Litigation & ADR

Through the years, we have developed a dispute resolution culture that stresses results, respect for client risk-tolerance, strategic assessment, creativity, and determination.

Our lawyers recognize that every time a client is engaged in a dispute, no matter how insignificant, the dispute can (and is likely) to distract a person or organisation from its core responsibilities and affect the lives and reputations of those involved. We know we are judged not only on how we manage a dispute, but also on how well we shield our clients from the inevitable disruptions that flow from a dispute. Consequently, we engage our clients in risk-management conversations. When a disagreement does arise, we aim to resolve the dispute without the need for litigation, whether that is through negotiation, mediation, or arbitration. In instances when litigation becomes unavoidable, our clients trust that we will litigate their cases with the same determination with which we would litigate a case on behalf of our family and friends.

We represent the following types of clients in a wide variety of disputes

• private and public companies
• partnerships
• shareholders
• directors and officers
• boards
• banks
• insurance companies
• credit unions
• entrepreneurs
• professionals

Commercial Litigation

Our lawyers represent clients involved in all types of commercial and contractual disputes including those involving

• corporate issues
• shareholder issues
• financial issues
• fraud issues
• insurance issues
• real estate issues
• employment issues
• manufacturing issues
• distribution issues
• confidentiality issues

Many of our lawyers have experience negotiating and drafting contracts, which provides them with an enhanced ability to resolve and litigate contractual disputes.

Professional Services Litigation

Our lawyers represent claimants and defendants involved in various types of professional negligence cases. Our firm is routinely retained by Lawyer’s Professional Indemnity Company (the lawyers’ insurer) to defend lawyers who are alleged to have been negligent. Conversely, we often act for clients in actions against lawyers, engineers, accountants, and other professionals who are alleged to have been negligent in the performance of their duties.

Will and Estates Litigation

Estate disputes often follow the death of a parent or other loved one. Family grievances are intensified and trust evaporates. Our lawyers attempt to provide sensitive and sage advice to resolve the disputes as quickly and as economically as possible, whether through negotiation, mediation, arbitration or, if necessary, litigation. We assist executors, personal representatives and beneficiaries in a variety of challenges to wills, trusts, and powers of attorney, including attacks regarding capacity, undue influence, and will interpretation and validity issues.

Letters Rogatory

If you are involved in litigation outside of Canada and require documents or testimony from a Canadian resident, our lawyers can help. Our lawyers represent foreign clients seeking to enforce requests issued by foreign courts for the discovery (i.e. deposition) of a Canadian resident or for the production of documents by a Canadian resident. The earlier you get us involved, the better. Our lawyers can help draft the letters rogatory, thereby making it more likely that an Ontario court will agree to enforce the request. Once a foreign court issues the letters rogatory, our lawyers bring the application in Ontario to enforce it. More importantly, because our lawyers know the process, we help our clients negotiate with the Canadian resident whose information is being sought, in the hopes of avoiding the need to bring an application altogether. Conversely, our lawyers can help Canadian residents respond appropriately to a letters rogatory application.