Best Lawyers in Ontario, Canada for Trusts and Estates
Cara is a committed advocate to clients who need help with wills, estates, trust, and capacity issues. Cara is dedicated to working with her clients to come up with pragmatic and creative solutions to their legal problems. Before joining Casey & Moss, Cara spent five years working as a commercial litigator at a national, full-service law firm where she honed her advocacy and mediation skills. She is an experienced courtroom lawyer and is equally effective as counsel in arbitrations and me...
Daniel J. Stober is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Trusts and Estates. Daniel J., who practices law in Toronto, Ontario, has been recognized since 2026. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Daniel J. is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.
M. Elena Hoffstein, FEA, has a practice focused in all areas of estate planning, family business succession planning, corporate reorganization both pre and post mortem planning. She also advises on cross border and international matters, will, trusts and marriage contracts. Elena is also a recognized leader in charity law advising both charities and donors on effective legislative, tax and regulatory matters and on tax effective charitable gifting. Elena frequently advises clients on family b...
Anne draws on her decades of broad experience in complex commercial litigation, real estate disputes, corporate governance challenges, professional liability matters and medical negligence cases. She also has experience in the areas of human rights and privacy law. Anne’s judgment is respected by her peers, and she is often retained as a mediator to settle disputes. She is a frequent lecturer at trust and estates conferences with the Law Society of Ontario, the Advocates Society and the...
Nimali has had a long-held interest in issues relating to health, disability and aging. Yet after graduating from law school in 1999, she articled at a full-service firm where there was little exposure to the issues that interested her. She was so disillusioned with the practise of law at that time that she thought she might leave it all together to become a VJ at Much Music (which seemed like a reasonable exit strategy at the time). Fortunately for Nimali and her future clients, she did not ...
Matthew Getzler is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Trusts and Estates. Matthew, 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 Matthew is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.
David Stevens is partner in the business law department in the Gowling WLG Toronto office. David is a tax lawyer, focussing on corporate and international tax planning, personal and private company tax planning, trust taxation, charities and not-for-profits, and mining. David's clients include high net worth individuals and their families, regsitered charities, not-for-profit organizations, and trust companies. David advises clients on business succession planning, estate planning and estate ...
Lionel Tupman is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Professional Malpractice Law and Trusts and Estates. Lionel, 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 Lionel is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.
Brian Cohen is a partner and lawyer in Gowling WLG’s global Private Client Services Group. Based in Toronto, he assists clients in the areas of estate planning, trusts and personal taxation, with a focus on advising high net worth individuals on succession planning alternatives. Brian also advises donors, charitable organizations, public and private foundations, and not-for-profit organizations regarding the tax implications of formation, registration, governance and planned giving stra...
Jennifer Corak advises Canadian and international clients on a wide range of estate and trust matters, including Will and probate planning, taxation in relation to estates and trusts, planning with inter vivos trusts, incapacity planning, and estate administration. She has particular experience with cross-border and international estate planning, including dealing with high and ultra-high net worth individuals with assets in multiple jurisdictions, individuals who are nationals and/or tax res...
Pamela is a tax partner who focuses her practice on taxation, estate and trust planning, tax dispute resolution and voluntary disclosures of unpaid taxes. She regularly advises individuals and family enterprises on estate planning, including complex situations involving multi-jurisdictional assets or beneficiaries, philanthropy and gift planning. Pamela also advises both Canadian and international clients on taxation issues relating to establishing and operating business and investment struct...
David R. Schlesinger is a top lawyer recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Tax Law and Trusts and Estates. David R., 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 David R. is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area. David has extensive experience advising clients on taxation matters in: corporate reorganizations, mergers a...
Marni Whitaker is a partner practicing with Loopstra Nixon’s Wills, Trusts & Estates and Business Law groups. Marni has extensive experience in all aspects of estate planning and administration including drafting and giving opinions on wills, powers of attorney, trusts, corporate reorganizations associated with estate planning, personal tax advice, advice and documentation relating to the Family Law Act , administration of estates, estate accounting problems, work for charitable and...
Lou-Anne Farrell joined Harrison Pensa as Counsel in 2022 to help build our Estate Litigation practice. She has been practicing in the Estate Litigation field for over 35 years. Her practice includes will challenges, spousal and dependent’s claims, removal of executors and contested estate audits, as well as Power of Attorney litigation, capacity litigation, the appointment of guardians, and Breach of Trust claims. Her expertise in this field is recognized locally and throughout the pro...
Lucy E. Main advises Canadian and international clients on a wide range of estate and trust matters, including drafting estate planning documents, establishing private charitable foundations for individuals and families, helping with the administration of estates, assisting in the setting up and maintenance of trusts and providing support to litigators in contentious matters. In 2016 she was awarded the Hoffstein Book Prize by the Ontario Bar Association (OBA) for her contributions to these a...
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.