Partner, head of the Class Actions Department, and former member of the firm's Executive Committee. Celeste Poltak regularly appears before a variety of provincial courts, including the Court of Appeal, and has acted as counsel on numerous applications for leave to the SCC. She has worked on some of the most notable Canadian cases: Pearson v. Inco, Cloud v. Canada, Dolmage v. Ontario, Millwrights v. Celestica Inc., and Bayens v. Kinross. Her practice has also involved negotiations with the Federal Government regarding the Indian Residential Schools litigation, including the court approvals of that pan-Canadian settlement agreement, the Sixties Scoop, the "Purge" of LGBTQ persons from the military, in addition to acting as counsel at common issues trials such as Anderson v. Canada, Ruffolo v. Sun Life Assurance, and Smith v. Inco. Poltak has been published in the U of T Faculty of Law Review, Canadian Class Actions Review, and Lawyers Weekly. She is a frequent speaker at industry conferences and has lectured on class proceedings at Osgoode Hall and U of T Law. She authored a chapter in Class Actions in Canada and served on the LCO's expert advisory panel respecting amendments to the Class Proceeding Act. In 2024, she received the OBA Award of Excellence in Class Proceedings.
