Lawyer Profile
Graham D. Smith
Toronto, Ontario
Overview
Graham Smith is a partner and the General Counsel at Goodmans. Graham also heads the firm’s Research Department.
Graham’s litigation practice for 38 years focused on complex corporate/commercial and insolvency-related litigation. Graham is a seasoned litigator and has appeared before a range of courts and tribunals in Canada and the United States. His cases have awarded insurance and reinsurance disputes, financial institution insolvency, cross-border issues, surety bond issues, contractual disputes, construction disputes, large transfer pricing disputes and corporate oppression actions. His litigation career reflects a diverse depth of experience in all these fields, as well as prosecution and defence of defamation claims, providing pre-publication and pre-broadcast review, litigation of employee and fiduciary obligation claims, real estate and landlord and tenant disputes, energy regulatory hearings and pension board hearings.
Graham has extensive cross-border experience in commercial and insolvency matters, including as advisory counsel and litigation counsel to liquidators of Canadian branches of U.S. insurers and liquidators of Canadian insurance companies with U.S. and U.K. branches. Graham has worked frequently with U.S. and U.K. counsel, rehabilitation officers and liquidators in an array of cross border matters. Graham is also a skilled researcher and is often consulted by members of Goodmans on cutting edge legal issues. He also provides legal research and writing skills seminars to summer and articling students at the firm.
Graham has been frequently consulted by industry associations and government departments on legislative improvements to restructuring provisions for financial institutions.
He is the author of the Canadian chapter on cross-border insurance insolvency for the ABA Handbook - a leading resource for practitioners in the field of insurance company insolvency; co-author of the Winding-up and Restructuring Act module for Lexis Practice Advisor Canada; former co-author of Insurance Companies Act - Legislation and Commentary; co-author of Practical Law’s module on cross-border agreements (Canada); and author of commentary on recognition of foreign solvent schemes of arrangements published by the International Association of Restructuring, Insolvency and Bankruptcy Professionals.
Graham has presented on a variety of cutting edge legal issues both in-house and at conferences in Canada and the U.S., including leading international insurance insolvency panels and the leading international transfer pricing forum. Most recently, he authored and presented on Statements of Defence – Clear and Effective Writing for the Law Society of Ontario.
Practice Areas
Bar Information
Called to the bar: 1986 (ON)