Legal news and trends for Canadian in-house counsel and c-suite executives
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26 www.canadianlawyermag.com/inhouse FEATURE litigation-related categories. With deep talent at the associate level, the firm can efficiently staff and handle the full range of commercial disputes, class actions (including in the anti-trust and product liability areas), and public litigation. The firm's lawyers have developed expertise across a broad spectrum, encompassing professional negligence, natural resources, labour and employment, defamation, public and constitutional law, Aboriginal law, and criminal and quasi-criminal prosecutions. In addition to their respective practices before trial courts, administrative and arbitral tribunals, counsel at Hunter Litigation Chambers appear regularly in the Court of Appeal for British Columbia and the Supreme Court of Canada, and the Federal Court and Federal Court of Appeal. The firm is consistently recognized for its commitment to pro bono programs and its work to enable access to justice better. Jensen Shawa Solomon Duguid Hawkes LLP Calgary | jssbarristers.ca JSS Barristers (Jensen Shawa Solomon Duguid Hawkes LLP) is a litigation and dispute resolution firm located in Calgary. It is known for high-quality advocacy and trial representation across multiple industries and practice areas. The firm acts in general corporate and commercial litigation matters, construction claims, oil and gas disputes, data and privacy protection, public interest litigation, arbitration and mediations, and class action suits — both for plaintiffs and defendants. Over the past year, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, JSS Barristers shifted its focus to virtual representations and appearances. Managing partner Andrew Wilson notes, "we were actually well-positioned for the shift to virtual appearances, meetings and work generally. We were already using leading litigation support technology in all aspects of our business before the pandemic, including our state-of-the-art arbitration room." He went on to note, "We also added multiple virtual hearing rooms to accommodate and comply with provincial restrictions. Our lawyers have argued — and continue to argue — trials, appeals, arbitrations and mediations remotely, and to seamlessly conduct discovery, meet with clients, witnesses and opposing counsel, and collaborate using safe and reliable technology." Since being founded in 1995, JSS Barris- ters has grown substantially, becoming one of the largest litigation boutique firms in western Canada. Demand for the firm's services has increased, notwithstanding the global pandemic, resulting in a steep rise in signifi- cant engagements overall. Lax O'Sullivan Lisus Gottlieb LLP Toronto | lolg.ca Lax O'Sullivan Lisus Gottlieb partner, Jonathan Lisus, says a central feature of his Toron- to-based litigation firm — and one that is unique among its peers — is its lack of embedded client relationships. "We don't act for banks. We don't act for insurance companies. We don't act for telcos. We don't act for utilities. We don't act for financial institutions. And that's by design. We maintain a completely independent practice," he says. "It preserves independence and enables us to have a greater degree of control over the work." A portion of the firm's work is conflict referral, but the majority is "first-call and one-off mandates," he says. "We jealously guard our independence, and that's the way we structure our firm. And, as a result, we act on both sides of class actions for plaintiffs and 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 commercial litigation and is engaged in high-profile disputes in a range of industries. "Randy [Kaardal] is a strategic thinker who has the ability to think outside the box in terms of the strategies we needed to use for discussion." Richard Thomas, PI Financial, ( a client of Hunter Litigation Chambers)