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Natalie V. Kolos is a litigator in McCarthy Tétrault LLP’s Toronto Litigation Group and a member of the firm’s White Collar and Investigations Group. She maintains a general trial and appellate litigation practice, with a focus on commercial disputes, professional liability, white collar defence and investigations, and criminal and constitutional law.

Natalie has appeared before all levels of Court in Ontario, including the Court of Appeal for Ontario, and the Supreme Court of Canada. She served as co-counsel to the Chamber of Commerce in Christine DeJong Medicine Corporation v. DBDC Spadina Inc, 2019 SCC 30, a leading case on corporate liability for wrongdoing of their officers and directors. In that case, the Supreme Court of Canada expressly adopted the Chamber of Commerce’s proposed clarification to the Canadian Dredge & Dock Co. v. The Queen, [1985] 1 S.C.R. 662 criteria for attributing criminal and civil liability to corporations.

Natalie’s maintains a significant criminal defence and constititional practice. She advises corporations on criminal matters and represents clients in criminal trials and appeals. Her criminal defence experience includes defending fraud investigations and challenging regulatory and state practices for violating the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Natalie’s other notable experience includes:

• Lead counsel in multiple summary conviction matters resulting in withdrawal of criminal charges.
• Co-counsel in professional discipline matter where search and seizure of physician’s personal computer data was successfully challenged as violating s. 8 of the Charter and the data was excluded from the evidence.
• Co-counsel in pre-charge certiorai application to quash a search warrant resulting in halting a criminal investigation into alleged billing fraud.

Natalie is dedicated to pro-bono work. Natalie supervises law students for Pro Bono Students Canada on public interest matters and serves as an executive member of McCarthy Tétrault’s pro bono criminal defence program in partnership with the University of Toronto’s Downtown Legal Services. Natalie conducts trials and appeals through the DLS program and has acted as pro bono counsel to civil liberties groups.

Natalie has taught Evidence at Osgoode Hall Law School.

Natalie received her JD from Western Law, where she graduated on the Dean’s Honor List and received the J.S.D. Tory Writing Prize for excellence in writing and legal research. While in law school, Natalie was a research and editing assistant to two leading tort-law scholars and served as Deputy Editor-in-Chief of the Western Journal of Legal Studies.Natalie was also extensively involved in mooting, earning awards for her oral and written arguments on criminal and constitutional law, ethics, and public international law. Natalie was most recently awarded the Martin Domke Award for Best Individual Oralist and the Eric Bergsten Award for Winner of the Moot at the international rounds in Vienna, Austria at the Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot.

Before law school, Natalie obtained a BA (with High Distinction) in Political Science and an Honours BA in Law from Carleton University.

Natalie was called to the bar in 2018. She is a member of the Law Society of Ontario, the Ontario Bar Association, the Canadian Bar Association, the Criminal Lawyers’ Association, and the Advocates’ Society.

SELECTED CASES:

• R. v. MacMillan, 2021 ONSC 5014 – exclusion of statements at the border under the Charter for violation of right to counsel
• College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario v. Fagbemigun, 2021 ONCPSD 23 – exclusion of personal data obtained during medical office search under the Charter for unreasonable search and seizure
• John Doe 734 et. al. v. Jane Doe 989 (unreported) – permanent injunction enjoining disclosure and publication of personal electronic communications
• Christine DeJong Medicine Corporation v. DBDC Spadina Inc., 2019 SCC 30 – adoption of clarification by intervener limiting the scope of when corporations are liable for civil wrongdoing of directors and officers

PUBLICATIONS:

• Natalie V. Kolos, Courts of Justice Act Chapters, 17. Procedural Matters, Sections 108 - 123, 2021 CanLIIDocs 2085
• Paul Morrison, Claire Seaborn, & Natalie V. Kolos, “Consolidated Contractors Group v. Ambatovy Minerals: Ontario Court of Appeal Reinforces Deference to Arbitration” (2018) Commercial Litigation and Arbitration Review
• James Plotkin & Natalie V. Kolos, Canada, ch., Nikolaus Pitkowitz, eds., Handbook on Third-Party Funding in International Arbitration (New York: Juris, 2018)
• Natalie V. Kolos, “Discretionary Coherence: Excluding the Private Law Liability of Public Authorities in Paradis Honey v. Canada” (2017) Cambridge Law Review
• Natalie V. Kolos, “Deterring Compensation: Class Action Litigation and Damage Awards Against Corporate Defendants” (2017) Canadian Class Action Review