Kent Thomson is head of the Litigation practice, and a partner in the Competition & Foreign Investment Review practice.  He practises complex and "high stakes" litigation involving a wide range of areas, including commercial disputes, securities cases, environmental matters, competition law, constitutional challenges, product liability and class actions. 

Kent has appeared at all levels of court in Ontario, including the Superior Court of Justice, the Ontario Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Canada.  He has appeared before Tribunals such as the Ontario Securities Commission, as well as in the Federal Court of Canada and before the courts of other provinces, such as British Columbia, Manitoba, Nova Scotia, Quebec and Saskatchewan.  Kent has acted as counsel in a number of leading cases, including cases decided by provincial Courts of Appeal, the Federal Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Canada in the fields of libel law, tax law, environmental law, constitutional law, arbitrations, oppression, athletic injuries, competition law, class actions and commercial disputes.

Kent has 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 in a number of provinces in Canada, as well as throughout the United States and in Europe. 

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 $52 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 approximately $100 million worth of art at The Beaverbrook Art Gallery in Fredericton, New Brunswick.  
• Acted as co-counsel for Coors against Molson Breweries in a complex commercial arbitration involving claims in the hundreds of millions of dollars.  The liability phase of the arbitration was decided in favour of Coors.  
• Acted as lead counsel for Rogers in this precedent-setting case, in which Rogers relied upon an arbitration clause in its End User Agreement with hundreds of thousands of subscribers to its high speed internet service to obtain an Order of the Ontario Superior Court perpetually staying a $100 million class action commenced against it by disgruntled users of the service.  This is one of the leading decisions in Canada concerning the unilateral amendment of standard form contracts, as well as concerning the use of arbitration clauses to stay class actions.  The Government of Ontario reacted to this decision by enacting far-reaching amendments to Ontario's Consumer Protection Act that, among other things, now precludes the enforcement in Ontario of arbitration clauses in cases of this nature.

Recognition

• Featured in The International Who's Who of Commercial Litigators.
• Mentioned in Chambers Global's The World's Leading Lawyers in both the competition/anti-trust and dispute resolution categories and in Chambers Global's The World's Leading Lawyers for Business 2007.
• 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 in The Best Lawyers in Canada.
• Mentioned in Empire Who's Who.
• Featured in Global Competition Review's The International Who's Who of Competition Lawyers and Economists.
• Mentioned 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; featured in the Lexpert®/American Lawyer Guide to the Leading 500 Lawyers in Canada.  
• Recipient of Martindale-Hubbell's highest rating.

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 the joint meeting of 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.

Teaching Engagements

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

To view a more detailed resume that lists a number of the more significant cases Kent has been involved in as counsel, as well as papers he has delivered or published, click here.

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