Skip Navigation

Catherine Beagan Flood

Catherine Beagan Flood
Catherine Beagan Flood Partner | Toronto
Select Experience

Class Actions

  • Represents an insurer in class actions across the country relating to business interruption claims in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic

  • Succeeded in having certification dismissed in the Casino Rama and Rouge Valley Hospital privacy class actions, and is also counsel to quick service restaurant chains, a website and app and automotive manufacturers in class actions relating to alleged privacy breaches

  • Defending automobile manufacturers and pharmaceutical companies in product liability class actions

  • Counsel in numerous antitrust class actions, including proceedings relating to packaged bread, computer operating systems, polyether polyols, hydrogen peroxide, chocolate, LCD panels, optical disk drives, SRAM and CRT

  • National counsel for Merck & Co. and Merck Frosst with respect to the Vioxx class actions commenced across Canada

Appellate Advocacy

  • Lead counsel for intervenors in C.M. Callow Inc. v. Zollinger, 2020 SCC 45, one of the most significant commercial cases of 2020, which clarified the good faith duty of honest performance of contracts

  • Lead counsel for a consortium of Canada’s largest energy producers in Reference re Environmental Management Act, 2020 SCC 1, one of the most significant constitutional cases of 2020, regarding limits on British Columbia’s jurisdiction over the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project

  • Lead counsel to the successful appellant in Royal Bank of Canada v. Trang, the leading Supreme Court of Canada decision interpreting Canada's private-sector privacy legislation

  • Lead counsel to Merck in Merck Frosst Canada Ltd. v. Canada (Health) with respect to the confidentiality of third-party information requested under the Access to Information Act

  • Lead counsel for TELUS before the Ontario Court of Appeal in a challenge to provincial legislation seeking to regulate wireless services agreements (appeal pending)

Awards & Recognition

Cathy has been recognized as one of the Top Women in Litigation in Canada for eight consecutive years by Benchmark. She is also recognized as a leading litigation lawyer in the following publications:

  • The Best Lawyers in Canada 2024 (Administrative and Public Law, Appellate Practice, Class Action Litigation, Corporate and Commercial Litigation, Director and Officer Liability Practice, Privacy and Data Security Law)

  • Who's Who Legal: Global 2023 (Data – Data Privacy & Protection, Product Liability Defence, Life Sciences – Product Liability)

  • Benchmark Canada: The Definitive Guide to Canada's Leading Litigation Firms and Attorneys 2023 (Litigation Star – Class Action, Commercial, Competition/Antitrust, Product Liability and Recall)

  • Benchmark Canada's Top 100 Women in Litigation 2023

  • The Best Lawyers in Canada 2023 (Appellate Practice, Corporate and Commercial Litigation, Privacy and Data Security Law)

  • Chambers Canada: Canada's Leading Lawyers for Business 2023 (Dispute Resolution: Class Action (Defence); Litigation: General Commercial)

  • The Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory 2023 (Competition Law, Data Protection & Privacy, Litigation – Corporate Commercial, Class Actions, Litigation – Regulatory & Public Law, Litigation – Product Liability)

  • Benchmark Canada's Top 50 Women in Litigation 2022

  • The Legal 500 Canada 2022 (Dispute Resolution)

  • Chambers Canada: Canada's Leading Lawyers for Business 2022 (Dispute Resolution: Class Action (Defence) – Nationwide – Canada)

  • The Best Lawyers in Canada 2022 – Lawyer of the Year (Privacy and Data Security Law)

  • Who's Who Legal: Canada 2022 (Commercial Litigation, Data, Product Liability Defence) 

  • Who's Who Legal: Thought Leaders 2021 (Data – Data Privacy & Protection)

  • Who's Who Legal: Global 2021 (Life Sciences, Product Liability and Product Liability Defence) ("identified as a 'master strategist' with 'incredible knowledge of nationwide class action law'" and "stands out as 'brilliant national counsel and an excellent strategist' who excels in class actions and regulatory disputes")

  • The Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory 2021 (Competition Law, Litigation – Corporate Commercial, Class Actions, Litigation – Regulatory & Public Law)

Professional Activities

Cathy taught a course on privacy and freedom of information at Osgoode Hall Law School from 2000 to 2008. From 1997 to 1998, she was law clerk to The Right Honourable Antonio Lamer, P.C., C.C., Chief Justice of Canada.

In 2019–2020, Cathy chaired the Investment Committee of Women United, a United Way initiative empowering women to build strong, independent lives.

Professional Appearances
  • Speaker: Admissibility of Electronic Evidence
    Alberta Provincial Judges' Association and Society of Justices of the Peace for Alberta 2023 Spring Conference, Canmore, Alberta, May 19, 2023.
  • Speaker: Safety Net (from Cyber Attacks)
    Financial Post, Toronto, Ontario, March 29, 2023.
  • Co-chair: Digital Evidence for Litigators
    The Advocates' Society, Toronto, Ontario, March 28, 2023.
  • Speaker: Privacy Class Actions in Canada: Recent Trends
    Blakes Business Class Webinar, September 13, 2022.
  • Speaker: Data Breaches and Cybersecurity Law 101
    The Osgoode Certificate in Privacy and Cybersecurity Law, Osgoode Professional Development, Toronto, Ontario, May 10, 2022.
  • Speaker: Litigating Good Faith Disputes: Strategies for 2021 and Beyond
    The Principle of Good Faith in Contracts: Essential Updates and Practical Analysis in Canadian Contract Law, Osgoode Professional Development, Toronto, Ontario, September 23, 2021.
  • Speaker: The Duty of Good Faith in Contracts
    Blakes Take 2 Video, April 28, 2021.
  • Speaker: Callow and Wastech: Examining the Recent SCC Decisions on the Duty of Good Faith
    The Canadian Bar Association, OBA Civil Litigation Program, Toronto, Ontario, March 25, 2021.
  • Co-chair: Digital Evidence for Litigators
    The Advocates’ Society, Toronto, Ontario, March 10, 2021.
  • Speaker: What GCs need to know in 2021: Cybersecurity, Employment, Governance and Commercial Disputes
    GC Forum, Toronto, Ontario, January 21, 2021.
  • Speaker: Protecting privacy and data
    Benchmark Women in Litigation Forum (virtual), New York, New York, November 18, 2020.
  • Chair: Key Principles in Constitutional Litigation
    Law Society of Ontario, Toronto, Ontario, November 2, 2020.
Media Activities
  • Quoted: How the pandemic has changed litigation for women: Major challenges but positives as well
    Article by Elizabeth Raymer, Canadian Lawyer Magazine, October 2020.
Education

Admitted to the Ontario Bar – 2000
LLM, Harvard Law School – 1999
LLB (Gold Medallist), Osgoode Hall Law School, York University – 1997
BA, University of Prince Edward Island – 1994

More insights

Save Profile

Select sections to customize your PDF

Share this page