Contact: Richard Swan, Partner
Phone: 416.777.7479; Email: swanr@bennettjones.com
3400 One First Canadian Place, P.O. Box 130
Toronto, Ontario, M5X 1A4
Contact: Kenneth Lenz, Partner
Phone: 403.298.3317; Email: lenzk@bennettjones.com
4500 Bankers Hall East, 855 2nd Street SW
Calgary, Alberta, T2P 4K7
Bennett Jones Litigation
Firm Overview
Bennett Jones is consistently recognized for its expertise in domestic and cross-border litigation. The firm is known for its uncompromising strength in the areas of competition and antitrust, securities, class actions, energy, commercial, intellectual property, fraud, construction, restructuring/insolvency, employment, health, and professional negligence litigation and has prominent practitioners in alternate dispute resolution, including international commercial arbitration. We are committed to working with our clients to develop an effective and cost-efficient strategy to identify and achieve their unique goals in the prosecution and defense of business disputes.
With more than 100 lawyers practicing commercial litigation nationally, Bennett Jones litigators have significant experience in all aspects of dispute resolution, and have leading reputations before courts and tribunals. We represent some of Canada's largest corporations, including energy producers, and technology and telecommunications companies, and are skilled in conducting commercial arbitrations, including those involving issues in the oil and gas, mining and construction industries. Our litigation practice is supported by the considerable strength of our appellate advocacy and judicial review practice which provides clients and referring counsel with specialized and strategic advice on all aspects of cases on appeal or under judicial review.
We are frequently retained by major domestic and international corporations in the defense of class actions. Representing parties at every stage of the lawsuit, from pre-certification motions and applications through to trial, we bring to each phase coordinated strategies and effective communications to streamline the litigation process. We also advise clients on mitigating their class action risk and proactively monitor trends in prospective class action developments.
Recognizing that many disputes are settled prior to trial, our commercial and technical expertise provides another valuable set of skills to the negotiation and settlement of litigation. Our team approach ensures that we provide the most timely, effective and innovative support to our clients. Our lawyers' reputations, contributions to Canadian case law, and distinguished history of service have resulted in top rankings in all major legal directories for many of our litigators, in a multitude of litigation practice areas.
Last updated March 2019
Alberta
British Columbia
Ontario
Woodin has quickly ascended to the role of co-head of the firm’s class actions group. Woodin has been most visible in her leading role in the Volkswagen in consumer class actions and related securities class actions arising out of alleged emissions misrepresentation. “That’s a real scoop,” voices a peer. “Cheryl brought over VW in Ontario! She also brought over GM as a client.” In this capacity, Woodin complements the class actions component long held by Michael Eizenga, who acts for Bureau Veritas, a French auditing and inspection company responsible for two limited “social audits” of one factory in Rana Plaza in Bangladesh for a Canadian retailer that sourced garments to the factory. The client was named as a defendant in a proposed Ontario class action in which the plaintiffs alleged failure to identify the structural integrity issues leading to the 2013 collapse of the Rana Plaza building. Eizenga also, along with Randal Hughes and Ranjan Agarwal, represents The Beer Store in a $1.4 billion class action against it, alleging anti-competitive behavior and a conspiracy with the LCBO and The Beer Store’s foreign-owned brewers to allocate markets and fix beer prices throughout the province. Richard Swan is a universally celebrated broad-based commercial litigator. One client offers a glowing accolade on his behalf: “I hang around with a lot of smart people and Richard is by far the smartest. For example, when we were in the Court of Appeal, one of the Judges on the panel asked him a question. Without skipping a beat, Richard referred His Honour to tab 99, of our Second Book of Authorities. Even those counsel standing opposed had a wide-eyed, open-mouthed look of admiration on their faces. I have no doubt that, if Richard chooses, he will sit on the Highest Court in the land someday.” Securities “warrior” Robert Staley continues to represent the Sino-Forest Corporation Litigation Trust in its pursuit of the litigation claims of the now defunct Sino-Forest Corporation. In July 2017, Staley and his team completed a three-month trial against the former co-founder and CEO of Sino-Forest. In March 2018, a judge granted a US$2.6 billion fraud judgment in the Litigation Trust’s action against the former CEO. Staley also represented Miller Bernstein, the former auditor of Buckingham Securities, in its successful defense of an auditor negligence class action. In a unanimous decision in September 2018, the Ontario Court of Appeal overturned the lower court’s decision. The Court of Appeal found that Miller Bernstein did not owe a duty of care to its client’s clients, granted summary judgment to Miller Bernstein, and dismissed the action in its entirety.
Alberta
Benchmark Rankings
| Highly Recommended |
|---|
| Bennett Jones |
| Blake Cassels & Graydon |
| Borden Ladner Gervais |
| Burnet Duckworth & Palmer |
| JSS Barristers |
| Peacock Linder Halt & Mack |
| Rose LLP |
Ontario
Benchmark Rankings
| Attorney | Ranking | Practice Area |
|---|---|---|
| Agarwal, Ranjan | Litigation Star, 40 & Under Hot List 2019 | Class Action, General Commercial, Labor and Employment, Public Law |
| Bell, Jonathan | Future Star | |
| Buchinski, Marie | Litigation Star | Aboriginal, Energy and Natural Resources |
| Bursey, David | Litigation Star | Aboriginal, Energy and Natural Resources |
| Caylor, Lincoln | Litigation Star | Regulatory Investigations, Securities, White Collar Crime |
| Chan, Jeilah | Future Star | |
| Cranston, QC, Donald | Litigation Star | Administrative, Alternative Dispute Resolution, Arbitration, General Commercial, Medical Malpractice |
| Eizenga, Michael | Litigation Star | Class Action, General Commercial, Securities |
| Gardner, Alan | Litigation Star | General Commercial, Securities |
| Gill, Laura | Future Star | |
| Gruber, David | Litigation Star | General Commercial, Insolvency |
| Hankinson, QC, Stuart | Litigation Star | Construction |
| Hughes, Randal | Litigation Star | Competition |
| Hussey, Dominique | Litigation Star | Insurance, Intellectual Property, Product Liability, Securities |
| Lambert, Justin | Future Star, 40 & Under Hot List 2019 | |
| Lenz, Kenneth | Litigation Star | General Commercial, Insolvency |
| Leon, LSM, Jeffrey | Litigation Star, Top 50 Trial Lawyers in Canada | Class Action, Competition, Constitutional, General Commercial, Intellectual Property, Professional Liability, Securities |
| McKinnon, David | Litigation Star | General Commercial, Securities |
| Mohamed, Munaf | Litigation Star, Top 50 Trial Lawyers in Canada | Energy and Natural Resources, General Commercial |
| Mysak, Michael | Litigation Star | Energy and Natural Resources, General Commercial, Securities, White Collar Crime |
| Nemetz, QC, Bradley | Litigation Star | Construction, General Commercial, Product Liability, Professional Liability, Securities |
| Patterson, Jim | Litigation Star | White Collar Crime |
| Prather, QC, Valerie | Litigation Star | Professional Liability |
| Promislow, Ruth | Future Star | |
| Rook, John | Litigation Star | Class Action, Competition |
| Simard, Chris | Litigation Star | Energy and Natural Resources, General Commercial, Insolvency, Securities |
| Staley, Robert | Litigation Star, Top 50 Trial Lawyers in Canada | Class Action, General Commercial, Securities |
| Stapon, Grant | Litigation Star | Energy, General Commercial, Intellectual Property, Securities |
| Swan, Richard | Litigation Star, Top 50 Trial Lawyers in Canada | Arbitration, General Commercial, Intellectual Property, Securities |
| Theroux, Michael | Litigation Star | Arbitration, Energy and Natural Resources, General Commercial |
| Ward, Maureen | Future Star | |
| Woodin, Cheryl | Litigation Star, 2019 Top 25 Canadian Women in Litigation | Class Action |
| Woychesyn, Jason | Class Action, General Commercial, Securities | |
| Yorke-Slader, QC, Blair | Litigation Star, Top 50 Trial Lawyers in Canada | Class Action, Energy and Natural Resources, General Commercial, Securities |
| Zweig, Sean | Future Star | |
| Zych, Kevin | Litigation Star | Insolvency |
| , {{displayValue}} {{displayValue}} {{displayValue}} | , {{displayValue}} {{displayValue}} {{displayValue}} | , {{displayValue}} {{displayValue}} {{displayValue}} |