Christopher M. Stanek

About Christopher M. Stanek

Christopher Stanek is a partner in Gowling WLG's Toronto office and a commercial litigator whose files often turn on land: construction claims, leasing conflicts and real property disputes. Financial institutions and corporations in Canada, the United States and beyond have relied on Christopher, and on construction matters the client list runs from contractors to lenders to developers. Each strategy is shaped around what the client is trying to achieve, even when that aim doesn't fit the mould of a conventional lawsuit.

Christopher studied history at the University of Western Ontario, then earned an LLB at the University of Windsor in 2000 and was called to the Ontario bar in 2002. While still a law student, Christopher worked as a research assistant on Richard Moon's book The Constitutional Protection of Freedom of Expression. The courtroom work since then has covered every level of court in Ontario, a number of administrative tribunals and arbitrations large and small. Christopher has argued numerous appeals in the Superior Court and the Court of Appeal, sometimes for the appellant and sometimes for the respondent.

In November 2017, as a member of The Advocates' Society's construction law practice group executive, Christopher spoke for the society before the Ontario legislature's Standing Committee on the Legislative Assembly on Bill 142, the Construction Lien Amendment Act. Christopher co-chaired that practice group from 2017 to 2019. At a May 2018 seminar run by the Construction and Design Alliance of Ontario, Christopher reminded the industry that under the coming rules, owners would have to pay proper invoices within 28 days.

Teaching is a steady thread too. Christopher instructs civil trial advocacy in Ryerson University's Law Practice Program and teaches the litigation part of the yearly Gold Seal Construction Law Course backed by the Ontario Sewer and Watermain Association. Groups such as the University of Windsor's law faculty have heard Christopher lecture on contracts, construction law and the Construction Lien Act. Christopher has also given time to pro bono work, serving as duty counsel through Pro Bono Ontario's Amicus Project at the Court of Appeal.