Experienced Counsel on Your Side
Our team consists of seasoned litigators with extensive experience handling high-profile securities cases. Many of our lawyers are former Assistant Crown Attorneys and/or prosecutors with regulatory bodies such as the OSC, IIROC, and the MFDA. We leverage this experience to develop strategies that successfully navigate the complexities of regulatory, criminal, and civil proceedings, including class actions and cross-border litigation.
Our Services
Advising Boards of Directors of Public Companies
- Conducting special or independent committee investigations
- M&A and take-over bid litigation
Regulatory and Criminal
- Investigations into breaches of provincial securities legislation and securities offences under the Criminal Code
- Defence and prosecution of insider trading, illegal distributions, fraud, and market manipulation
- Representation of reporting issuers, officers, directors, investment dealers, brokers, and employees
- Defence of professional misconduct proceedings before regulatory bodies
Civil
- Defence of negligence actions against investment dealers and advisors
- Defence of civil actions for misleading statements against public companies, officers, and directors
- Shareholder litigation, including oppression and breach of contract claims
- Class actions relating to prospectus and continuous disclosure obligations, negligence, and fraud
Notable Matters
- Defended the former CEO of Sino-Forest in the securities fraud prosecution before the Ontario Securities Commission and parallel proceedings;
- Defended a director in the misleading corporate disclosure prosecution of YBM Magnex International before the Ontario Securities Commission;
- Represented investors in matters of insider trading against regulators and shareholders; Represented investment dealers and advisors on several regulatory complaints by IIROC on off shore investments, securities related to gold, etc.;
- Represented investment dealers in several matters against clients on option trading;
- Defended a portfolio manager against a class action certification motion for $137M in the Norbourg mutual funds matter. Certification was denied;
- Defended two investment advisors against civil, penal and disciplinary proceedings in the Mont Real notes matter. All proceedings were settled;
- Represented a pension fund seeking the liquidation of a mutual fund. Liquidation was ordered;
- Defended an investment dealer against a competitor alleging that derivative product confidential information had been stolen. Action was abandoned;
- Successfully defended a financial institution and its directors against ultimately unproven allegations of stock manipulation and money laundering in the longest and most complex hearing to date before the British Columbia Securities Commission;
- Represented a portfolio manager whose Chief Analyst was sharing strategic information with an investment bank. Matter was settled;
- Represented the British Columbia Financial Institutions Commission in proceedings related to the influence and control of a credit union by parties accused of links to terrorist activities;
- Represented Canadian clients in dealings with U.S. state and federal securities regulatory authorities, including negotiating cross-border licensing arrangements and defending parties being investigated;
- Represented financial institutions and a Canadian territorial government with respect to the collapse of the Canadian third-party asset backed commercial paper market, including providing advice on litigation proceedings throughout Canada and in the U.S.;
- Defended a securities firm against a competitor alleging that products confidential information had been stolen. Action was abandoned;
- Represented a senior executive of a large Canadian subsidiary of a U.S public company and of an insider of a public mining company in connection with allegations of insider trading;
- Represented a complainant in connection with take-over bid compliance;
- Counsel to an intervener opposing the extension of a cease trade order for a VSE and ME listed company under the Securities Act (Ontario) and the Securities Act (Alberta);
- Counsel for a bank subsidiary dealer in connection with the Bre-X scandal;
- Counsel to limited partners in connection with claims in a number of failed syndications;
- Registration reinstatement for a salesperson of a now defunct broker.
