Overview
David is a partner in Torys’ Litigation Department. He acts as both trial and appellate counsel, with specialized expertise in complex written and appellate advocacy. His practice is broad, with an emphasis on litigation and arbitration in the energy, infrastructure, construction and procurement sectors, insurance law, product liability claims, class actions, environmental claims and commercial litigation and arbitration. David’s construction, energy and infrastructure clients include project developers and owners, lenders, contractors, design professionals, regulators and insurers. In David’s class actions practice, he acts for clients in a wide range of industries including financial institutions, pharmaceutical companies, public authorities and schools.
David is the founder and current Chair of the Ontario Class Action Bench-Bar Liaison Committee, which addresses issues of common concern to class action judges and lawyers. David is a past co-Chair of the Class Actions Section of the Ontario Bar Association. He is a member of the Section Executive of the Construction & Infrastructure Law Section of the Ontario Bar Association. David is ranked as a thought leader in Who’s Who Legal: Thought Leaders – Litigation 2019.
David is one of Canada’s leading e-discovery lawyers. He is Co-Chair of the Steering Committee of Sedona Canada, author of the Sedona Canada Principles Addressing Electronic Discovery, which are incorporated by reference into the Ontario Rules of Civil Procedure. He is a Past-Chair of the e-Discovery Implementation Committee (EIC), a joint committee of the Ontario Bar Association and The Advocates’ Society, whose mandate is to implement best practices relating to electronic discovery in Ontario.
In addition to his commercial practice, David has substantial experience in public law, criminal and constitutional litigation. David has appeared as counsel at the Supreme Court of Canada, the Federal Court, all levels of court in Ontario, in commercial arbitrations and before various administrative tribunals, including the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario and the Ontario Licence Appeal Tribunal. David has also acted as co-mediator of several complex commercial disputes.
David’s practice has a significant advisory and consulting component. He is frequently consulted about difficult legal questions by lawyers in the firm from various practice areas. He is recognized as an expert on, among other things, construction liens, the law of privilege, directors and officers liability insurance, cybersecurity, electronic discovery and electronic evidence, and document retention.