David Ward is a founding partner of the firm and senior member of the tax group.  David has extensive experience in personal and corporate tax planning, dispute resolution and in tax litigation.  David is also widely recognized as one of Canada's leading authorities on the interpretation of tax treaties.

In recent years, David's practice has focused on cross-border tax issues, including transfer pricing and income tax planning and succession planning for family enterprises, encompassing domestic and international corporate and trust structures.  David also maintains an active dispute resolution practice.

David was a director of Abitibi-Consolidated Inc. from 1981 until 2006, and for many years was a member and chair of its audit committee.  He has participated in many recent corporate governance conferences particularly since the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 was passed.  He was a participant in an emerging issues study done by the Law Society of Upper Canada which recently amended the rules of professional conduct to deal with issues that arose under Sarbanes-Oxley.

David is a prolific writer and a sought-after speaker at Canadian and international tax conferences and congresses.  He is a regular contributor to the Canadian Tax Foundation's Annual Conference Reports, the British Tax Review, the Bulletin for International Fiscal Documentation and Intertax.  David was the General Editor of Ward's Tax Law and Planning (previously published by Carswell) and is the author of books on estate planning, tax planning and international taxation and treaties including The Interpretation of Income Tax Treaties with Particular Reference to the Commentaries on the OECD Model (2005) and has recently contributed articles to the Legal Status of the OECD Commentaries (IBFD, 2008) and The Courts and Tax Treaty Law (IBFD, 2007).  A leader in his field, David is actively involved in Canadian and international tax organizations, including the International Fiscal Association (IFA) and the Canadian Tax Foundation (CTF).  He has served as President of the Canadian Branch of the IFA, as a member of the Executive Committee of the IFA and as a Governor of the CTF.  He has also served as a member of the Advisory Committee to the Minister of National Revenue.  David has also been a lecturer in Business Planning at Osgoode Hall Law School.

David's expertise in tax litigation, corporate tax and personal tax planning has been recognized by the Canadian Legal LEXPERT Directory, The LEXPERT/American Lawyer Media Guide to the Top 500 Lawyers in Canada, Euromoney's Guide to the World's Leading Tax Advisors, Law Business Research's The International Who's Who of Business Lawyers and The International Who’s Who of Corporate Tax Lawyers.  David is annually cited in Chambers Global's The World's Leading Lawyers as one of the leading individuals in Canadian corporate tax law.

David received a B.Comm. from Queen's University in 1954 and an LL.B. from Osgoode Hall Law School from which he graduated in 1958.

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