Most recommended corporate and commercial litigation law firms in Ontario

These were Lexpert's leading corporate and commercial litigation firms in Ontario for 2020. The complete lineup of lawyers and law firms can be viewed on our page showing the current best corporate commercial lawyers in Ontario.

Corporate and commercial litigation comprises the provision of advice and representation, whether by way of negotiation, civil proceedings, alternative dispute resolution, mediation or arbitration, in matters relating to the breach of or disputes regarding commercial contracts, and purchase and sale of assets, equipment or other lease agreements.

The practice also involves banking and financing litigation, which includes secured and unsecured enforcement and recovery, multi-party creditor disputes, asset recovery and tracing, and disputes regarding various security, financing or trade instruments.

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Corporate and commercial litigation also encompasses business organization disputes resulting from shareholder agreements, joint ventures, partnerships, distribution, agency and other such matters.

Full-service firms

Bennett Jones LLP

Bennett Jones LLP is one of Canada’s leading business law firms. The firm boasts more than 400 lawyers and business advisors in its offices in Toronto, Calgary, Edmonton, Ottawa and Vancouver, as well as New York in the US and Beijing in China. Bennett Jones specializes in complex cross-border and international transactions and litigation. The firm advises foreign businesses and investors on Canadian ventures and investments and connects Canadian businesses and investors with opportunities across the globe. The firm prides itself on offering clients innovative, strategic and forward-thinking approaches to business, legal, and regulatory challenges and opportunities.

Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP

Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP (Blakes) is one of Canada’s top business law firms, providing legal advice to leading businesses both domestically and overseas. It offers a full spectrum of capabilities in virtually all aspects of business law. Blakes handles transactions of all sizes and levels of complexity, whether an issue is local or multi-jurisdictional, or practice-area specific or interdisciplinary. The firm has offices in Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, Ottawa and Montréal, and international offices in New York, London and Beijing.

Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP

Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP (Davies) is a full-service business law firm specializing in high-stakes and complex matters. Its clients include leading businesses and financial institutions in North America and abroad. Davies has offices in Toronto, Montréal and New York. Its lawyers are internationally recognized for their technical expertise and practical ability to achieve their clients’ objectives. The firm advises clients in a range of practice areas, including capital markets and securities, commercial real estate, competition and foreign investment, corporate governance, dispute resolution, finance, white-collar defence, mergers and acquisitions, pensions and executive compensation, private equity and tax.

Goodmans LLP

Toronto-based Goodmans LLP is recognized as one of Canada’s most innovative law firms, providing expert legal service in all aspects of business law. The firm’s business-related specialties include capital markets, mergers and acquisitions, restructuring, technology, real estate investment trust, tax and litigation. Goodmans caters to a wide range of Canadian and international businesses, from startups to multinational corporations.

McCarthy Tétrault LLP

McCarthy Tétrault LLP is one of Canada’s leading full-service law firms, offering expert legal services to clients in Canada and around the world. The firm delivers integrated business, litigation, tax, real property, and labour and employment offerings through its offices in Canada’s major commercial centres, New York in the US and London in the UK. The firm boasts multi-disciplinary industry groups, which provide contextual advice across various industries including, banking and financial services, energy and infrastructure, private equity and investments, resources and extraction, retail and consumer markets, capital markets, real estate, technology and communications, and healthcare and science.

Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP

Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP has offices in Toronto, Montréal, Calgary, Ottawa and Vancouver, as well as New York in the US. It boasts a stable of more than 400 lawyers providing expert legal services to Canadian, US and international clients. The firm is recognized for its extensive expertise in business law and is consistently ranked as among Canada’s top law firms. It is well-versed in a wide range of industries, including agribusiness, clean tech, energy, fintech, food products, gaming, health, hospitality and leisure, infrastructure, life sciences, mining, real estate investment trusts, REIT, retail and venture capital.

Stikeman Elliott LLP

Stikeman Elliott LLP specializes in business law with clients in Canada and across the globe. The firm provides counsel and advise through its offices in Toronto, Montréal, Ottawa, Calgary, Vancouver, New York in the US, London in the UK and Sydney in Australia. Stikeman Elliott boasts an exceptional track record on multi-jurisdictional matters across Canada, the US and internationally. Its primary practice areas include mergers and acquisitions, securities, litigation and dispute resolution, banking and finance, competition and foreign investment, tax, restructuring, energy, real estate, project development, pensions, and labour and employment.

Torys LLP

Torys LLP is an international business law firm with offices in Toronto, Montréal, Halifax, Calgary and New York. It advises clients on a wide range of transactions, including banking and debt finance, board advisory and governance, capital markets, competition and foreign investment, consumer protection, corporate restructuring, intellectual property, litigation and dispute resolution, mergers and acquisitions, private equity and tax. Teamwork is one of the firm’s distinguishing features, reflected in all aspects of how the firm partners with clients and collaborates internally, the firm says. Long-standing clients continue to retain Torys not only for excellent service and legal expertise, but also because of a shared value for lasting partnerships based on trust and respect, it adds.

Borden Ladner Gervais LLP

Borden Ladner Gervais LLP (BLG) is the largest of Canada’s few AmLaw Global 100 firms, and has full-service offices in Toronto, Ottawa, Montréal, Calgary and Vancouver, and an international office in Beijing. It is a bilingual (English/French) firm that excels under both the common and civil law systems in Canada. BLG boasts more than 700 lawyers, intellectual property agents and legal professionals worldwide. It serves businesses and other institutions regarding a range legal matters, including mergers and acquisitions, capital markets, major disputes, financing, and trademark and patent registration. BLG is Canada’s oldest law firm and the first in North America to implement client service standards.

Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP

Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP is an international business law firm consisting of more than 700 lawyers. It has 10 offices across Canada, the UK, South Africa and China. The firm provides practical, innovative and cost-effective legal services regarding complex business and litigation matters. Fasken’s core practice areas include antitrust and competition, banking and finance, corporate governance, insolvency and restricting, labour and employment, human rights, mergers and acquisition, litigation and dispute resolution private equity and venture capital, tax and product liability.

Gowling WLG

International law firm Gowling WLG boasts a network of more than 1,400 legal professionals in 19 cities worldwide. The firm serves clients in key sectors, including energy, financial services, life sciences, natural resources, infrastructure, real estate and technology. It has logged more than 9,400 pro bono hours and has been repeatedly recognized as a top employer committed to diversity, inclusion and innovation. Gowling WLG says it is built on the belief that the best way to serve clients is to be in tune with their world, aligned with their opportunity and ambitious for their success.

Norton Rose Fulbright Canada LLP

Norton Rose Fulbright Canada LLP is an international full-service business law firm with more than 3,700 lawyers and legal staff based in North and Latin America, Europe, Asia, Australia, Middle East and Africa. It has offices in more than 50 cities worldwide, including Toronto, London, Houston, New York, Mexico City, Hong Kong, Sydney and Johannesburg. The firm serves the world’s largest corporations and financial institutions. It boasts extensive experience in key industries, including finance, energy, infrastructure, and mining, transportation, technology, life sciences and healthcare. Through its global risk advisory group, Norton Rose Fulbright uses its industry experience and knowledge of legal, regulatory, compliance and governance issues to provide its clients with practical advice various risks facing their businesses, the firm says.

WeirFoulds LLP

WeirFoulds LLP is a full-service business law firm established in 1860. It provides expert legal advice to clients in four major areas of practice, namely government, litigation, property and corporate. The firm has acted in some of Canada’s most significant mandates and have represented clients in many landmark cases. WeirFoulds says that its roster of top-tier legal talent is what allows it to operate in a streamlined and strategic manner, while the firm’s size allows it to offer clients access to world-class legal services without the burden of extensive cost overheads.

Boutique firms

Lax O'Sullivan Lisus Gottlieb LLP

Toronto-based Lax O'Sullivan Lisus Gottlieb LLP (LOLG) is one of Canada’s top litigation firms. It handles complex commercial disputes and public law cases. The firm carries a robust trial, arbitration and appellate practice across the country and in the Supreme Court of Canada. LOLG acts as counsel in insolvency cases, class actions, securities litigation and public and administrative law matters. It also represents clients in franchise, infrastructure, employment and health law disputes. The firm’s practitioners are leaders at the bar, holding positions on the Chief Justice of Ontario’s Advisory Committee on Professionalism and the Supreme Court Advocacy Institute, and fellowships in elite trial organizations.

Lenczner Slaght Royce Smith Griffin LLP

Lenczner Slaght Royce Smith Griffin LLP is widely recognized as among Canada’s leading litigation firms. The Toronto-based boutique firm has successfully represented clients in some of the most complex and high-profile cases in the country. It has acted for clients in about 17,000 cases and conducted around 500 trials, arbitrations and tribunal hearings, which span more than two decades of practice. In total, the firm’s team has spent more than 6,500 days in hearings. It has represented a diverse roster of clients, including multinational technology and pharmaceutical companies, Canada’s largest financial institutions, professionals, executives, business owners and public figures.

Paliare Roland Rosenberg Rothstein LLP

Paliare Roland Rosenberg Rothstein LLP is a top-tier litigation firm based in Toronto. The firm is widely recognized for its work in complex and important matters where critical interests are at stake. It represents clients in various transactions, including commercial litigation, labour disputes, class actions and professional discipline. The firm says it draws from wealth of experience, commitment to excellence and pursuit of the highest professional standards to represent clients with passion and inventiveness.

Pape Chaudhury LLP

Toronto-based litigation boutique Pape Chaudhury LLP focuses on civil litigation, with an emphasis on appellate advocacy, commercial litigation, negligence and torts, professional liability, class actions and public law. It specializes in complex matters and has significant experience in working with other lawyers whose clients need litigation counsel. The firm has argued more than 150 appeals on behalf of both appellants and respondents. Pape Chaudhury has represented a broad range of clients, including individuals, businesses, and institutions. It boasts a wealth of experience at all levels of courts and tribunals in Ontario and the Supreme Court of Canada.

Thornton Grout Finnigan LLP

Toronto-based law firm Thornton Grout Finnigan LLP (TGF) focuses on commercial litigation, and insolvency and restructuring. It consists of a mix of senior litigation and restructuring lawyers with extensive experience both inside and outside major full-service law firms, and talented and energetic younger lawyers who thrive in the entrepreneurial environment of a specialty firm. TGF delivers practical and business-oriented advice in a dynamic and time-sensitive environment. Its wide range of clients include financial institutions, regulatory agencies, publicly traded and private companies, and officers and directors.