This year signals a milestone for Canada’s legal profession. The Best Lawyers in Canada™ celebrates 20 years of peer-reviewed recognition, highlighting the nation’s most respected lawyers. Alongside these seasoned leaders, the fifth edition of Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch in Canada™ shines a light on early-career lawyers making their mark.
Together, these honorees join Best Lawyers® international network of recognized lawyers, reflecting both enduring expertise and new perspectives shaping Canadian legal practice.
The Rigorous Path to Recognition
Selection for The Best Lawyers awards in Canada follows Best Lawyers' Purely Peer Review™ methodology. Lawyers are evaluated annually and submissions may come from anyone other than the nominees themselves. Evaluations are submitted confidentially by currently recognized professionals in the same practice area and region. Each candidate’s entry is carefully reviewed to confirm that it meets the requirements of good standing with local bar associations.
Strong engagement across the legal profession
This year, thousands of legal professionals across Canada took time to assess their peers. They evaluated colleagues they had worked with in court or on critical transactions, providing candid feedback on who they would trust with their clients.
For The Best Lawyers in Canada, voting lawyer engagement reached 64.5%, generating more than 719,000 evaluations this year and contributing to nearly five million historical assessments overall.
Separately, Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch in Canada achieved a strong 62% engagement rate, with 294,000 evaluations submitted this year and nearly one million historical assessments analyzed.
After the results are finalized, Best Lawyers notifies firms and awardees. The 2026 print publication of Best Lawyers in Canada, coming December 2025, will feature all recognized lawyers, including honorees from both The Best Lawyers in Canada and Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch in Canada. In each practice and metro area, one lawyer also earns the title of “Lawyer of the Year.” That honor goes to the individual with the highest overall peer feedback.
Honoring Canada’s Legal Leaders
The Best Lawyers in Canada continues to rise celebrating long-standing leaders. This year, 8,440 lawyers earned distinction, representing roughly six percent of the country’s lawyers. They come from 1,287 firms, with 413 individuals also receiving the prestigious “Lawyer of the Year” title. That means for every 300 lawyers in Canada, only one achieves this honor, underlining its rarity and esteem.
New voices continue to join the cohort. In 2026 Best Lawyers recognized 503 lawyers as first-time awardees and 41 firms celebrated their inaugural distinction.
High participation shows how invested the legal community is in identifying top talent. What began in 2006 with 857 honorees has grown steadily to over 8,400 in 2026, mirroring the expansion and evolution of Canada’s legal field.
Rising professionals in Canadian law
The 2026 edition of Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch in Canada acknowledged 2,221 early-career lawyers, representing about two percent of the profession nationwide. That means roughly one in 50 early-career lawyers earned a place on this year’s awards.
Ninety-six firms appear only through Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch honorees, reflecting how the distinction expands the national conversation. This year also brings 725 first-time listees and 107 firms awarded for the first time, showing how new voices continue to join a growing network of Canadian legal talent.
Practice Areas: Enduring Strength and Emerging Horizons
Five practice areas form the foundation of Canadian law across both Best Lawyers and Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch awards: Corporate and Commercial Litigation, Corporate Law, Labour and Employment Law, Mergers & Acquisitions and Real Estate. These fields remain central to the legal and economic fabric, reflecting steady demand and consistent performance.
Canada’s robust post-pandemic economic rebound has further driven demand for corporate legal services. The 2024 State of the Canadian Law Firm Market report, in collaboration with the Canadian Bar Association, notes that firms are navigating strong recovery, intensified competition for talent and emerging operational challenges.
Climbing frontiers in legal practice
Beyond these established pillars, several practice areas have shown notable growth in The Best Lawyers in Canada over the past three years:
- Venture Capital Law: Expanded by 78%, fueled by strong investor momentum, larger deal sizes and advancement in areas like life sciences and information and communications technology (ICT). This occurred even amid a broader pullback in early-stage activity.
- Professional Malpractice Law: Representation has risen 75% due to increased regulatory scrutiny and a greater number of claims against professionals. This is also fueled by the creative use of tort law by lawyers, who are expanding claims like "public nuisance" to create new legal risks for businesses and professionals.
- Aviation Law: The field has evolved alongside global travel recovery and the expansion of international routes by Canadian airlines. Legal challenges from labor disputes, including the Air Canada flight attendants strike, in August 2025, have also influenced the sector.
- Education Law: Legal demand has developed due to new governance and compliance requirements, particularly related to the government’s “managed expansion” model for international students.
- Privacy/Data Security Law: The demand for privacy and data security laws has increased in response to growing concerns about cybersecurity and the need for new AI regulations, anchoring this area in global trends and regulatory priorities.
Early-career leaders driving change
While the above areas highlight evolving opportunities for seasoned professionals, Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch in Canada showcases the next generation of lawyers stepping into high-demand and socially significant fields:
- Family Law: This practice area rose 200% as recent amendments to Canada's Divorce Act introduced systemic changes to parenting and disclosure provisions, driving heightened legal demand.
- Insurance Law: Increasing in prominence as litigation funding reshapes commercial insurance, creating new legal challenges and opportunities for early-career lawyers.
- Medical Negligence Law: Rising attention to patient safety and stronger regulatory oversight has increased focus on claims in this area. Hospitals are reporting more preventable harmful events, prompting greater scrutiny and legal involvement.
- Indigenous Practice Law: Growth reached 140%, fueled by new statutes, treaty developments and court decisions expanding legal needs in Indigenous law.
- Personal Injury Law: Legal work in this field is increasing as new legislation and technology reshape how claims are handled and resolved.
Gender Diversity: A Generational Shift
For the first time, women make up a majority of Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch honorees, accounting for 53.3% of the list. This milestone reflects a profession-wide shift and a generational change in representation.
In Family Law, early-career women outnumber men by 60, showing growing opportunity in fields tied to everyday life. Labour and Employment, Corporate and Commercial Litigation and Trusts and Estates also show notable leads, illustrating how early-career recognition is shaping gender balance across high-demand practice areas.
In The Best Lawyers in Canada, women surpass men in six practice areas per number of honorees. Family Law tops the list with 89 more women than men. Health Care Law, Family Law Mediation, Education Law, Charities/Non-Profit Law and Trusts and Estates also demonstrate strong representation, highlighting that certain fields have long benefited from women’s leadership.
Together, these trends reveal a generational variation. Established lawyers maintain parity in select fields while early-career honorees show a majority of women overall, including in litigation. The shift suggests a more balanced future for Canadian law, offering clients a broader and more diverse pool of expertise.
Canada’s Legal Hubs and Beyond
Recognition among Best Lawyers remains concentrated in Canada’s major hubs. Toronto leads with roughly 3,100 awardees more than double Montréal or Vancouver, while Calgary and Ottawa follow with several hundred each.
Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch demonstrates a broader geographic reach, with honorees from 126 cities nationwide. Toronto still leads with around 800 lawyers, followed by Montréal and Vancouver, while Calgary and Ottawa feature more minor but notable representation.
These differences illustrate how established recognition thrives in the major hubs, while early-career recipients show the breadth of talent extending across Canada.
Celebrating 20 Years of Excellence in Canada
For two decades, Best Lawyers has served as a trusted benchmark of legal excellence in Canada. What began with a single edition has advanced into a comprehensive network, now including the Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch category, which recognizes emerging voices alongside established leaders. Together, these distinctions highlight the enduring strength of Canada’s legal tradition while showcasing the momentum of a new generation.
The Best Lawyers in Canada 2026 confirms that this network represents both the pillars of the profession and the evolving future of Canadian law.
To explore the recognized lawyers, visit our Find a Lawyer in Canada page. Discover our Find a Lawyer page to search for lawyers in other countries and practice areas.
Disclaimer: The Best Lawyers awards are subject to ongoing review to ensure accuracy. As a result, the number of recognized attorneys may change if circumstances evolve, such as changes in an attorney’s practice status. This helps us keep our records as up-to-date as possible.
