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20 www.canadianlawyermag.com FEATURE TOP CIVIL LITIGATION AND CRIMINAL BOUTIQUES we structure our firm. And, as a result, we act on both sides of class actions for plaintiffs and for defendants. We act for and against govern- ment, and what we have found is that clients actually accept it. And many of them appre- ciate the independence of the model." The firm focuses on complex commer- cial litigation and is engaged in high-profile disputes in a range of industries. Lenczner Slaght Royce Smith Griffin LLP Toronto litigate.com Since the last time Canadian Lawyer published the Top Civil Litigation Boutiques list, Lenczner Slaght has been "extraordi- narily busy," says managing partner Tom Curry. Active, as always, on the Toronto commercial list, the firm has also expanded its work outside its home province of Ontario — with class proceedings and other commer- cial litigation in Atlantic Canada, the Prairies and B.C. In June 2019, the firm launched ReferToHer, initiated by partners Sana Halwani and Shara Roy. The initiative provides a rolodex of stand-out female lawyers for other lawyers looking to refer a file. In January, in partnership with McCarthy Tétrault, it launched ReferToHer Corporate, to expand the service to the areas of public and private M&A, private equity and securi- ties and capital markets. "The data shows that people, when they refer cases to lawyers, they tend to think of the men before the women," says Curry. "This is a way of keeping our female colleagues at the bar in the minds of people who are refer- ring conflict work. And that's been a tremen- dous success." This year also began with the news of the retirement of civil litigation icon and firm founder Alan Lenczner. Nathanson Schachter & Thompson LLP Vancouver nst.bc.ca Founded in 1987, the firm focuses on complex commercial disputes. In addition to five Queen's Counsel, the firm includes many former law clerks from the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court of Canada. NST has recently acted in several highly complex cases, including in Concord Pacific Acquisitions Inc. v. Oei, where the firm successfully defended a claim in excess of $350 million. In Wastech Ltd. v. GVS&DD, the firm appeared before the Supreme Court of Canada, which is expected to further clarify the Bhasin test. In Great Canadian Gaming Corporation v. British Columbia Lottery Corporation, NST represented Great Canadian in a $35-million commercial dispute, achieving settlement on the eve of a nine-week trial. The firm's lawyers regularly contribute to legal scholarship, including: serving as adjunct professors at UBC Law School; writing chapters in texts on business torts, government liability and the Annual Review of Law and Practice; frequently speaking at continuing legal education events on civil litigation law and practice; and authoring two of the province's main litigation hand- books, the annual British Columbia Supreme Court Rules Annotated and The Civil Appeal Handbook. Paliare Roland Rosenberg Rothstein LLP Toronto paliareroland.com Founded in 2001, Paliare Roland Rosenberg Rothstein LLP has more than doubled in size to 40 current lawyers from 18 original litigators. It handles a broad range of cases