Matthew Estabrooks

About Matthew Estabrooks

Matthew Estabrooks is a partner in Gowling WLG's Ottawa office, and the work centres on three things: copyright, administrative law and appeals. Clients large and small turn to Estabrooks for opinions under the Copyright Act, and for assignment and licensing agreements in music, book publishing, software and new media. A good share of that copyright work happens in proceedings before the Copyright Board of Canada.

Rail is a recurring theme on the regulatory side. Estabrooks handles railway matters before the Canadian Transportation Agency, explains what the Canada Transportation Act requires of clients and what it allows, and helps draft rail shipping agreements. Provincial transportation agencies have also had advice on railway crossings. Judicial reviews take the partner to the Federal Court, the Federal Court of Appeal and the Ontario Divisional Court, and Estabrooks now co-leads the firm's national Administrative Law Practice Group.

Appellate advocacy ties it all together. As part of the firm's Supreme Court of Canada Group, Estabrooks prepares leave applications, represents clients on appeals and motions, and walks them through each stage at the Court. Appearances so far run from the Copyright Board, Ontario's Superior Court and its Court of Appeal to the Federal Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Canada itself. Matthew edits Supreme Court of Canada Practice, a guide to practice and procedure before that court, along with the firm's Supreme Court of Canada Bulletin.

Called to the Ontario bar in 2010 after earning an LLB at the University of New Brunswick, Estabrooks also teaches as a part-time professor at the University of Ottawa. The copyright work has earned a listing in The Best Lawyers in Canada for Intellectual Property Law, first in 2021.