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A skilled negotiator, strategic advisor, and passionate advocate, Sean is a tenacious litigator with a knack for cutting to the heart of an issue.
Sean maintains a general trial, arbitration, and appellate practice focusing on complex, high-stakes commercial disputes and professional liability. Sean represents clients of all sizes in a wide range of civil and commercial matters at every level of court in Ontario and across the country.
Sean understands the industries in which clients operate and the nuances and regulatory frameworks that lead them to exposure. He is a problem solver viewing his practice through the lens of clients’ business interests. Sean does what it takes to get the best results whether that means drawing on his experience as a trial lawyer, negotiator, or advisor.
Representative Cases
- Banking and Financial Services: Acting for banks and financial institutions in private wealth and commercial disputes, estates disputes, complex capacity proceedings including undue influence claims or suspicious circumstances, and contractual claims.
- Merger and Acquisitions: Acting for acquiror or target companies on plans of arrangement. Sean recently acted for Stelco in its acquisition by Cleveland-Cliffs; a deal with a total enterprise value of approximately $3.4 billion.
- Contractual and Shareholder Disputes: Acting for individuals or corporations in various contractual, shareholder, and partnership proceedings on the Commercial List.
- Healthcare: Defence of physicians accused of medical malpractice at trial and on appeal as well as regulatory matters before the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario and its various committees.
- Real Estate: Defence and prosecution of claims related to ownership / sale of development lands.
- Professional Liability: Acting for or against professionals in errors or omissions claims. Sean has experience representing lawyers at trial and on appeal in cases involving allegations of solicitor’s negligence, conspiracy, fraud, and defamation in civil, commercial, criminal, real estate, estate, and family law matters.
- Insurance & Reinsurance: Representing numerous companies and professionals in claims against their insurers for business interruption and other losses suffered as a result of COVID-19 before courts across Canada.
A frequent speaker, blogger, and contributor to legal society programs, Sean recently co-authored Canada’s leading text on virtual advocacy “ Virtual Advocacy – Litigating from a Distance” and is a repeat contributor to the online, open-access annotated guide to the Ontario Rules of Civil Procedure, Civil Procedure and Practice in Ontario.
Sean is a recognized leader among his peers. He is the incoming chair of The Advocates’ Society Young Advocates Standing Committee, which comprises 40 lawyers under 10 years of call across Canada. He is also an adjunct professor at the University of Toronto where he co-teaches trial advocacy in the Faculty of Law’s GP LLM program.