28 LEXPERT
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2016
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WWW.LEXPERT.CA
MacKewn, Melissa J. Crawley MacKewn Brush LLP
(416) 217-0840 mmackewn@cmblaw.ca
Ms. MacKewn, a former OSC prosecutor, advises on securities regulatory
proceedings and corporate and securities related litigation, including sec-
ondary market class actions, corporate and shareholder disputes, oppression
remedy matters, proxy battles, corporate governance matters, investment
loss claims, breach of contract and professional negligence matters.
MacKenzie, Gavin MacKenzie Barristers
(416) 304-9293 gavin@mackenziebarristers.com
Mr. MacKenzie's practice focuses on civil appeals and professional issues.
He has appeared as counsel in over 200 reported cases including in the
Supreme Court of Canada. He has been honoured as a Fellow of the American
College of Trial Lawyers and is a former Treasurer (elected head) of the Law
Society of Upper Canada. He has been named Lawyer of the Year for both
Appeals and Lawyers' Liability.
Mack, QC, Perry R. Peacock Linder Halt & Mack LLP
(403) 296-2280 pmack@plhlaw.ca
Mr. Mack, QC, has a broad litigation, arbitration and mediation practice.
He has been recognized as Alberta Litigator of the Year, ADR Lawyer of the
Year, Personal Injury Lawyer of the Year and has leading rankings from Lex-
pert, Benchmark Canada, Chambers and Partners Canada, Best Lawyers
and Martindale-Hubbell. Mr. Mack is a Past President of the Law Society
of Alberta.
MacGregor, Ian Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP
(613) 787-1120 imacgregor@osler.com
Mr. MacGregor, a former Assistant Deputy Attorney General of Tax Law Ser-
vices for Justice Canada, focuses on tax litigation and dispute resolution.
He appears before all levels of court and teaches at the University of Ottawa
Law School.
MacFarlane, Robert H.C. Bereskin & Parr LLP
(416) 957-1616 rmacfarlane@bereskinparr.com
Mr. MacFarlane's practice focuses on litigation for patent, trademark, copy-
right and confidential information cases. He has appeared in the Ontario
Superior Court, the Ontario Court of Appeal, the Federal Court of Canada,
the Federal Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Canada. He is one of
Canada's top patent litigators and became a Fellow of the American College
of Trial Lawyers in 2016.
Lussier, AdE, Sylvain Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP
(514) 904-5377 slussier@osler.com
Mr. Lussier focuses on commercial, administrative, constitutional and
class action litigation. He appears before courts, commissions and boards.
He teaches administrative law and is a frequent author.
LEXPERT-RANKED LAWYERS
or to other staff within a client's organization, it's
a very intelligent and useful way to reduce costs."
Find friends. Whether your company is the
defendant or the plaintiff, figure out who your
friends are and work with them, says Fitch, al-
though it may at first sound counterproductive.
Oen, he says, hugely expensive litigation is
multi-party and involves more than one plaintiff;
for example, in class actions. On the other hand,
in different types of situations, there are multiple
defendants. Yet it is possible that some of the par-
ticipants may have the same interest in the litiga-
tion as does your organization — or on at least
some aspects of it, he says.
Even though, as an example, you are the defen-
dant in litigation, says Fitch, "there may be oppor-
tunities for you to make friends with the plain-
tiffs; you don't have to fight about everything. If
you want to get to a resolution, focus on the key
issues, give up some of your issues and let the other
side know that you're doing that.
"Draw the opponents into a more cooperative
approach to the resolution if you can and save
yourself all a lot of grief and money," says Fitch,
who adds that "in business terms, grief and money
are synonymous."
Ensure there's a decision-maker. Does
your company have a final decision-maker, asks
Kenny? Is there someone who, in collaboration
with your external counsel, can make decisions on
"Having the reporting
function done at a high
hourly rate by external
counsel can become very
significant over the life of
the file. If you get your legal
counsel actively involved and
they assume the reporting
function, you are already
saving a significant
budgetary item."
- Laurent Nahmiash, Dentons Canada LLP
