Lerners LLP

Injury and survivor claims

Injury clients can find the firm's personal injury practice at its own site, LernersPersonalInjury.ca, and survivors of sexual assault and abuse have a dedicated site too, JusticeForSurvivors.ca.

Family business and unmarried couples

Family clients can draw on the firm's other groups in-house, from counsel on complex family business settlements to estate planning advice. The group also drafts agreements for unmarried couples that set out how assets would be divided, and what parental and financial rights and responsibilities each partner would have, if they break up.

Our guide: How to Get a Divorce in Ontario

Both sides of class proceedings

The class actions team works on both the plaintiff and the defence side. It has filed a class action for Ontario denturists whose COVID-19 business income coverage was denied by Aviva Insurance Company of Canada, and another against Aviva on behalf of Royal Canadian Legion branches across Canada.

Insurance and aviation claims

The firm works for brokers, insurers, captive companies and reinsurers on first-party and third-party insurance products. Its specialty risk group also represents parties in litigation over aviation events, from passenger injury and death to property damage.

Defending health professionals

The health law group defends regulated health professionals across Ontario, from physicians and nurses to pharmacists and optometrists. It appears at inquests, Consent and Capacity Board hearings and appeals, and it gives guidance on newer issues such as artificial intelligence in clinical practice.

Public law and interventions

The firm's public law work includes a CCLA intervention in Bowman v. Ontario (2022 ONCA 477), an appeal over certification of a proposed class proceeding that challenged Ontario's cancellation of the Basic Income Pilot Program. It also advises First Nations and Indigenous peoples, as well as public bodies and private parties, on Aboriginal title, rights and treaty law.

Municipal law

Lerners has acted for Ontario municipalities and public entities for over 40 years. That work has included representing the City of Hamilton in an appeal that upheld its refusal of a proposed transit advertisement, and serving as breach coach to a large library system during a ransomware attack.

Employers and employees

The employment group acts for employees as well as employers, and its lawyers carry out workplace investigations into misconduct and complaints as certified workplace investigators.

Arbitration and appeals

Several of the firm's lawyers hold arbitrator designations and sit as neutral arbitrators in Canadian and international cases, and the firm has represented a car dealership in a dealer agreement termination under the National Automobile Dealer Arbitration Program. At the Supreme Court of Canada, it handles appeals from the leave application through to oral argument.

Dealerships and broadcasting deals

Business law files have included buying and selling automotive dealerships, floorplan financing for dealership lenders and borrowers, and the purchase and consolidation of radio broadcasting businesses.

Homes, development and property tax

Lerners' residential real estate lawyers and clerks handle conveyancing for people buying their first home, selling a family residence or refinancing, from reviewing agreements to title searches and closings. On the commercial side, the firm advises builders, developers, landowners, landlords and lenders, as well as municipalities, on major projects, and it helps clients with property tax reassessments and appeals.

Construction and heritage

In a 2021 Divisional Court case, the firm's construction lawyers won an interim order of prohibition for a community association that kept the Ontario government from tearing down heritage buildings.