Ken addresses litigation as strategic problem-solving to assist clients in resolving their disputes. Ken is recognized as a leading lawyer in corporate commercial litigation, insolvency litigation, administrative law, cross-border disputes and mediation.
Throughout his more than 35 years of practice, Ken has appeared before all levels of court, administrative tribunals and government agencies. Ken is highly regarded for finding strategic and practical solutions to complex problems. These include financing; shareholders and/or contractual disputes, insolvency; and regulatory disputes.
Recent Cases
- Nortel - Successful Counsel who created and advanced the winning theory in the $7.3B (USD) cross Border Allocation trial, involving over 30 countries and dozens of lawyers.
- Sino Forest - Insolvency Counsel to successful class action litigants who obtained one of the largest settlements ever against an accounting firm.
- Lac Megantic Railway disaster - Insolvency Counsel to successful class action litigants.
- Mediator in a 2017 Ontario Energy Board Rate case involving more than a dozen parties and many billions of dollars.
Education
- Osgoode Hall Law School, LL.B., 1979
- University of Winnipeg, B.A., 1976
Professional Affiliations
- Canadian Bar Association
- Commercial List Bench/Bar Users’ Committee, Secretary
- Insolvency Institute of Canada
- The Advocates’ Society
- Turnaround Management Association
*Practising as a professional corporation.
Representative Work
- Insolvency and Restructuring - Algoma Steel 1, 2, 3 & 4, Air Canada, Ivaco, Stelco 1 & 2, HSB 1, 2 & 3, ABCP, Collins & Aikman, Fraser Paper, Nortel, Indalex, Sino Forest, Lac Megantic, Sears Canada, Discovery Air, Labrador Iron Mines, informal restructuring of Ontario Hydro and the Bruce Nuclear plants;
- Administrative law — Counsel to the Ontario Energy Board since the late 80s, privatization of Ontario's Bruce Nuclear facility, 1996/97 Independent Chair of a task force advising the Ontario government on the deregulation of the natural gas distribution business, funeral and cemetery law.
- Corporate/Commercial Litigation - RXE proxy dispute, GCGC v. Kepinski, Cohen v. Zagdanski;
- Class Actions — Prendiville v. 407 (re: late penalty fees), Spina et al. v. Shoppers Drug Mart (SDM Franchisees v. SDM), Macdonald et al. v. BMO Investorline et al. (re: foreign exchange trading in registered trust accounts);
- Mediation/Arbitration — Ken regularly acts as a mediator and sometimes as an arbitrator in commercial and regulatory disputes. He has conducted well over a hundred mediations; from one day bilateral cases to multi-month cases involving 20 or more parties and dollar amounts exceeding many billions of dollars.
Awards and Honours
Featured in the Globe and Mail's Lexpert®/Report on Business Magazine - Leading Litigation Lawyer, December 2018
Publications and Presentations
Ken regularly speaks on legal matters at professional and business conferences, including training of lawyers and judges. He has lectured at a number of universities and institutions including:
- Osgoode Hall Law School
- The Harvard Law School Course on Mediation
- University of Toronto Law School and Business School
- York University’s School of Business
- Queen's University
- The Advocates' Society