Lax O'Sullivan Scott Lisus LLP

Lax O'Sullivan Scott Lisus LLP is a boutique litigation firm and one of Canada's foremost counsel practices. With advocacy skills and experience of a premier full service law firm, we conduct high profile, complex litigation creatively and efficiently.

The firm's counsel practice is headed by five of Canada's leading commercial litigators: Clifford Lax, Terrence O'Sullivan, Charles Scott, Jonathan Lisus and Matthew Gottlieb. The five senior partners have extensive litigation experience. Each has earned a reputation for excellence in advocacy and for innovative strategies, not only in successfully litigating and resolving disputes, but in avoiding them as well. They are among the most consistently recommended counsel in Canada, according to various surveys of the profession. Each has been acknowledged as a leading practitioner by his peers in The Lexpert®/American Lawyer Guide to the Leading 500 Lawyers in Canada and in Chambers Global: The World's Leading Lawyers for Business, and three have been elected a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers.

The firm provides litigation and counsel services involving a wide range of disputes before all levels of court in Ontario and Canada, administrative tribunals, and arbitration panels. The core of the firm's litigation practice is significant civil and commercial litigation involving private and public businesses, financial institutions, and regulatory bodies. The firm also acts regularly as counsel in employment disputes, administrative proceedings, class actions, insolvency litigation, public law and constitutional issues, libel and slander actions, and health law litigation. The firm's clients are based in Canada, the United States, and elsewhere.

Partner profiles are as follows:

C. Clifford Lax, QC, LSM, was called to the Ontario Bar in 1970, appointed Queen's Counsel in 1982 and awarded the Law Society Medal in 2008. Fellow, American College of Trial Lawyers. Fellow, International Academy of Trial Lawyers. Past President of The Advocates' Society. Arbitrator, International Centre for Dispute Resolution (AAA). Arbitrator, the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. Member, Toronto Commercial Arbitration Society. Member, American Dispute Resolution Center. Past National Chairman, Environmental Law, CBA. Past Provincial Chairman of American College of Trial Lawyers. Wide range of experience in major litigation and arbitration work, spanning all fields with emphasis on complex corporate commercial and securities disputes, real estate transactions, environmental liability and defamation. Languages: English and French.

Terrence J. O'Sullivan was called to the Bar of Ontario in 1973. His practice includes civil and commercial litigation with an emphasis on business disputes, financial institution litigation, class actions, defence of regulatory charges and professional discipline matters. He regularly appears in all levels of courts in Ontario and other provinces including the Supreme Court of Canada. Mr. O'Sullivan is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, a Fellow of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers and a Past President of The Advocates' Society. He was a co-author of the Civil Justice Review (volumes one and two) and is former Chair of the Joint Committee on Court Reform of the province of Ontario. Mr. O'Sullivan writes and speaks extensively and is an occasional lecturer and demonstrator for the Osgoode Hall Intensive Advocacy Program. Mr. O'Sullivan also acts as a mediator and an arbitrator. He was awarded the Law Society Medal for his contributions to the profession in 2010.

Charles F. Scott, Practice includes corporate, commercial and securities litigation, shareholder disputes, insolvency and corporate reorganizations, class actions and employment law. He has acted in many important civil, criminal and administrative matters in trial courts, appellate courts and in tribunals in Ontario, in courts in six other provinces, in the Federal Court and the Supreme Court of Canada and before Royal Commissions. Lecturer to professional organizations and occasional instructor at law schools on litigation, legal technology and the Commercial List. Elected Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and Honourary Member of The Commercial Bar Association (COMBAR), London. MCIArb. Former director of The Advocates' Society and of the Ontario Superior Court's Commercial List Users' Committee. Admitted to Ontario Bar in 1974 and Alberta in 1982. Also acts as a mediator and arbitrator.

Jonathan Lisus was called to the Ontario Bar in 1992. His practice focuses on complex commercial and constitutional litigation with particular experience in infrastructure related litigation, complex contractual disputes, product liability claims, oppression remedies, franchise litigation, class actions and securities litigation. He has a trial and appellate practice in the Superior Court of Justice, the Ontario Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Canada. Member of the Chief Justice of Ontario's Advisory Committee on Professionalism, former Director of The Advocates' Society, regularly appears as Special Counsel for the Canadian Civil Liberties Association. Recognized by The Lexpert®/American Lawyer Guide to the Leading 500 Lawyers in Canada, Lexpert® — Most Frequently Recommended, Martindale-Hubbell preeminent rating (5), Chambers Global, and The Best Lawyers in Canada.

Matthew P. Gottlieb practises business litigation, including corporate and commercial disputes, insolvency and restructuring mandates, libel law, securities litigation and administrative law. He has appeared before the Supreme Court of Canada, the Ontario Court of Appeal, the Ontario courts (Superior Court, Commercial Court and Divisional Court), the Federal Court of Canada, the New Brunswick Court of Appeal, the Supreme Court of British Columbia, The Law Society of Upper Canada, the Ontario Securities Commission, the Toronto Stock Exchange and the Metropolitan Licensing Commission. Has acted as counsel in many major court proceedings, including those regarding Hollinger Inc., Nortel, Air Canada, Stelco, Cineplex Odeon and Eaton's, and has significant experience in trials and court applications involving securities disputes, insolvency issues, contractual disputes, Internet and technology issues and shareholder issues. Recognized as a leading litigation lawyer in Chambers Global: The World's Leading Lawyers for Business, The Best Lawyers in Canada and The Canadian Legal Lexpert® Directory. Frequent instructor at many litigation related seminars held by The Law Society of Upper Canada, The Advocates' Society and other organizations. Called to Ontario Bar in 1991.

Tracy Wynne, called to the Ontario Bar in 1995. Tracy has a broadly based civil and commercial litigation practice, with an emphasis on partnership and shareholder disputes, directors' and officers' liability, commercial torts, employment law, professional liability and regulatory health professions. Tracy has substantial experience advising clients in large and complex litigation matters. She also is experienced in alternative dispute resolution processes. She has appeared as counsel before various courts, tribunals and at inquests and judicial inquiries. Tracy is a member of the Ontario Bar Association, The Advocates' Society, the Toronto Lawyers' Association and the Women's Law Association of Ontario. She has taught in the Civil Litigation section of the Ontario Bar admission course, and has lectured and taught in numerous continuing legal education programmes for The Advocates' Society and the LSUC. She is a past director of The Advocates' Society (2007–10).

Rocco DiPucchio, called to the Ontario Bar in 1996; Member of the Ontario Bar Association, The Advocates' Society and the Metropolitan Toronto Lawyers' Association. Has practised exclusively in the area of civil litigation at the trial and appellate levels, with particular specialties in corporate and commercial litigation, defamation, professional liability, securities matters, shareholder disputes, administrative law, and employment litigation. He has acted as counsel before all levels of court, up to and including the Supreme Court of Canada, and also has substantial experience in mediation and arbitration matters, including having acted for various automobile dealerships in proceedings under the National Automobile Dealer Arbitration Program and having conducted lengthy arbitrations in a construction dispute in the Maritimes. He obtained a Bachelor of Laws from Osgoode Hall Law School in 1994 where he was the Gold Medallist, and completed a judicial clerkship with the Chief Justice of the Superior Court of Justice in Ontario in 1996 prior to entering private practice. In November 2010, Rocco was named by Lexpert® magazine as one of the “Leading Lawyers in Canada under 40”.

M. Paul Michell, called to the Ontario Bar in 1997. Practice focuses on commercial arbitration and litigation, cross-border litigation, oppression and derivative actions, directors' and officers' liability, defamation, employment and public law. Has appeared in the Ontario and Federal courts, the Supreme Court of Canada, and a variety of administrative and arbitration tribunals. Law clerk to Mr. Justice Charles Gonthier of the Supreme Court of Canada. Adjunct professor, Faculty of Law, University of Toronto, teaching international commercial arbitration and public international law. Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. Author of more than 25 articles in legal journals, including articles cited by the Supreme Court of Canada and the High Court of Australia. Listed as “up and coming” Ontario dispute resolution lawyer in Chambers Global in 2009 and 2010. Named a “Top 40 Lawyer Under 40” by Lexpert® in 2006.