tconway@cwcb-law.com

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Tom Conway

In May, 2012, Tom was elected Treasurer of the Law Society of Upper Canada. He will assume that position in June.

Tom has practised civil litigation in Ottawa since his call to the bar in 1989. He articled at, practised in and become a partner of a prominent Ottawa law firm before joining the Ottawa office of a national law firm in 1995, where he was a partner for over 14 years. For much of that time, he was the Ottawa Litigation Group Leader.  He joined CWCB as one of its founding partners in September 2009.

Tom has extensive civil trial and appellate experience, acting as counsel in jury and non-jury trials in the Superior Court of Ontario, in the Ontario Court of Appeal, the Federal Court, the Tax Court of Canada, and the Supreme Court of Canada. He also has acted as counsel in judicial inquiries and in commercial arbitrations.
 
Tom often represents technology companies, publicly and privately traded corporations, shareholders, secured lenders, financial institutions, commercial landlords and franchisors in complex commercial and technology disputes.  He has also represented the Government of Canada, Crown Corporations and agencies.  In a recent mandate, Tom represented the Government of Canada as litigation counsel in Canada’s successful defence of a significant and complex international trade claim made by UPS of America under Chapter 11 of the NAFTA.

In addition to corporate and commercial litigation, Tom also has extensive experience in employment, defamation, and tort litigation, as well as injunction, receivership, insolvency and restructuring proceedings. He has acted as lead counsel in the defence of franchise and other class actions, trade secret and employment injunctions, high-profile defamation cases, the defence of regulatory offences, oppression remedy proceedings and court-supervised corporate reorganizations. He has also advised corporate clients in takeover and proxy disputes.

Tom’s trial and hearings experience includes representation of:

• a municipality in a successful appeal of an award of Wallace damages to the Court of Appeal for Ontario;

• a plaintiff municipal corporation in a successful action for breach of fiduciary duty against a former, senior municipal official;

• a non-profit, charitable, community-based arts and culture organization in a successful action for a constructive trust in an Ottawa heritage building;

• an emerging alternative energy company in a trade secret injunction;

• a plaintiff in a successful civil jury trial for general and Wallace damages;

• the major secured creditor in the receivership proceedings and restructuring proceedings of the Ottawa Senators Hockey Club;

• a number of publicly-traded, Ottawa high-technology companies in proceedings for approvals of a plan of arrangement under the Canada Business Corporations Act and the Ontario Business Corporations Act;

• a defendant franchisor in the successful defence of a class proceeding commenced on behalf of a class of 300 franchisees;

• a defendant Internet service provider in a class proceeding commenced on behalf of 40,000 subscribers;

• a plaintiff in a successful Anton Piller injunction application;

• a defendant CEO and a publicly-traded, multinational high-technology company in a harassment lawsuit;

• a defendant software technology company in a dispute involving allegations of copyright infringement, breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duties and related claims; and

• a publicly-traded high-technology company in a claim against a publicly-traded multinational for breach of software licensing agreement.

Tom was recognized in 2007 by The National Post as one of Canada’s top corporate and commercial litigation lawyers. In 2009, Tom was selected by his peers to be included in the 2010 edition of The Best Lawyers in Canada in the specialty of Corporate and Commercial Litigation. He was included in LEXPERT's directory of "Leading Practitioners", in the category of "Litigation: Products Liability".

He is a frequent lecturer and presenter at continuing legal education programs and seminars. From 2004 to 2009, Tom was an adjunct professor in the Faculty of Law at the University of Ottawa, where he taught Trial Advocacy

In 2007, Tom was elected by Ontario's legal profession to sit as one of its governors (Regional Bencher, East) at the Law Society of Upper Canada (LSUC). Founded in 1797, the LSUC is the largest of all Canadian law societies and governs nearly 40,000 lawyers and paralegals licensed to practise in Ontario. Tom serves on many committees of the LSUC, including as Vice-Chair of the LSUC’s Hearing Panel and Co-Chair, Working Group on the Retention of Women in Private Practice.

Tom is also the LSUC appointee to the Federation of Law Societies of Canada (FLSC), which represents the common interests of the governing bodies of the legal profession in Canada. He is the Chair of the Litigation Committee of the FLSC.

In 2006-2007, Tom served as a member of the advisory committee to the Civil Justice Reform Project, established by the Attorney General of Ontario in June 2006 to examine options to reform the civil justice system. The recommendations of this Project have ushered in significant changes to the Rules of Civil Procedure in Ontario. In 2007, Tom was appointed by the Attorney General of Ontario to the Justice and Media Liaison Committee, established to improve interaction between the news media and the justice system.

In 2006, Tom served as President of the County of Carleton Law Association, which represents the interests of over 1,300 lawyers practising in Ottawa.

Tom received his B.A. (English), B.A. (History) and M.A. (History) from the University of Calgary in 1982, 1984 and 1984, respectively. In 1987, he received his LL.B. from the University of Ottawa. He was called to the Ontario bar in 1989.