Allison Speigel is a commercial litigator with broad industry experience, representing clients in complex business disputes across a wide range of sectors. She is known for her strategic approach, intellectual rigor, and willingness to take on difficult cases that others might avoid.

Allison was once described as being “annoyingly ethical, but the best person to have in a dog fight.” In a decision released after a 26 day trial during which Allison sat first-chair, the Court noted that Allison “decimated” the plaintiff in cross-examination. She thrives in high-stakes litigation, is unafraid to advance novel legal arguments, and routinely acts for clients facing uphill battles.

At the same time, Allison is acutely aware of how flawed, costly, and taxing the litigation process can be. She has written extensively on civil justice reform and access to justice, and—despite her natural inclination to litigate—she is always thinking creatively about how disputes can be resolved efficiently and pragmatically. She makes every reasonable effort to settle matters where doing so serves her clients’ interests.

In recognition of her work in this area, Allison was asked by the Attorney General of Ontario and the Chief Justice of the Superior Court of Justice to co-chair the Civil Rules Review, a twelve-member working group tasked with comprehensively reviewing the Rules of Civil Procedure to effect a systemic redesign of Ontario’s civil justice process. She began this work in 2024 and remains deeply committed to advancing reforms aimed at making the civil justice system more efficient, faster, less expensive, and ultimately more accessible.

Allison’s litigation practice includes construction, complex commercial and contract disputes, insolvency, real estate, professional negligence, and fraud-related litigation. She is a key member of the firm’s debt collection and enforcement team, where her tenacity and strategic insight are particularly effective against sophisticated fraudsters and judgment debtors intent on concealing assets.

Having also worked on high-stakes project finance and debt restructuring transactions, Allison brings a deal-maker’s perspective to her litigation practice. This experience enhances her ability to anticipate how disputes arise and to litigate effectively when negotiations or transactions break down.

Allison spent the first five years of her career litigating high-profile cases in New York City. Allison and her husband, however, decided that life in the great white north was too good to give up and moved back to Toronto, their hometown.

Since joining Speigel Nichols Fox LLP, she has played a central role in developing the firm’s innovative approach to the business of law, including the creation of alternative fee and value-based billing models. With Allison’s involvement, the firm was among the first in Canada to offer flat-fee, value-based billing for litigation matters.

Allison is continually focused on how law firms can evolve to better serve clients and create healthier, more sustainable environments for lawyers. For clients, she believes firms should remain relentlessly focused on results, service, and efficiency. For lawyers, she believes the best work is done when people genuinely enjoy what they do.

When not working, Allison enjoys spending time with her family and arguing (with just about anybody) for sport.

REPRESENTATIVE MATTERS

While in Canada

• Routinely represents contractors and subcontractors in a variety of multi-million dollar construction-related disputes (often involving claims concerning non-payment for work, deficiencies, delay, tenders, etc.)
• Routinely represents financial institutions, insurance companies, a Crown corporation, and individuals in litigation involving fraud and the collection of outstanding debts
• Routinely represents individual and corporations in litigation involving breach of contract, negligence, and oppression
• Routinely represent individual and corporations in the context of shareholder, partnership, and joint venture disputes
• Routinely represents lawyers accused of having acted negligently (with up to $30M at stake)
• Routinely represents individuals and corporation involved in multi-million dollar commercial real estate disputes
• Routinely represents clients seeking and opposing certificates of pending litigation and Mareva injunctions
• Represented commercial property owner in dispute concerning claims of nuisance and injurious affection with the City of Toronto and a property developer
• Represented property owner against large developers and the City of Toronto
• Represented client seeking Mareva injunction in a fraud case to ensure that funds currently in Canada were not removed to China
• Represented condominium owner in an oppression action
• Represented home owner in dispute concerning flooding of land
• Represented Ontario client responding to a letters rogatory
• Acted as in-house counsel for an Ontario corporation by overseeing litigation in the Cayman Islands, New York, Texas, and California being run by local counsel

While in the US

• Represented a large international corporation on a breach of contract case worth $5.5B that threatened the existence of the corporation
• Represented international corporations facing securities-related governmental inquiries
• Represented leading manufacturer of smart-cards in enforcing fundamental patents that enable the use of the Java programming language on resource-constrained devices
• Represented Canadian client in patent infringement litigation against leaders in the laptop, router, semiconductor, and handset industries, involving patents that provide wireless capabilities
• Represented a corporation against leading financial institutions in patent infringement litigation involving data compression technology used in the realtime delivery of market data
• Advised a large international client in drafting a compliance handbook
• Represented a large international corporation being sued by the Republic of Iraq based on a number of claims relating to the alleged payments of kickbacks to the Saddam Hussein government in connection with the Oil-for-Food programme
• Advised clients and helped negotiate contracts ranging from under $100k to over $1B

Pro Bono Matters

• Represented French-speaking, Congolese client seeking asylum in the United States
• Represented Holocaust survivors applying for compensation from the German government
• Represented mentally-handicapped client seeking disability payments