Melissa MacKewn has been widely recognized within the profession as one of Canada’s leading securities and corporate commercial litigation lawyers. In addition to being recognized by Benchmark Canada as one of the Top Women in Litigation since 2017, Melissa was named the Lawyer of the Year for Securities Law in the Toronto area by Best Lawyers in Canada in 2018 and 2022. Best Lawyers also selected her as part of a small and prestigious group of “bet the company” litigators. Melissa is also recognized by Lexpert as one of the Top 500 Lawyers in Canada, and by Chambers Canada as a leader in the field of securities litigation. Melissa has also been recognized as a Stand-out Lawyer by Thomson Reuters based on nominations by senior legal buyers.
Melissa has one of the deepest and most robust securities litigation practices in the country. She advises investors, registrants, issuers, officers, directors, underwriters, and private and public corporations on a variety of securities matters. She has extensive experience representing clients in enforcement investigations, settlements, and contested proceedings before the OSC and CIRO involving such issues as insider trading, disclosure violations and market manipulation. As a prior Senior Enforcement Counsel at the OSC, Melissa offers unparalleled insight on regulatory matters which allows her to strategically guide her clients to creative and precedent-setting outcomes when careers, reputations, livelihoods and shareholder value are on the line.
Melissa is also regularly retained by both public and private companies and their audit and special committees to conduct confidential internal investigations in respect of whistleblower complaints, disclosure, controls and reporting issues, trading and compliance issues, matters engaging conflicts of interest, and workplace allegations. Melissa’s depth of knowledge and expertise allows her to navigate the concurrent class action and regulatory risks, including cross-border risks, at issue in these mandates strategically and efficiently as a trusted advisor and business partner to her clients.
Melissa has extensive experience with corporate and securities capital markets litigation matters including securities class action proceedings, corporate and shareholder disputes, oppression remedy matters, proxy battles, takeover bid litigation, corporate governance matters and investment loss claims.
Bringing to bear the depth of her administrative law expertise, Melissa is frequently retained as outside prosecution counsel on complex disciplinary matters by self-regulatory organizations in the accounting, insurance, and financial sectors.
Updated July 2024
