WWW.LEXPERT.CA
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2018
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LEXPERT 27
Kay, Katherine L. Stikeman Elliott LLP
(416) 869-5507 kkay@stikeman.com
Ms. Kay litigates complex commercial cases, often involving interplay with
regulatory, civil and criminal law regimes. Internationally recognized as the
leading Canadian competition litigator, her practice includes class actions,
product liability, and international cases. A first call for "bet the farm"
litigation, she was named one of the Top 25 Women in Litigation
by Benchmark Canada.
Kauffman, Aubrey E. Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP
(416) 868-3538 akauffman@fasken.com
Mr. Kauffman's practice is focused on advocacy matters related to domestic
and cross-border bankruptcy, insolvency and restructuring proceedings. Past
Chair of the Toronto office's Insolvency and Restructuring Group, he is the
director of the prestigious Insolvency Institute of Canada and past Chair
of the Ontario Bar Association – Insolvency Section.
Kapusianyk, QC, Brian G. Gowling WLG
(403) 298-1014 brian.kapusianyk@gowlingwlg.com
Mr. Kapusianyk practises in the areas of insurance and commercial litigation
with an emphasis in professional liability, construction law, D&O litigation,
commercial insurance coverage, as well as personal injury and products
liability litigation.
Kaplan, QC, William C. Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP
(604) 631-3304 bill.kaplan@blakes.com
Mr. Kaplan's litigation practice focuses on corporate/commercial,
governance, securities and insolvency matters. He appears on a wide
variety of cases at all levels of BC courts, the Supreme Court of Canada,
administrative tribunals and arbitration panels.
Jolliffe, R. Scott Gowling WLG
(416) 862-5400 scott.jolliffe@gowlingwlg.com
Mr. Jolliffe is one of Canada's pre-eminent trial and appellate lawyers in
the intellectual property field. His areas of specialization include patent,
trademark, copyright and trade secret litigation.
Jilesen, Monique Lenczner Slaght Royce Smith Griffin LLP
(416) 865-2926 mjilesen@litigate.com
Ms. Jilesen acts as lead counsel in highly complex proceedings and her
extensive litigation practice includes class actions, contract and shareholder
disputes, civil fraud cases, injunctions, bankruptcy & insolvency matters, and
securities & derivatives cases. She has an enviable record of success at trial
in bet-the-company disputes. She is a fellow of the International Academy
of Trial Lawyers.
LEXPERT-RANKED LAWYERS
behave as civilly as they should. Tom Curry, Man-
aging Partner at Lenczner Slaght Royce Smith
Griffin LLP in Toronto, who represented the
LSO in the Groia case (and did not want to com-
ment on it specifically), says that might be a con-
tributing factor to "the perception that the civility
discourse is diminishing. [It's] being replaced by
a society that's perhaps too busy. I think as the
profession has grown and with the rise of social
media and other things, that that contributed to
… the disintegration of some of the rules [of con-
duct]." Curry himself is the recipient of the 2018
Catzman Award for Professionalism and Civility
by e Advocates' Society.
Both Curry and Cherniak note that some young
lawyers do not have access to the kind of support
they had when they were starting out. "I have con-
cerns that people coming up in the profession and
doing litigation don't have the benefit of the kind
of mentoring and experience I had when I was a
young counsel," says Cherniak. "ey haven't been
exposed to mentoring, either in small firms or as
sole practitioners and have no access to advice on
how to conduct themselves or how to deal with
people who are misconducting themselves."
Curry agrees that mentorship provides "oppor-
tunities for younger lawyers to observe other law-
yers who have achieved the heights of their profes-
sion in terms of the quality of their work while also
observing the highest standards of civility."
While the Groia case dealt with behaviour dur-
ing a trial, most litigators' interactions with op-
posing counsel, of course, occur outside the court-
room and absent the presence of a judge. "It's in
phone calls, written correspondence, examination,
discovery," says Armstrong, who has experienced
uncivil behaviour at times, although she says the
majority of her communications have been pro-
fessional and courteous. "When counsel conduct
themselves [uncivilly in these situations], both
parties tend to spend more money on distractions,
like scheduling and other unimportant details,
rather than on what we have a duty to focus on."
Groia's case took a considerable toll on the de-
fence lawyer, who estimates he spent $2 million on
legal fees and lost business combined as he pursued
his defence (the SCC awarded him $500,000,
from the LSO, toward his costs). He says he's "con-
fident" that a law society "will never again try to
prosecute a lawyer for courtroom conduct unless
there has been a contempt finding or a judge asks
them to do so by way of a complaint referral," a
claim the LSO chose not to respond to.
It's impossible to know if the SCC's ruling will
affect civility within the profession but to Cher-
niak, the SCC decision was a "great win for the
profession and the public who will need represen-
tation by resolute lawyers in the future. ey owe
Joe a big debt of gratitude."
