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About Christopher

Christopher litigates complex commercial matters and specializes in the areas of privacy, cybersecurity, and constitutional and public law. He regularly litigates business and contract disputes, defamation matters, and pension law cases. He has represented clients at all levels of court in Ontario, the Federal Court, and the courts of Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia, in arbitration proceedings, and in the Supreme Court of Canada.

Before joining Blakes, Christopher was a law clerk for the Honourable Justice (now Chief Justice) Richard Wagner of the Supreme Court of Canada and for judges of the Court of Appeal for Ontario.

Select Experience

Representative matters in which Christopher has been involved include:

  • Canadian Pacific Railway Company in an action against the government of Saskatchewan to recover taxes paid in contravention of a provision of the Railway's 1880 Charter which states that its main line shall "be forever free from taxation"

  • Counsel to TELUS before the Ontario Court of Appeal in a constitutional challenge to provincial legislation seeking to regulate wireless services agreements

  • Counsel to a consortium of Canada's largest energy producers in Reference re Environmental Management Act, one of the most significant recent constitutional cases, regarding limits on British Columbia's jurisdiction over the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project

  • Counsel to the Sears Canada pension administrator in proceedings brought against the former officers, directors and majority shareholder

  • Counsel to intervenors in C.M. Callow Inc. v. Zollinger, which clarified the good faith duty of honest performance of contracts

  • Counsel to a gaming facility and public-sector entity in a privacy class action arising out of a cyberattack, successfully opposing the plaintiffs' motion for certification

  • Counsel to a public-sector procuring entity in a judicial review application challenging its debarment of a contractor, successfully opposing the application (named one of Lexpert's Top 10 Business Decisions of 2018)

Awards & Recognition

Christopher has been recognized in the following publications:

  • Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch in Canada – 2023–2024 (Corporate and Commercial Litigation)

  • The Legal 500 Canada 2023 (Rising Star – Dispute Resolution, Ontario)
Education

Admitted to the Ontario Bar – 2015
JD (Gold Medallist), University of Toronto – 2014
BA (High Distinction), University of Toronto – 2011

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