Laurent Massam

About Laurent Massam

Laurent Massam is a partner in Gowling WLG's Toronto office who litigates intellectual property disputes of every kind, from patents and trademarks to copyright and trade secrets, alongside complex commercial cases. Massam has gone to trial on matters touching manufacturing, software, transportation, broadcasting and communications. Clients regularly have the partner representing them at the Federal Court and the Federal Court of Appeal, in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice and before the Copyright Board of Canada.

Not every file ends up in a courtroom, though. Domestic and international clients also bring Massam in as a strategic adviser, and the partner steers them through difficult mediations and negotiations of other kinds. Called to the Ontario bar in 2006, the litigator previously served as the Canadian leader of the firm's IP Litigation and Strategy Group. The work has reached the Supreme Court of Canada too, where Massam has been among the Gowling WLG lawyers acting for the Copyright Collective of Canada.

Massam trained as an engineer first. A civil engineering degree from McGill came before a master's in civil and structural engineering at the University of Toronto, and only then came law school back at McGill, where Massam earned both common and civil law degrees. Lexpert included Massam in its 2016 Rising Stars list of Leading Lawyers Under 40.

Giving back to people who might otherwise go without access to justice is a priority for Massam. For ten years the partner ran Gowling WLG's Pro Bono Program, and in 2023, as its head, spoke for a partnership with Ricoh under Relativity's Justice for Change program, announced to provide non-profits tackling racial and social justice issues with litigation and technology support on a pro bono basis.