Professional Liability

Our Toronto law firm’s Professional Liability Group has experience in all aspects and phases of professional liability issues, ranging from risk management through to dispute resolution. We have represented professionals in numerous fields, including:

• Accountants and Auditors
• Adjusters
• Architects
• Chiropractors
• Directors and Officers
• Engineers
• Financial Planners/Advisors
• Health Care Practitioners
• Home Inspectors
• Insurance Agents and Brokers
• Interior Design Professionals
• Lawyers
• Mortgage Brokers
• Nurses
• Private Investigators
• Real Estate Agents and Brokers
• Receivers and Trustees
• Veterinarians

1.    Litigation

We act on a full range of matters that involve professional liability exposures, including those involving design, manufacturing, construction, inspection, and maintenance errors, pollution exposures, intellectual property, disciplinary procedures, quasi-criminal allegations, inquests, employment practices, and libel and slander. Some of our files involve class actions that are extremely complex, with highly technical issues, voluminous documentary productions, and extensive damage claims.

2.    Risk Management

We have given numerous “smell-the-coffee" seminars to our clients and professional organizations. We proactively assist in reviewing and drafting contract wordings and exculpatory clauses, and thereafter negotiate the wordings of contracts with the involved parties on given projects. We represent professionals in investigations and disciplinary hearings. Throughout, our skilled negotiators explore and utilize alternative dispute resolution (ADR) processes to minimize the financial, reputational, and time impact of these processes on our clients. Finally, we also assist insurers in drafting policy wordings, special endorsements, and exclusions for their various program coverages.

3.    Intellectual Property

Our Professional Liability Practice Group includes our Intellectual Property Team.

Led by founding partner and senior trial counsel, Howard Borlack, our Intellectual Property Team has successfully handled many forms of IP matters for a wide range of clientele. For example, our risk management services include advising on licensing, cross-border issues and communications strategies, drafting employment contracts, restrictive work product agreements, confidentiality agreements, and restrictive covenants against disclosure and competition. Our team also drafts IP Insurance policy wordings, exclusions and special endorsements, advises on coverage, and provides complete coverage dispute services.

With respect to IP litigation and alternative dispute services, our IP Team has handled everything from simple contractual disputes to very complicated litigated matters. These types of matters include acting in a variety of industrial design, trade secrets, patents, trademark and copyright infringement cases, misappropriation of software actions and defamation through electronic media disputes.

In summary, the broad range of IP services provided by our IP Team enables our clients to protect their rights thereby increasing the value of their businesses. And, our affiliation with Canadian Litigation Counsel, and our special relationship with The Harmonie Group gives us access to over 100 law firms consisting of over 5000 lawyers worldwide, thereby enabling our Team to coordinate our IP services globally.