Best Lawyers in Canada for Labour and Employment Law

Stephen is a member of the firm's litigation and labour groups, and is the co-chair of the civil group with responsibility over employment law, civil litigation, and class actions. He is bilingual and provides client service in both French and English. His practice focuses primarily on employment law, civil litigation, class actions, administrative law, and in assisting numerous unions, employees, and administrative agencies with litigation before courts, arbitrators, and numerous tribunals a...

Simon Archer likes to get the deal done. He helps trade unions negotiate agreements and settle disputes so that promises are kept – especially pension promises. Simon works to protect the wages, working conditions and retirement security of his clients and their families. To do this, he works with trade unions, retiree associations and boards of trustees across Canada, advising on negotiating pension and benefits, trust administration and fiduciary issues, public interest litigation, in...

Jackie VanDerMeulen practices all aspects of labour, employment and human rights law. She is a skilled advocate who regularly represents employers in labour arbitrations, interest arbitrations, federal and provincial labour board matters, human rights proceedings (including pay equity), employment litigation and applications for judicial review. She also supports employers with collective bargaining and day-to-day employment advice. Jackie has gained valuable experience in pay equity, employm...

Louis is a partner of the firm. Member of the Quebec, Ontario, and New York bars, he has been practicing civil and commercial litigation and arbitration since 2004. He regularly represents clients before both trial and appellate courts, as well as before domestic and international arbitral tribunals. He has particular expertise regarding contractual disputes, corporate and shareholder litigation, manufacturers’ liability, insolvency, employment law, private international law and injunct...

Jean Houle, partner, practices labor and employment law since 1975. He has worked with companies of all shapes and sizes in the private, public, and broader public sectors. His clients benefit from his vast litigation experience before administrative and law courts, particularly in occupational health and safety. Jean has served as employer spokesperson and strategy and planning counsel during collective bargaining. He has also managed medium and long-term human resource planning as well as g...

Matthew Mihailovich is a labour and employment lawyer in Hicks Morley’s Waterloo office and the chair of the firm’s Healthcare Practice Group. He advises a wide variety of employers in both the public and private sectors on issues relating to their workplaces. Matthew appears before labour arbitrators, in court, and before the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario, the Ontario Labour Relations Board, the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board, and the Workplace Safety and Insurance Appea...

Josiane L’Heureux is a partner at Lavery’s Montreal office and a member of the Labour and Employment Law group. She advises and represents private and public employers from various sectors, both nationally and internationally. She has developed considerable expertise across Canada, particularly in assessing the often complex issues related to individual and collective labour relations, with a pragmatic approach focused on the needs of clients. Employment Disputes With expertise re...

Anthony Panacci represents unionized and non-unionized employers in a variety of industries, including the finance, telecommunications, education, transportation, and manufacturing sectors. Anthony provides strategic legal advice on the complete range of workforce matters, including those related to labour, employment, human rights, and health and safety matters. Anthony is also a member of Fasken’s multi-disciplinary executive compensation team, advising on executive employment agreeme...

Nathalie-Anne Béliveau is a seasoned and experienced litigator who focuses on civil and commercial litigation as well as competition law. Her practice focuses on complex commercial litigation, injunctions, seizures and other urgent extraordinary remedies, including Anton Piller (civil search warrant), Norwich and Mareva injunctions and intellectual property disputes. Nathalie-Anne has leading-edge litigation expertise in breach of non-compete and non-solicitation clauses, unfair or ill...

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...

Stephen Krashinsky is a labour lawyer in Goldblatt Partners' Toronto office. His practice focuses on grievance arbitration and Ontario Labour Relations Board matters. Born and raised in Montreal, Stephen attended the University of Toronto, where he achieved both his bachelor of arts and his law degree in five years. He was called to the bar in 1981. Stephen’s legal career protecting the rights of workers began during the summer following his second year of law school, when he attended t...

Lindsay (she/her) is a partner at Moore Edgar Lyster LLP where she practices human rights, labour, administrative, constitutional and professional regulatory law. She acts for public and private sector unions, professional regulators and individuals on a wide variety of matters. Lindsay has extensive experience appearing in judicial reviews and appeals involving complex human rights, administrative law and freedom of expression issues. She has appeared as counsel at all levels of court, inclu...

Rhéaume Perreault is a negotiator, speaker, seasoned lawyer, certified human resources professional and certified administrator specialized in labour law. For the past several years he has been listed as one of the leading lawyers in Canada in labour and employment law. He represents employers from the private, public and municipal sectors in addition to not-for-profit organizations. Rhéaume advises clients on labour relations, labour standards, grievance arbitration, protection...

With his unique combination of diligence, pragmatism and creativity, Maurice Dransfeld makes sure employers and management have a solid understanding of their labour and employment issues. He doesn’t just give his clients a multitude of options and leave it up to them to figure out the best one. Instead, he gives clear recommendations and advice so employers and management can be confident in making sound decisions, even in the most complex situations, that translate into strategies for...

Irv Kleiner is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Labour and Employment Law. Irv, who practices law in Toronto, Ontario, has been recognized since 2024. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Irv is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.

Mariam Moktar is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Administrative and Public Law, Corporate and Commercial Litigation and Labour and Employment Law. Mariam, who practices law in Toronto, Ontario, has been recognized since 2025. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Mariam is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.