Stephen Ruby is a senior tax partner of Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP. His practice is diverse and his experience is extensive, encompassing domestic and cross-border reorganizations of public and private corporations, mergers and acquisitions, financings and securities transactions, as well as employee compensation arrangements.  Stephen regularly advises Canadian-based multinationals on outbound investments and foreign enterprises on inbound Canadian investments.  Widely regarded by his peers as an innovative thinker, Stephen is regularly consulted as special tax counsel, opining on sophisticated domestic and cross-border arrangements.  In addition to his tax planning practice, Stephen has extensive experience in tax litigation, having appeared as counsel at both trial and appellate courts, including the Tax Court of Canada, the Federal Court of Appeal, the Ontario Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Canada.  Stephen's expertise has also been sought by government, which consults him on tax policy and legislation.  He is a former Special Advisor to the Senior Assistant Deputy Minister, Tax Policy and Legislation Branch Department of Finance.

Most recently, Stephen acted for Bell Canada in its acquisition of 360 networks and for Thomas H. Lee Partners, LP in its acquisition of Progressive Moulded Products Limited.  He acted for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in the sale of its Toronto Broadcast Centre to The Cadillac Fairview Corporation Limited and for OMERS in its $1.2 billion acquisition of Oxford Properties.

Stephen is a former Co-Chair of the Joint Committee on Taxation of the Canadian Bar Association and the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants, former Chairman of the National Taxation Section of the Canadian Bar Association and former President of the Canadian Branch of the International Fiscal Association (IFA).  Stephen is also a sought-after writer, instructor and lecturer on income tax matters, appearing at conferences and seminars organized by the Canadian Tax Foundation, the Law Society of Upper Canada, the American Bar Association, IFA, and the Tax Executives Institute, as well as numerous private organizations such as Federated Press, Infonex, Insight Information  and the Canadian Institute.  Stephen is currently an adjunct lecturer in international tax law at Osgoode Hall Law School of York University.

Stephen is recognized as one of Canada's most frequently recommended corporate tax law practitioners and as a repeatedly recommended personal tax planning practitioner in LEXPERT's Canadian Legal Directory.  He is also recognized in LEXPERT/American Lawyer Media's Guide to the Leading 500 Lawyers in Canada, Law Business Research's The International Who's Who of Business Lawyers, The International Tax Review  and The International Who’s Who of Corporate Tax Lawyers as a foremost corporate tax legal practitioner, Chambers Global's The World's Leading Lawyers 2001/02, 2002/03 and 2004, Canadian Who's Who, Who's Who in Canadian Business and in Global Counsel 3000.

He received his B.A. (Honours) from the University of Western Ontario in 1966 and his LL.B. from Osgoode Hall Law School in 1971 and joined the firm as a partner in 2001.

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