Thomas Yates

About Thomas Yates

Thomas Yates is a partner in Gowling WLG's Ottawa office whose work centres on cross-border commercial fights, with arbitration at the heart of the practice. Private equity funds, multinationals, privately held businesses and individuals of ultra high net worth bring Yates joint venture and post-M&A disputes, along with shareholder and director disputes. Major banks call on the same practice when a banking or finance matter turns contentious.

England came first. Yates was called there in 2004 and is admitted as a solicitor-advocate in England & Wales, then added an Ontario call as a barrister and solicitor in 2024. Before Gowling WLG, the London dispute resolution group of a global firm was home base, with time in that firm's Sydney and Dubai offices. There was also a secondment inside J.P. Morgan's in-house litigation department.

Yates has acted in many arbitrations, both domestic and international, under LCIA, ICC, SIAC and UNCITRAL rules, and also handles the court applications that grow out of them. Mediation, adjudication and expert determination are part of the toolkit as well. In planning how to contain risk and settle a dispute, Yates makes a point of weighing commercial and relationship factors alongside the law. A Member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, Yates also accepts appointments to sit as an arbitrator.

Teaching and writing fill out the picture. Yates runs arbitration training for lawyers and clients, speaks at arbitration conferences, and writes often for Lexology and Mealey's International Arbitration Report. On a London International Disputes Week panel about supply chain disputes, Yates made light of the English accent.