Lawyer Profile
Stephen Brown-Okruhlik
Toronto, Ontario
Overview
Stephen Brown-Okruhlik is an experienced and effective commercial litigator specializing in M&A disputes and corporate stakeholder litigation. He provides strategic counsel to businesses, investment funds, shareholders, banks and other stakeholders involved in high-stakes litigation. In addition to advising on contentious corporate M&A matters and financing transactions, Stephen is a trusted advisor on issues related to the capital structure of businesses in Canada. He is recognized by leading publications, including Lexpert, Benchmark Litigation and Best Lawyers.
Stephen has extensive experience with M&A litigation, oppression, corporate fraud, creditors’ remedies, lender liability, global enforcement strategies, complex debt instruments, derivatives, corporate board fights, contested transactions, poison pills, secondary market securities class actions and international arbitrations. He represents founders and investors in ‘bet the company’ litigation, as well as Canadian and foreign banks on complex financing disputes, lender liability claims and insolvency proceedings.
Stephen is active in the commercial litigation and insolvency bar. He is a Co-Chair of the American Bar Association’s M&A Litigation Subcommittee and a former executive member of the Ontario Bar Association’s Insolvency Section. Additionally, Stephen writes and speaks frequently to Canadian and international audiences on a variety of topics such as ‘busted deal’ disputes and ‘creditor violence’ trends.
Join moderator Stephen Brown-Okruhlik and an exceptional panel of practitioners and thought leaders as they discuss vulnerabilities to lenders under loan documents, the latest judicial guidance on "priming" and "uptiering" transactions, and how credit market participants are addressing risks. This webinar is hosted by the ABA American Bar Association.
The Court in Kwong v. iAnthus denied a plaintiff's request for documentary discovery before he obtained leave to bring a secondary market securities action.
The authors discuss the Ontario Superior Court of Justice's decision in Cineplex v. Cineworld, a "busted deal" case about interim operating covenants.
Part XXIII.1 of Ontario’s Securities Act creates a statutory cause of action for investors who suffer losses in the secondary market.
The SCC recently released its long awaited decision in Wastech Services Ltd v Greater Vancouver Sewerage and Drainage District.
Practice Areas
Bar Information
Called to the bar: 2014 (ON)