Best Lawyers in Canada for Appellate Practice
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Province
David Quesnel is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Administrative and Public Law, Appellate Practice and Product Liability Law. David, who practices law in Montréal, Quebec, has been recognized since 2024. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which David is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.
Doug founded IMK in 1997 with the late Colin K. Irving. In the course of his career, he has acted as lead counsel in many complex cases, participated in trials covered by the media, advised clients on delicate issues and played key roles in crisis management to avoid or settle disputes. His career and his way of intervening in cases have earned him the respect of all the courts before which he has pleaded. He has acted for the Chief Justice of Quebec and the Canadian Judicial Council and has ...
Chris Rudnicki is a criminal law expert. He is a veteran of hundreds of criminal trials and appeals. His experience includes complex, serious, and precedent-setting cases at every level of court in Ontario and at the Supreme Court of Canada. Chris specializes in criminal appeals. Losing a criminal case is a traumatic experience. Convicted persons lose the presumption of innocence and often also lose their freedom. Most of Chris’s clients contact him after being found guilty but before s...
Fahad Siddiqui leads our public strategy group. He advises clients on bet-the-company litigation, regulation, and reputational problems. Fahad has successfully brought and defended cases involving contested legislation and regulatory decisions, M&A transactions, commercial claims, shareholder claims, proxy contests, board disputes, contract claims, insolvency disputes, and defamation. His recent work includes acting for international streaming services in a challenge to new internet regul...
John's advocacy is tried and tested, having conducted dozens of lengthy and complex arbitrations, trials, and administrative hearings. John has a robust appellate practice, having appeared at the Court of Appeal for Ontario on over 40 appeals and before the Supreme Court of Canada on multiple occasions. John does not shy from challenge. Some of John’s most notable cases are the product of his creative, boundary-testing approach, and passion for applying the law creatively to achieve sen...
For over 30 years, trade unions have relied on Steven Barrett to represent their interests, and the interests of their members, in all types of legal proceedings. Grievance and interest arbitration, labour relations board applications, collective bargaining – Steven does it all and makes it look easy. That’s why a member of parliament once referred to Steven as “the Wayne Gretzky of labour law”. From protecting the scope of bargaining unit work, to challenging discipli...
Chris G. Paliare is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Administrative and Public Law, Appellate Practice, Bet-the-Company Litigation, Class Action Litigation, Corporate and Commercial Litigation and Labour and Employment Law. Chris G., who practices law in Toronto, Ontario, has been recognized since 2006. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Chris G. is held by other top lawyers in the same geograp...
A strong defender of the view that a messy desk is a sign of creative genius, Colleen Bauman enjoys grappling with legal questions that don’t have an easy answer. Clients and colleagues look to Colleen when facing complex or novel constitutional, labour, or human rights issues. In her down to earth style, Colleen guides them with thoughtful advice that is both practical and tactical. Colleen’s clients include unions, professional associations, employees, other lawyers and even jud...
Partner at Woods, Bodgan Catanu’s practice focuses on complex commercial disputes. He has extensive experience in high-stakes contractual matters, class actions, and corporate litigation. He has pleaded before the first instance and appeal tribunals of the province of Québec. He acted as lead counsel in several commercial arbitrations, notably a $200 million supplier–distributor UNCITRAL arbitration. He was recently co-lead counsel for certain bondholders of Nemaska Lithium...
Mr. Cherniak’s practice is restricted to arbitrations and mediations and trial and appellate work, in a broad spectrum of complex commercial, insurance and public litigation and arbitration. Mr. Cherniak is a member (and Past Chair) of the Toronto Commercial Arbitration Society (TCAS) and a non-resident member arbitrator at Arbitration Place, a fully integrated arbitration centre located in the heart of Canada’s financial district in downtown Toronto, and a member of the arbitrati...
Sean Griffin is a partner in the litigation group in Langlois lawyers’ Montréal office and a member of the firm’s Board of Directors. His practice focuses on complex litigation involving constitutional, administrative and commercial law issues, as well as corporate and securities matters. With recognized expertise in defending public and private corporations, financial institutions and various entities active in the financial markets, including their directors and officers,...
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE: Mr. Halt graduated as the gold medal recipient from the University of Saskatchewan in 1986 and in 1988-89 he had the honour of serving as a law clerk to Madam Justice Bertha Wilson of the Supreme Court of Canada. Following his clerkship, Mr. Halt relocated to Calgary and has since practised civil litigation, including insurance with an emphasis on professional liability, corporate commercial litigation, securities litigation, franchise litigation, insolvency, construc...
Shantona co-founded Pape Chaudhury in 2018. She represents both individual and institutional clients in civil and commercial disputes. Her practice includes commercial litigation, class actions, torts, professional discipline, professional negligence, administrative, constitutional, and public international law. Shantona has considerable expertise in appeals: she has been counsel in over 30 cases at the Ontario Court of Appeal and has successfully argued at the Supreme Court of Canada. She al...
Our Methodology
Recognition by Best Lawyers is based entirely on peer review. Our methodology is designed to capture, as accurately as possible, the consensus opinion of leading lawyers about the professional abilities of their colleagues within the same geographical area and legal practice area.
The Process
Best Lawyers employs a sophisticated, conscientious, rational, and transparent survey process designed to elicit meaningful and substantive evaluations of the quality of legal services. Our belief has always been that the quality of a peer review survey is directly related to the quality of the voters.