Kent Thomson is the Head of the firm's Litigation Department in Toronto, and has been recognized repeatedly as one of Canada's leading litigation counsel. He practises complex, "high stakes" litigation involving a wide range of areas, and has appeared at all levels of the trial and appellate courts in Ontario on many occasions.   These include the Superior Court of Justice, the Ontario Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Canada. He has also appeared on many occasions in the Federal Court of Canada and before the courts of a number of other provinces, including British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Québec and Nova Scotia.  Kent has acted as lead counsel in a number of precedent setting cases in the areas of oppression, plans of arrangement, class actions, securities law, tort law, competition law, tax law and defamation. A number of these cases have been decided by the Supreme Court of Canada.

Kent also appears frequently as lead counsel before a number of Tribunals in Canada, including the Ontario Securities Commission and the Competition Tribunal.

Kent has also represented numerous parties in complex domestic and international arbitrations conducted pursuant to the applicable Rules of the American Arbitration Association, the I.C.C., C.P.R., the London Court of International Arbitration and UNCITRAL. These arbitrations have been conducted throughout Canada, as well as in the United States, Europe, Australia and Africa.

Representative Work

• Acted as one of the lead counsel for BCE Inc. in defending successfully extensive litigation before the Quebec Superior Court, Quebec Court of Appeal and Supreme Court of Canada concerning the $51.7 billion takeover and privatization of BCE by a consortium of private equity buyers. This case concerns the largest transaction of its kind in Canadian history, and is widely considered to be one of the most important commercial cases ever heard by the Supreme Court of Canada.
• Acted as lead counsel for The Beaverbrook Foundation in this complex, quasi-public arbitration concerning a dispute over the ownership of numerous pieces of valuable art at the Beaverbrook Art Gallery in Fredericton, New Brunswick.  These include, among others, Turner's Fountain of Indolence and Lucien Freud's Hotel Bedroom.
• Acted as lead counsel for Jaguar Corporation, a minority shareholder of HudBay Minerals, in proceedings before the Ontario Securities Commission in which Jaguar was successful in opposing an $800 million merger between HudBay and Lundin. 
• Acted as lead counsel for Pershing Square and other minority shareholders of Sears Canada in precedent-setting trial and appellate proceedings before the Ontario Securities Commission, Ontario Divisional Court and Ontario Court of Appeal in which Pershing Square was successful in opposing the privatization of Sears Canada by its controlling shareholder, Sears Holdings. 
• Acted as lead counsel for Eugene Melnyk, the founder of Biovail and the owner of the Ottawa Senators, in lengthy trial proceedings before the Ontario Securities Commission.
• Acted as counsel to Staff of the Ontario Securities Commission in enforcement proceedings brought against Research in Motion, its founders James Balsillie and Michael Lazaridis, as well as others.

For a more complete list of particularly high profile cases Kent has been involved in over the years, click here. 

Recognition

• Admitted as a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and the International of Academy of Trial Lawyers. Both of these "invitation only" organizations are comprised of elite litigation counsel in Canada and the United States who are regarded by their peers as having achieved the highest standards of professional excellence and ethical conduct.
• Featured repeatedly in the Lexpert®/American Lawyer Guide to the Leading 500 Lawyers in Canada.
• Named by Lexpert® as one of the leading US/Canada Cross-Border Litigation Lawyers in Canada.
• Featured in The International Who's Who of Commercial Litigators.
• Listed in Chambers Global's The World's Leading Lawyers and Leaders in their Field in both the competition/anti-trust and dispute resolution categories and in Chambers Global's The World's Leading Lawyers for Business.
• Highly recommended in the PLC Which lawyer? Yearbook in the areas of competition/antitrust and dispute resolution.
• Cited in Expert Guide's List of the World's Leading Competition & Antitrust Lawyers.
• Featured repeatedly in The Best Lawyers in Canada in the areas of Bet-the-Company Litigation, Class Action Litigation, Competition/Antitrust Law, Corporate & Commercial Litigation and Securities Law.
• Listed as a leading litigation counsel in Empire Who's Who and Canadian Who's Who.
• Featured in Global Competition Review's The International Who's Who of Competition Lawyers and Economists.
• Listed as leading litigation counsel in Global Counsel 300.
• Named by Lexpert® as one of Canada's top 50 counsel in the areas of international corporate commercial, class action and securities litigation and one of Canada's top 10 counsel in the area of international competition litigation.
• Recognized by the Canadian Legal Lexpert® Directory as a leading practitioner in the Competition and Litigation areas. 
• Recipient of Martindale-Hubbell's highest rating for legal ability and integrity.

Articles and Publications

Kent has delivered numerous papers on litigation-related issues. Some of his most recent include:

• "The Impact of Currie v. McDonald's on Defence Counsel in Class Proceedings"; paper delivered at The Canadian Institute's 7th Annual National Forum on Litigating Class Actions, in 2006; "Lessons from Sears: The Fundamental Importance of Fairness", presentation to the Conference Board of Canada conference on Mergers and Acquisitions: New Threats and Opportunities, 2007.
• "Securities Commission as an Antidote to Poison Pills: Xstrata's Bid for Falconbridge", paper delivered at the Osgoode Professional Development Centre's Canadian Securities Law Update, 2007.
• "Establishing a Reasonable Alternative to a Class Action", paper delivered at the Conference Board of Canada conference on Class Actions, 2007.
• "Reviewable Matters and Private Enforcement – a Two Year Review", paper delivered at the Canadian Bar Association Conference 2007 Annual Fall Conference on Competition Law.
• "The Bermuda Triangle of Litigation: Missing Documents and the Tort of Spoliation", paper delivered at a joint symposium hosted by the American College of Trial Lawyers and the Advocates' Society in 2008.
• "Proving Damages: Lost Profits & Value", paper delivered at the Osgoode Professional Development conference on Litigating Commercial Damages in 2008.
• "BCE Bondholder Litigation: Corporate Governance Implications", paper delivered at Insight's Conferences on Advanced Mergers and Acquisitions in Calgary and Toronto in 2008 and 2009.

For a more complete list of the papers Kent has authored and speeches he has delivered, click here. 

Teaching Engagements

Kent is often called upon to teach trial and appellate advocacy programs in Canada and the United States. He has also lectured on a variety of litigation issues at Queen's University, York University, the University of Toronto and the University of Western Ontario.