Mark Ross, one of Ross Nasseri’s two founding partners, has been practicing law since 2005. He is a veteran trial and appeal lawyer with over 90 published decisions to his name. He has litigated dozens of trials/arbitrations and appeals and is highly respected amongst his peers as a leading advocate. Mark has been recognized as a leading commercial litigation lawyer and professional liability lawyer in Lexpert’s Special Edition on Litigation. Mark is the co-author of a leading textbook on commercial lease disputes (Haber and Ross: Top Commercial Leasing Cases (Toronto: Carswell: 2019).
Mark frequently acts for a range of clients including individual investors and businesspeople, closely held/family enterprises, large corporations and institutional clients. He routinely appears on matters before Toronto’s specialized Commercial List and Estates List, and acts as lead counsel on complex arbitrations.
A true generalist, Mark also acted for two intervenors in an injunction brought by the University of Toronto seeking to end an encampment on its campus, requiring savvy in both public and property law. Mark has also been lead counsel in Wayne Safety v. Gendelman, a case in which the firm obtained significant ex parte relief in a $5.6 million bookkeeper fraud case in 2023. Justice Osborne of the Commercial List made an order that included Mareva, Norwich, Anton Piller orders, as well as Certificates of Pending Litigation on 10 properties and an order that the defendants surrender their passports. Since that relief was granted, our client Wayne Safety has successfully resisted every attempt to vary the order, including again in February 2024 (2024 ONSC 1642).
Recent matter/case highlights:
- University of Toronto (Governing Council) v. Doe et al (2024 ONSC 3755); Acted for two intervenors in an injunction brought by the University of Toronto seeking to end an encampment on its campus. This case received significant public and media attention and involved over 20 law firms in Toronto;
- Lead counsel in a significant adjudication before ODACC (Ontario Dispute Adjudication for Construction Contracts); Mark obtained over $3 million in compensation for rehabilitation of a major bridge in a rapid-fire proceeding that went to a hearing just two months after a claim was brought. This is the largest award granted in the history of ODACC for an infrastructure project.
- Wayne Safety Inc. v. Gendelman, 2023 ONSC 2478, 2023 ONSC 3517 and 2024 ONSC 1642; obtained extraordinary relief in the form of Anton Piller, Mareva, Norwich relief and multiple certificates of pending litigation to address an ongoing fraud, and resisted an attempted variation of injunction terms
Key practice areas:
- Arbitration
- Commercial disputes
- Construction
- Dispute resolution
- Plaintiff
Year joined firm: 2021
Academic qualifications:
- LLB, Osgoode Hall Law School, 2004
Association/network memberships:
- Law Society of Ontario, 2005
- The Advocates' Society, 2005
Bar Admissions:
- Ontario Bar Association, 2005
