Bennett Jones

Founded in 1922, Bennett Jones continues to widen its Canadian footprint on seemingly a yearly basis as of late. The firm has historically been an Alberta institution, and remains arguably that province's dominant player, but has seen tremendous success with the establishment of its Toronto office in 1989. Since then, the firm has even made notable inroads into British Columbia, building out a Vancouver office with Aboriginal law and energy regulatory partner David Bursey and, more recently, luring construction specialist Stuart Hankinson to its Vancouver office from his former shop of Shapiro Hankinson.

Alberta

In the Calgary office, a near-constant mention is Blair Yorke-Slader, who has a broad trial and appellate business litigation practice, including contract, shareholder, partnership, securities, and trust disputes. He represented Dow Chemical in an ongoing $1 billion dispute with NOVA Chemicals over the ownership and operation of an ethylene facility. Yorke-Slader led the plaintiff clients in a successful oppression claim by a minority group of debenture holders to avoid attempted forced conversion to equity. "Blair is actually one of the more senior players in that office, but you'd never guess it," marvels a peer. "He is going on all cylinders, sprightly and engaged. He is a very serious guy, constantly working. I once saw him on a weekend getting his oil changed in his car at a garage and he had transcripts all set up and was dressed like he was going to work!" Fraud specialist Munaf Mohamed has been representing the Bank of Montréal in a mortgage fraud matter worth $30 million. Mohamed also provided lead counsel to Wood Group Mustang in defending an $85 million claim against the client for negligent engineering design of a 32-kilometer pipeline. The matter proceeded to trial for three months in 2016. He also is defending a global turbine firm in relation to an international arbitration involved a failed turbine engine at a power plant in Chile. The claimant is pursuing the client for $12 million USD, alleging negligence and breach of contract. Peers offer unanimous support for Mohamed's approach, with one quipping, "Munaf is a blunt instrument – he's an animal! He's someone who has a reputation that sends the message to other lawyers 'If you don't play nice, I'm going to get you Munaf to deal with!' He's a fighter, and you need a fighter sometimes." Another peer insists, "If I was in trouble I'd pray that I could get Munaf to help me. He did a BMO file that was just huge, and handles all sorts of fraud cases – and he LOVES going to court. It would be rare to not go to court with him." Professional negligence authority Valerie Prather represents the ICU of a medical center that is engaged in an action concerning alleged medical negligence on behalf of an 18-year-old man who contracted bacterial meningitis and was transported to the ICU, where he developed tonsillar herniation resulting in quadriplegia with ventilation.

Ontario

Litigators in the Toronto office have also been at the forefront of headline cases. A highly visible and contentious appointment of late has been the firm's involvement in the complex cross-border Nortel insolvency proceedings, which have consumed the practices of dozens of litigators in both Toronto and Delaware in the US. Of the many Canadian litigators involved, Richard Swan, who acted for Nortel bondholders, is noted as a particular standout. "As per usual, Richard continues to impress on this file," voices a peer. "He presented some very sound and sensible arguments, sometimes in direct contrast to others from both sides of the border, who proved more disruptive and tone-deaf to the wishes of the judges. Richard exercised creativity and excellent judgment." A broad-based commercial litigator, Swan is regularly praised by peers, one of whom opines that "he is not only one of the most cerebral and thoughtful litigators, but he is also one of the nicest, and even on nasty files – or perhaps especially on nasty files – that goes a long way." Another Bennett Jones partner known for his active involvement on "nasty" files, Robert Staley is viewed by peers as "more of a cowboy, who is not looking to be 'Mr. Popular.' But if there is a big, buzzing hornets' nest of a securities dispute or quasi-white collar case to come through, you can bet Robert will be willing to lead the cavalry charge." Supporting this claim, Staley is in the lead on the firm's representation of the Audit Committee of Penn West Petroleum in connection with a management-initiated, voluntary review of certain accounting practices, and in connection with the restatement of the company's previously filed financial statements arising from the review. Staley provides lead counsel for the beleaguered Sino-Forest in CCAA proceedings, multiple class actions in Canada and the US, and in OSC prosecution and regulatory hearings. Also acting on this file, as well as the Penn West file, is Alan Gardner, and acting with Staley and Gardner on Sino-Forest is Derek Bell, who peers confirm "has been involved in half of Bennett Jones's cases and is very widely known within the commercial bar." Further bolstering the firm's reputation in handling fraud-related matters, Lincoln Caylor is noted as "one of the people that makes Bennett Jones one of the most experienced firms in fraud. Lincoln's practice is almost exclusively in this area, doing a lot of asset recovery and judgment enforcement." A universally lauded courtroom presence, Jeffrey Leon continues to attend to a robust and diverse practice. Leon was involved on the securities side in a special investigation of a public company and recently settled a class action for Manulife in connection with an error made by one of the company's policy groups. Adding further to his gravitas, Leon will become the President Elect of the American College of Trial Lawyers in September 2017.