Blaney McMurtry LLP
Automatically compiled listing. Details may contain errors.1 lawyer · City of Toronto
About Blaney McMurtry LLP
Clients rate this firm highly on Google.
Blaney McMurtry acts for virtually every insurance company in Canada, and insurance work has sat at the core of the practice for more than 60 years. Around that core is a full-service Toronto firm with clients across Canada and beyond, ranked for its work in litigation and advocacy, real estate and business law, with a private client practice that includes wills and estates.
The client list runs from financial institutions, insurers and governments to privately owned businesses and the people who run them, including entrepreneurs and executives. It's all handled from a single Toronto office, and the firm's spot in the country's financial centre lets it take on complex matters that reach well beyond the city.
Jim Blaney and Irwin Pasternak started the firm at Bay and Bloor in 1954. Today Shawn Wolfson, a real estate lawyer, leads it as managing partner. Four of its lawyers are certified by the Law Society of Ontario as specialists, in four different practice areas.
On October 26, 2026 the firm opens its new offices at Scotia Plaza, having spent more than twenty years in the space it's leaving. For a firm that began at Bay and Bloor, the move brings it back to Bay Street.
History
Bill McMurtry's arrival in 1968 shaped much of what followed. McMurtry was a trial lawyer for 47 years, 38 of them at the firm, and built its litigation department into a force, above all in insurance. McMurtry was also a pioneer in alternative dispute resolution and represented the Assembly of First Nations at two constitutional conferences in the 1980s, before passing away in 2007.
By 1997 the firm was practising as Blaney, McMurtry, Stapells, Friedman. Various mergers had brought it to 73 lawyers, working from three floors of the Cadillac Fairview Tower at Bay and Queen Streets. Robert Muir practised commercial litigation here for 19 years before being appointed to the Superior Court of Ontario as a Master, and the Ontario Bar Association's SOGIC Robert Muir Award of Excellence for Mentorship now carries that name. In 2019 the Law Society of Ontario gave an LLD to former Blaneys lawyer Delia Opekokew for a lifetime of Indigenous advocacy.
Practice areas
Insurance litigation and coverage
Insurance has anchored the firm for over six decades. It's been primary defence counsel for governmental bodies, large and small, for over 30 years, and its Coverage Group concentrates on interpreting and drafting policies, resolving coverage disputes and litigating them when needed.
Commercial litigation
More than 30 lawyers work in the commercial litigation group, handling disputes for businesses whose operations are on the line.
Class actions
The firm has acted for defendants and for plaintiff classes. Before the Class Proceedings Act was passed, the court named it to the Plaintiffs' Committee in the Air India litigation, and by 2008 Lee Valley Tools had retained it to represent a class of Canada Post customers seeking the return of parcel shipping charges paid after January 1, 2000.
Aviation
Roderick Winsor heads the Aviation Group, whose members have acted in litigation from most major international air disasters involving Canadians over the past 40 years. That includes acting for the families of all the Canadian victims when the Soviet Union shot down Korean Air Lines 007, and the group has prepared questions and answers for the families of those lost on Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752.
Indigenous law
Robert Potts chairs the Indigenous Law Group and has represented First Nations since the early 1980s. The firm has intervened in Indigenous rights cases including Guerin, Sparrow and Bear Island, and in Whiteduck v Ontario the Court of Appeal allowed its clients' appeal, ruling unanimously that the duty to consult and accommodate gave the Algonquins standing to sue.
Family law
The family group brings more than 90 years of combined experience to complex, high-stakes files arising from cohabitation, marriage, separation and divorce, whether they're settled by negotiation, alternative dispute resolution or in court. Chambers ranks the firm Band 1 in Canada for Family/Matrimonial: High Net Worth.
Wills and estates
The estates lawyers cover will and trust planning, estate administration, incapacity planning and contested estates. When assets sit in other countries, the firm draws on legal help abroad through its TAGLaw connections.
Commercial real estate
The commercial real estate team works across a property's life, from buying it to selling it. It's been ranked in the Chambers Canada directory since the guide began in 2016 and holds Band 1 for Real Estate: Mainly Mid-Market in Ontario, and many developments in downtown Toronto had the firm's corporate and real estate lawyers as counsel.
Corporate and commercial
Corporate lawyers advise businesses on transactions, securities, M&A, regulatory questions, structuring and governance.
Employment
Employment lawyers prepare employment and consulting contracts whichever side of the relationship the client is on, and they represent employers or employees at every level of court up to the Supreme Court of Canada.
Health law
The Health Law Group acts for regulated health professionals, from physicians and dentists to nurses and optometrists, and for the owners and operators of clinics and health facilities. It also represents patients appealing to OHIP/HSARB to recover out of country medical costs.
Tax
Tax litigators have represented clients before the Tax Court of Canada, the Federal Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Canada, and they were involved in Stubart Investments, a foundational Supreme Court of Canada corporate tax case.
Election and political law
The firm runs political audits so companies and associations can show directors and shareholders they're complying with contribution limits and lobbying rules. Partner Jack Siegel advises political parties, and clients regularly bring Siegel in to act for them before lobbying and integrity commissioners.
Immigration
The Immigration Law Group helps foreign nationals obtain temporary or permanent admission to Canada, on their own or as part of a corporate transfer.
Good to know
Wheelchair accessible
By appointmentHow Blaney McMurtry LLP works
Efficiency is the organising idea at Blaney McMurtry. The firm's commitment is practical, efficient service that's proactive and makes clients' problems go away. It built its methods for demanding clients such as general counsel and insurance companies, and those methods now run firmwide; in insurance, that means file handling systems and the bench strength to manage claims in volume.
Court isn't the only route. A large share of the firm's commercial litigation cases end without a trial, and in estate disputes alternative dispute resolution is encouraged, with some of the firm's own lawyers available to act as mediators.
Milestones & recognition
- Four of the firm's first 20 lawyers were women, an unusually high share for that era.
- Zenith Awards in 2016 (Celebrating Diversity and Inclusion) and 2017 (Celebrating Women in Law).
- 2024: Robert Potts receives an Honorary Doctor of Laws from Osgoode Hall Law School and York University for work in Indigenous law.
- Canadian Law Awards Excellence Awardee for Ontario Law Firm of the Year (2025) and Commercial Litigation Team of the Year (2026).
- Named a "Top 10 Ontario Regional Law Firm" by Canadian Lawyer Magazine for 2025 and 2026.
- Chambers Canada 2027 ranks the firm in three practice areas and nine of its lawyers individually.
- 57 of the firm's lawyers are recognized in the 2027 editions of Best Lawyers in Canada and Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch in Canada.
In the community
- The Investing in Our Diversity Scholarships program, co-founded in 2001 by Bill McMurtry with the Scadding Court Community Centre, supports college and university students who work to improve race relations, keep communities safe and empower young people. It's raised over $1 million for more than 600 scholarships, and the firm still funds two of them, including the William R. McMurtry Memorial Anti-Racism Diversity Scholarship.
- Kits for Kids 2026 sent more than 90 backpacks out stocked with school supplies and other necessities.
- The firm's 2025 community work included the Pro Bono Ontario Free Legal Advice Hotline, and in 2024 it sponsored the GTHL Breakout Summit on inclusivity in hockey.
- The firm belongs to the Law Firm Diversity and Inclusion Network, a group of Canadian firms working together to promote inclusion in the profession.
Affiliations & connections
- Insurance Law Global: Blaney McMurtry is the founding Canadian member of Insurance Law Global, a network of independent insurance defence firms in countries including the UK, Spain, Mexico and Australia.
- TAG Alliances (TAGLaw): Through TAGLaw, Blaney McMurtry has affiliated law firms it can call on for mining work anywhere in the world.
- SickKids Foundation: Blaney McMurtry has made a $1 million philanthropic commitment to SickKids Foundation.
- Scadding Court Community Centre: Blaney McMurtry counts the Scadding Court Community Centre among its friends, and the centre is its partner in the diversity scholarship program.
- WICC (Women in Insurance Cancer Crusade): The firm's support for WICC goes back two decades.
Lawyers 1
The neighbourhood
From October 26, 2026, Blaney McMurtry works out of Scotia Plaza, a commercial skyscraper originally built as Scotiabank's global headquarters. Olympia and York developed it as an expansion of the bank's neighbouring head office, and the complex fills the block bounded by Bay Street, King Street West, Yonge Street and Adelaide Street West, in the financial district of downtown Toronto. It's connected to the PATH network.
Frequently asked questions
- Is Blaney McMurtry still negotiating a modern treaty for the Algonquins of Ontario?
- Blaney McMurtry represents the Algonquins of Ontario in modern treaty negotiations with Canada and Ontario that are still under way. Partner Robert Potts serves as the AOO's Principal Negotiator and Senior Legal Counsel.
- Has Blaney McMurtry acted for families after air disasters such as the Air India Flight 182 bombing?
- Blaney McMurtry provided one of the four lawyers the Ontario Supreme Court appointed to act for all the families' lawyers on liability after the Air India Flight 182 bombing. In aviation claims the firm works toward early settlement, and it has gone to court where defendants resisted.
- Who oversees my file at Blaney McMurtry if my estate plan also needs family, real estate or corporate lawyers?
- Blaney McMurtry keeps the partner you meet at the outset in charge of the whole process, even when several practice groups, such as family law, real estate or corporate commercial, are working on it.
- Can Blaney McMurtry defend a health professional in a College complaint or an HPARB review?
- Blaney McMurtry's Health Law Group represents regulated health professionals in College complaints, investigations, discipline, quality assurance and fitness to practise matters, and on reviews to HPARB and judicial review in the courts.
- Does Blaney McMurtry offer role-play training for managers and union representatives?
- Blaney McMurtry trains executives, managers, supervisors and union representatives on topics like discipline and health and safety. The sessions are built on real cases and use role-play so the lessons carry over to the workplace.
- Can Blaney McMurtry help a candidate through a judicial recount?
- Blaney McMurtry advises candidates for federal, provincial and municipal office on judicial recounts, including arguing whether and how particular ballots should be counted.
- Does Blaney McMurtry's franchise group act for franchisees as well as franchisors?
- Blaney McMurtry acts for both franchisors and franchisees, so it sees the franchise industry from each side of the table.
Where to find them
2 Queen Street East, Suite 1500, Toronto, Ontario M5C 3G5 · 416-593-1221
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