Experience
Our Toronto based lawyers have many years of experience in Courts in Toronto and across Ontario. We are frequently consulted and retained by other lawyers as litigation counsel. Over the last several years, more than 200 lawyers and other professionals have referred complex litigation and family cases to us.
Litigation & Dispute Resolution Services
Ellyn Law LLP provides comprehensive litigation services. Sound advice, effective strategy and negotiations and experienced advocacy are the hallmarks of our approach to each case. We understand and apply ADR (Alternative Dispute Resolution) methods wherever possible to reduce the time and cost of obtaining the best possible result for our client.
Canadian Business Legal Checkup
Ellyn Law LLP has developed a new legal service which will provide an audit of legal matters affecting small and medium sized businesses. Canadian Business Legal Checkup is a diagnostic tool small and medium size businesses could use to verify if legal aspects of their operation comply with the law and also, to minimize risk, litigation and expense. When the Business Legal Checkup is completed, the business owner receives a lawyer’s report red-flagging matters which need correction, improvement or further legal advice. Please see our recent article on this topic in the Articles section of our website, entitled “The Business Legal Checkup: Preventive advice for the legal health of your Business”.
News
In this section, we highlight developments in our firm. In addition to the matters listed here, our lawyers achieve regularly results for our clients. Subject to confidentiality and privacy law considerations, we refer to some of our successes in the Recent Cases section of our website.
August
2009: Ellyn Law LLP Business Litigation and Arbitration
Lawyers is growing. We are pleased to announce that Michael Blinick
has joined our firm as an associate. Michael was recently called to
the Ontario Bar after spending his articles with a respected
full-service Toronto law firm. Apart from his legal training,
Michael Blinick has an aptitude for business which is well-suited to
the services Ellyn Law LLP’s clients require. Ellyn Law LLP’s
litigation and arbitration team now includes Partners Igor Ellyn,
QC, CS and Orie Niedzviecki and Associates Evelyn Perez Youssoufian
and Michael Blinick.
July
2009: Ellyn Law LLP has been recognized as the developer of
a practice innovation by the Lawyers Professional Indemnity Company,
the insurance program which covers all Ontario lawyers against
errors and omissions. In its July 2009 Magazine, “Changing
Directions”, LawPro author Karen Bell writes: “Igor Ellyn, QC of
Ellyn Law LLP in Toronto is a senior litigation and arbitration
counsel whose firm is developing new ways to deliver preventive law
services to small and medium-sized businesses. Over the course of
his 30-year career as a litigator, Ellyn concluded that many
business litigation problems could have been eased, settled sooner
or completely avoided by better preventive planning: better
contracting drafting, better strategy and greater client awareness
of and preparation for litigation. The result: Canadian Business
Legal Checkup (BLC) – a diagnostic audit of various aspects of the
business to determine if they are compliant with the law and
practice and which need attention. The true value of the BLC
developed by Ellyn’s firm is that it will provide input of experts
from various aspect of business law at a pre-determined cost. The
BLC requires the business owner to answer a series of questions that
touch on all aspects of the undertaking. When the BLC is completed,
the business owner receives a report red-flagging matters which need
correction, improvement or further legal advice. Clients can then
take corrective action on their own or with further guidance of
counsel, to ensure that the business is better situated to operate
effectively and minimize risk in the future – risk of litigation as
well as the significant and sometimes crushing costs that litigation
generates. For more information about Business Legal Check-up, go to
www.ellynlaw.com.” The full article is available online at
www.lawpro.ca/magazinearchives.
July
2009: Ellyn Law LLP Business Litigation & Arbitration
Lawyers has emphasized “Thinking Globally. Acting Locally.” in its
approach client service around the world. During the second quarter
of 2009, the Toronto boutique law firm has been active in
international and cross-border litigation. In June 2009, we
represented a Canadian manufacturer of large scale equipment in an
international dispute. The case was headed to a multi-million dollar
arbitration through an international arbitration court. After
intensive document preparation, strategic analysis and advocacy,
followed by extensive negotiations with counsel for opposing
parties, a settlement was worked out to the satisfaction of all
parties. In May 2009, Ellyn Law LLP represented business people
based in New Zealand and Thailand in shareholder litigation in
Canada. Presently, our firm represents corporations and their
shareholders in Europe, Asia, the United States and in various parts
of Canada in business and shareholder disputes. Among our cases is a
shareholder dispute involving reinsurance brokerages with parties in
Australia, Thailand and Canada. Other examples of the firm’s
international practice appear on this news page and on other pages
of www.ellynlaw.com.
July
2009: Igor Ellyn and Orie Niedzviecki have written an
article which explains to business people the ins and outs of
resolving shareholder disputes in private corporations, which was
published in the online newsletter of the Better Business Bureau of
Central and Midwestern Ontario and sent its members. Under the title
“Resolving Shareholders Disputes in Canada: What you can reasonably
expect”, the article discusses the position of minority and majority
shareholders of Ontario corporation and what happens when as a
shareholder is treated unfairly. The article provides useful
information about the oppression remedy, breach of fiduciary duty,
shareholder meetings, derivative actions and other important as
aspects of shareholder disputes.
A copy of the article may be downloaded in the
Articles Section of www.ellynlaw.com.
July
2009: The International Network of Boutique Law Firms
("INBLF") is an organization of highly credentialed
single-discipline (boutique) law firms, each of which, after a great
deal of research, has been identified and hand-selected as prominent
in each firm's respective field of practice. Ellyn Law LLP is the
Toronto INBLF law firm in the fields of Shareholder Disputes and
International Commercial Arbitration. An article entitled “Resolving
Shareholders Disputes in Canada” written by Igor Ellyn and Orie
Niedzviecki has been published on the INBLF website.
May
2009: Igor Ellyn, QC was winning counsel (together with
Jonathan Wood of Clyde & Co. and Barrister Peter de Verneuil Smith)
in a case decided by the United Kingdom High Court of Justice,
Queen’s Bench Division on May 27, 2009. Ellyn Law LLP’s Canadian
client was sued in England for relief was which previously been
refused by an Arbitration Tribunal in Toronto. The opposing party
argued that certain issues of European law were exclusively within
the jurisdiction of the U.K. High Court The English Court agreed
with Mr. Ellyn (and our legal team) that the case had already been
fully decided in the Canadian arbitration and granted a stay of
proceedings. Mr. Ellyn will appear as counsel in the Queen’s Bench
Division of the UK Court of Justice in October 2009.
April 2009: Senior Partner
March 2009:
Senior Partner
March 2009: Ellyn Law LLP hosted a
luncheon meeting of the prestigious NGO,
The International Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists, an
organization formed in 1969 to advance human rights, including the
prevention of war crimes, the punishment of war criminals, the
prohibition of weapons of mass destruction, and international
co-operation based on the rule of law and the fair implementation of
international covenants and conventions. In a speech given by IAJLJ
Deputy President Irit Kohn, the aims of the Association to combat
racism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism, Holocaust denial and negation of
the State of Israel were re-iterated. Adv. Kohn also discussed the
topic of universal jurisdiction and the status of Gilad Shalit, the
IDF soldier who was kidnapped by Hamas nearly three years ago.
March 2009: Senior Partner Igor
Ellyn’s expertise in the enforcement of foreign judgments has been
recognized on the global stage. Mr. Ellyn was invited by
international law publisher Juris Publishing of Huntington, New York
to re-write the Canada chapter of the text Enforcement
of Money Judgments which includes submissions from leading
business litigation experts in 95 countries. With the assistance
of Associate Evelyn Perez Youssoufian, Mr. Ellyn authored a 92-page,
completely revamped chapter on money judgment enforcement law in
Canada, which including the significant changes and case law in
Canada over the last decade. For assistance with the law of the
province of Quebec, Mr. Ellyn turned to Jean-Pierre Sheppard, a
senior partner in the Montreal law firm of
Robinson Sheppard
Shapiro S.E,N.C.R.L. LLP, who was assisted by Jennifer Hansen
and Jonathan Feingold. The Ellyn-Sheppard manuscript was submitted
in March 2009 and will be published in Summer 2009. An excerpt of
the common law aspects of the chapter will appear in the Recent
Articles section of www.ellynlaw.com after publication.
April 2009: An
article written by Senior Partner
February 2009:
Partner
Orie Niedzviecki was winning counsel in four consecutive court
decisions over the last few months. Details will be posted in the
Recent Cases section of
www.ellynlaw.com
shortly.
February
2009: Senior Partner Igor Ellyn, QC and Associate
Evelyn Perez Youssoufian have co-authored an article
entitled The Standard of Appellate Review: High
Hurdles to Right Wrongs which will be published in
the Spring issue of The Litigator, the
journal of the Ontario Trial Lawyers Association. The Spring
issue will be devoted to appellate law and will feature
articles by leading Ontario experts on the law and practice
relating to appeals in Ontario. The article, which will be
available for download in the Articles section of
www.ellynlaw.com after
publication, relies in part on Mr.Ellyn's long experience in
appellate advocacy.
October 2008:
October 2008: Ellyn Law LLP has developed a new legal service which will provide an audit of legal matters affecting small and medium sized businesses. Canadian Business Legal CheckupJ is a diagnostic tool small and medium size businesses could use to verify if legal aspects of their operation comply with the law and also, to minimize risk, litigation and expense. When the Business Legal Checkup is completed, the business owner receives a lawyer’s report red-flagging matters which need correction, improvement or further legal advice. Please see our recent article on this topic in the Articles section of our website, entitled
“The Business Legal Checkup: Preventive advice for the legal health of your Business”.
Canadian Business Legal Checkup and Business Legal Checkup are registered trademarks.
October 2008:
Ellyn Law LLP is a member of the International Network of Boutique Law Firms (INBLF), an association of more than 250 law firms in North American and globally, which provided specialized expertise. Firms are selected for membership based on their expertise and experience. Senior Partner
July 2008:
March 2008: Igor Ellyn was a speaker and panellist at an international conference held at the
Bloomberg Center, New York in March 2008 entitled “Perspectives on International Labor and Employment Law”, jointly sponsored by the New York State Bar Association and the Cornell University, ILR School, Labor and Employment Law Program. Mr. Ellyn made a presentation on the topic “The Tension between Choice of Law and Mandatory Rules in International Employment and Agency Arbitration”. He participated in a panel with three other distinguished legal counsel, international mediators and arbitrators, Linda Gail Bartlett (New York), Richard DeWitt (Coral Gables, Florida) and Axel Heck (Berlin, Germany). Mr. Ellyn’s presentation appears in the Articles section of this website.
December 2007: Partner Igor Ellyn, QC published a paper in 2005 entitled “Shareholders’ Remedies in
October 2007: Igor Ellyn participated in a Mediation Training Conference in
September 2007: Senior Partner Igor Ellyn, QC was the keynote speaker at the 17th Annual Operation Update program presented by Ontario Bar Association on September 21, 2007. Operation Update is a legal conference attended by hundreds of lawyers every year where experts in various fields of law explain developments in the law over the preceding year. Igor Ellyn presented a paper entitled "The Five Most Significant Decisions of the Courts in 2006-07", which was prepared with the assistance of Evelyn Perez Youssoufian, associate in the firm and former associate, Michelle Gordon. This will mark the fifth time Mr. Ellyn has delivered the keynote presentation at Operation Update. His paper appears in the Artlcles section of this website and has also been published on www.bar-ex.com www.lawyers.com and www.hg.org.
September 2007: Ellyn Law LLP is pleased to welcome Evelyn Perez-Youssoufian as an associate in our firm. Evelyn is a graduate of a dual program in Canadian and U.S. Law from the
August 2007: Ellyn Law LLP is pleased to announce that our offices have moved to
July 2007: Senior Partner Igor Ellyn has been appointed Honourary Legal Counsel of Canadian Jewish Congress, Ontario Region for a two-year term. In this role, Mr. Ellyn will be active in human rights advocacy on behalf of the Jewish Community and the broader community in
June 2007: Partners Igor Ellyn, QC and Orie Niedzviecki will be breakfast speakers on shareholders' remedies at Macdonald & Partners, a Toronto firm specializing in family law and divorce.
June 2007: As of June 1, 2007, Ellyn-Barristers has become Ellyn Law LLP. Orie Niedzviecki has become a partner of the firm and Michelle Gordon is an associate. After a four year stint, our fomer associate, Jacqueline Dickison, has left our firm returned to Mississauga, Ontario, to continue her practice of family. We wish her success in her new office.
May 2007: Senior Partner Igor Ellyn, QC and Michelle Gordon authored a paper of entitled "Winning Commercial Appeals and the Concept of Commercial Reasonableness", which is available for downloading in the Information Centre of this website. Igor Ellyn, QC delivered a speech and Power point presentation at the Ontario Bar Association's continuing education program, "Your First Appeal".
May 2007: Our firm was a sponsor of the annual Netivot HaTorah Hebrew School Golf Tournament.
May 2007: Igor Ellyn has been invited to deliver the keynote speech at the Ontario Bar Association's continuing education program "Operation Update" on September 21, 2007 on the subject "The Five Most Significant Decisions of the Courts in 2006-2007" This will be the fifth time Igor Ellyn has been asked to deliver this keynote speech. Papers from the previous speeches are available for review and downloading in the Information Centre of this website.
April 2007: Our firm continues the development of a preventative law service to be known as Business Legal Check-up and Canadian Business Legal Check-up. Trademark approval has been received for both of these names. Watch for further development of this innovative legal service in the coming months.
March 2007: Igor Ellyn was a delegate to the International Conference of the American Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists entitled " Protecting Human Rights and Democratic Values in an Age of Terrorism", which was held on George Washington Law School of American University. The conference was held in conjunction with the International Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists, of which Igor Ellyn is a Vice-President.
On March 22, 2007, Igor Ellyn attended a ceremony at the United States Supreme Court for the presentation of the Pursuit of Justice Award to Justice Aharon Barak, former President of the Israel Supreme Court and one of the most influential scholars and jurists in the history of Israel. The awarded was presented by the Hon. Justice Antonin Scalia of the U.S. Suprement Court and the Hon. Irwin Cotler, former Justice Minister of Canada. On March 23, 2007, Igor Ellyn, accompanied by lawyers Howard Simmons (Brampton) and Theodore Goloff (Montreal) attended a meeting with the Hon. Michael Wilson, Canada's Ambassador to the United States.
October 7, 2005: Igor Ellyn delivered the keynote address at Ontario Bar Association's Operation Update on the topic of "The Five Most Significant Cases of the Courts in 2004-2005". An information copy of this paper is available in the Information Centre.
October 2005: Igor Ellyn and Orie Niedzviecki prepared a paper entitled "The Five Most Significant Cases of the Courts in 2004-2005" for Operation Update, an annual seminar of the Ontario Bar Association. An information copy of this paper is available in the Information Centre.
October 2005: Ellyn-Barristers will soon change its firm name to ELLYN LAW. This change is in keeping with the development of our firm's innovative and important legal service for small and medium-sized businesses called "Canadian Business Legal Checkup". Watch this website in the months ahead for further developments. Our firm's expertise business litigation and estate/matrimonial in all the areas listed in this website remain unchanged.
May 2005: Ellyn-Barristers was a sponsor of the Netivot HaTorah Day School Golf Tournament. Orie Niedzviecki participated in the tournament on behalf of the firm.
April 2005: Igor Ellyn delivered a lecture at a conference of the Centre for International Legal Studies in Whistler, British Columbia on the subject of "Shareholders Remedies in Canada". An information copy of Mr. Ellyn's paper is available in the Information Centre.