercise of government powers, including the reach of government programming.

Infrastructure and P3: Paliare Roland brings a depth of experience to the complexities of construction and infrastructure projects, including those involving public-private partnerships (P3). They regularly advise and act for private and public stakeholders on disputes in these critical projects, approaching disputes with deep subject matter expertise, and an understanding of the complex and distinct legal issues which arise, with a view to innovative and practical resolutions.

Healthcare: Paliare Roland has a long history of representing and advising health regulators in connection with complaints, investigations, and discipline proceedings, including as lead discipline counsel for the College of Nurses of Ontario. The team regularly appears before the statutory committees of several health regulators including the College of Chiropractors of Ontario; the Royal College of Dental Surgeons of Ontario; the Ontario College of Pharmacists; the College of Opticians of Ontario; the College of Psychologists and Behavioural Analysts of Ontario; the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario; the Ontario College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers; and the College of Kinesiologists of Ontario. The team also advises regulators, facilities, corporations, and professionals regarding all aspects of health law, including hospital privileges disputes, privacy, employment, workplace investigations, professional negligence, Board governance, public and internal policies, and professional misconduct investigations and discipline, and acts as appellate counsel on health-related judicial reviews and appeals and acts on infrastructure disputes respecting healthcare facilities

Administrative and Public Law: Paliare Roland is widely viewed as a leader in the areas of public and administrative law and have significant experience with matters involving wide range of provincial and federal administrative tribunals and court proceedings arising therefrom. They have acted both before and on behalf of such tribunals in administrative hearings and in judicial review proceedings, administrative appeals, and constitutional challenges. The team has appeared before all levels of court, including the Supreme Court of Canada, and have argued some of Canada’s leading public and administrative law cases, and has long associations with several public interest organizations and various specialised legal aid clinics.

Bankruptcy & Insolvency Litigation: Paliare Roland regularly acts in bankruptcy and insolvency matters nationally and locally. Their practice is independent of major financial institutions, permitting us to act as counsel to a full range of insolvency stakeholders, including union and employee groups, tort claimants, court appointed officers, debtors, bondholders and governments.

Appeals and Judicial Review: Paliare Roland has argued some of the most important, influential appellate cases in Canadian legal history. In both public and private law, they have been involved in a vast range of prominent, precedent-setting appeals and judicial reviews. They are respected for their deep expertise and experience in judicial review applications and appeals, and are frequently retained by trial and administrative counsel, regulatory bodies, unions and others to help advance or protect these clients’ interests before the courts on review.

Labour Law: Paliare Roland provides strategic advice and representation to trade unions and their members across the public and private sectors. Grievance mediation and arbitration is a core part of their labour practice and have experience assisting clients to secure material advancements through collective bargaining and interest arbitration, and regularly advance the interests of unions and their members through the civil courts, including Charter litigation. They also advise unions regarding all aspects of their labour relations, including employment standards, human rights, workers’ compensation, health and safety, pensions, pay equity, the duty of fair representation, and strike or picketing injunctions.

Employment Law: Paliare Roland provides advice and advocacy relating to all areas of the employment relationship for both employees and employers. Their work covers all aspects of the employment relationship, including contracts, workplace investigations, constructive dismissal, termination with and without cause, non-competition or non-solicitation agreements, shareholder disputes with an employment element, issues related to the Ontario Human Rights Code, and more.

Professional Discipline & Regulation: Paliare Roland represents regulators and a wide range of professionals in connection with complaints, investigations and discipline proceedings. Several team members also act as prosecutors in disciplinary and fitness-to-practise hearings for several professional regulatory agencies, primarily in the health sector.