Julie Layne

Shana French is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Labour and Employment Law. Shana, 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 Shana is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.

Erin Crawford is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Family Law. Erin, 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 Erin is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.

Chris practices in the areas of labour law, civil litigation, and professional regulation/discipline. He is also a member of the firm's education and benefits law groups. Chris' labour and professional regulation/discipline practices focus on the representation of employees in all matters arising from their employment. This includes the representation of professionals before their regulators, as well as grievance arbitration and workplace human rights issues. In his civil litigation practice ...

Celeste Poltak focuses extensively on class proceedings litigation and is a partner in our class actions department. She regularly appears before a variety of courts throughout the province including the Court of Appeal, and the Supreme Court of Canada. She has developed a particular expertise in class proceedings, having worked on some of the most notable Canadian cases, including a variety of common issues trials, and is well published in the area.Celeste is often asked to lecture on the to...

Samara is a partner of INQ Law, concentrating her practice on privacy, data governance, health and technology. She is also the Managing Partner of INQ IQ Consulting. Samara regularly advises clients on a wide range of matters related to privacy, compliance, health law and technology licensing. In her work, Samara provides both practical and strategic advice to assist organizations with responsible, compliant innovation. Prior to joining INQ Law, Samara was a sole practitioner with clients tha...

Al Esterbauer is a senior counsel in the Koskie Minsky Civil Litigation practice. With more than 38 years of experience litigating a diverse spectrum of complex actions, Al has recently added mediation and arbitration to his practice. He has a broad range of litigation expertise in areas of professional liability, real estate, insurance and commercial cases. Al’s litigation practice has concentrated in the area of professional liability in the defence of claims against lawyers, but he h...

Dražen Bulat is a senior member of Miller Thomson’s National Procurement, Construction and Infrastructure Law practice group.The focus of Dražen’s practice is on the development and drafting of “front-end” procurement and contract documents, including all forms of RFx documents including tenders, RFPs, RFQs, etc. Dražen’s expertise also includes the drafting and negotiation of different forms of contracts, including industry standard contracts published by CCDC, ...

Douglas Harrison is an independent commercial arbitrator and mediator, handling both international and domestic Canadian business disputes. He also acts as legal counsel in select matters, including designing arbitral procedures and enforcing arbitral awards, as well as doing opinion work. Mr. Harrison is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, a member of the CPR Panels of Distinguished Neutrals as both an arbitrator and mediator (Global Panel, Product Liability Panel and Pro Bon...

Andrew D. Elias is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Personal Injury Litigation. Andrew D., 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 Andrew D. is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.

John is a partner at Sotos LLP. He is dean of the franchising, licensing and distributing bar – a recognition that caps a 40-year career acting for franchisors regionally, nationally and globally. Today, he continues to provide counsel to franchisors in all aspects of their businesses, including in franchise system or distribution chain design and implementation, system restructuring, international and domestic transactions, and franchise disclosure. He offers strategic support to franc...