The most widely read magazine for Canadian lawyers
Issue link: https://digital.canadianlawyermag.com/i/1547060
54 www.canadianlawyermag.com TOP LITIGATION LAW BOUTIQUES 2026 LITIGATION IN CANADA is harder and more expensive than it used to be. However, the best firms have turned that into a competitive advantage by offering senior- level attention without the overhead of a full- service practice. "The cost of running these cases has increased substantially, particularly over the past six years, and I attribute a lot of it to COVID," says Richard M. Bogoroch, founder and managing partner of Bogoroch & Associates in Toronto. As an outside voice on litigation trends rather than one of this year's ranked firms, he points to higher expert witness and disbursement costs as a major driver. Canadian Lawyer's eighth bi-annual Top Litigation Law Boutiques survey shows one pattern standing out above all others. The CANADA'S TOP LITIGATION LAW BOUTIQUES FOR 2026 SHOW CONSISTENCY PAYS OFF firms that win once tend to keep winning, but that's not to suggest there isn't dyna- mism in the area, with first-time winners being crowned. Six of this year's 15 recognized firms, Lenczner Slaght LLP, Lax O'Sullivan Lisus Gottlieb LLP, Paliare Roland Rosenberg Rothstein LLP, Stockwoods LLP, Woods LLP, and Hunter Litigation Chambers, have appeared in the rankings since the survey's earliest cycles in 2012, a level of staying power in a competitive, high-turnover legal market that illustrates what boutique litiga- tion practice requires to endure. The consistency behind Canada's leading litigation law boutiques The litigation law boutique model asks something specific of a firm: deliver senior- level advocacy without the overhead and structural layers of a large full-service prac- tice, a dynamic Canadian Lawyer has tracked among the country's litigation law boutiques for years. The 2026 survey drew 473 votes across 57 nominated firms between April and June 2026, with lawyers, in-house counsel, and clients asked to rank up to 10 firms in order of preference. To be considered, a firm needed the majority of its business to come from litigation work, a threshold that keeps the comparison focused on genuine litiga- tion specialists rather than full-service firms with a litigation department attached. The strength behind this year's Top Liti- gation Law Boutiques list echoes elsewhere in CL's own coverage. At the 2026 Cana- dian Law Awards, held in Toronto in May, Lenczner Slaght won Litigation & Dispute Resolution Boutique Law Firm of the Year outright, with Adair Goldblatt Bieber LLP, Lax O'Sullivan Lisus Gottlieb, Jensen Shawa Solomon Duguid Hawkes LLP, and Stock- woods all named Excellence Awardees in the same category. Stockwoods partner Brian Gover also took home the Lifetime Achievement in the Legal Profession award for private practice. Paliare Roland Rosenberg Rothstein was recognized as an Excellence Awardee for Pro Bono Initiative of the Year for its work on Cycle Toronto et al. v. Attorney General of Ontario et al., and Jensen Shawa Solomon Duguid Hawkes also acted as counsel on Canadian Tobacco's restructuring under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act, the KEY INSIGHTS The eighth cycle of Canada's longest-running litigation boutique ranking at a glance 6 Since 2012 Six firms on this year's list have won every survey cycle since 2012, eight consecutive cycles of peer recognition apiece. 9/10 East winners Nine of the 10 Eastern Canada winners are based in Toronto, with Woods LLP in Montreal the lone exception. 3:2 West winners Vancouver accounts for three of the five Western Canada winners, with Calgary home to the other two. 5 Cross-recognition Five of this year's winners were also recognized at the 2026 Canadian Law Awards, including Lenczner Slaght's outright category win. Source: Canadian Lawyer's eighth bi-annual Top Litigation Law Boutiques survey, 2026, and the 2026 Canadian Law Awards sponsored by Array SPECIAL REPORT