Overview

With a storied record of success, Steve is a highly regarded litigator, recognized for his leading expertise in complex intellectual property matters
Head of the firm's National Intellectual Property Litigation Group, Steve acts as lead counsel on some of the largest, most high profile intellectual property cases in Canada. His focus is on developing creative, client-focused strategies and solutions that help clients protect their interests and achieve their objectives.
As a litigator first and foremost, Steve is an experienced trial and appellate lawyer who brings an unconventional way of thinking to contentious IP matters. He is trusted by clients to resolve complicated patent, copyright, regulatory, and trade secrets disputes and respected for his litigation skills by peers of the IP Bar. Chambers Canada: Canada’s Leading Lawyers for Business remarked that Steve “is widely regarded by the market as a ‘great courtroom litigator’". Steve and his team won the 2020 Canadian Law Award for “Commercial Litigation Team of the Year” for successfully representing Bell and the National Football League before the Supreme Court of Canada in the historic Administrative Law Trilogy. In addition, he is consistently recognized among the best IP litigation lawyers in Canada by the Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory.
Supporting in-house counsel at multinational organizations across a range of industries, Steve has acted as lead counsel in many prominent cases, appearing before the Supreme Court of Canada, the Superior and Appellate Courts of British Columbia and Ontario and the Federal Court of Canada. Some of his notable experience includes:
Steve is a former Adjunct Professor at Osgoode Hall Faculty of Law where he taught Intellectual Property Law for over a decade. Frequently invited to speak about topics in the field of intellectual property litigation, he enjoys sharing his wealth of experience to mentor young lawyers. He also co-authored Intellectual Property Law in Canada: Cases and Commentary (Carswell, 2nd ed. 2013) as well as Copyright: Cases and Commentary on the Canadian and International Law (Carswell, 2nd ed. 2013).
Steve also practiced for several years at a large law firm in San Francisco and Palo Alto, California where he specialized in patent litigation.
Steve is admitted to practice before all courts in Canada, as well as the United States District Court (N.D. Cal.), the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals, the Court of International Trade and the United States Supreme Court. He is a Fellow of the Litigation Counsel of America and a member of the Law Society of Ontario and the State Bar of California.
Steve is a member of the board of Information Technology & Innovation Foundation’s Centre for Canadian Innovation and Competitiveness.
Leading Lawyer: Life Sciences & Health; Intellectual Property; Litigation - Intellectual Property; Telecommunications
Lead Counsel - Commercial Litigation Team of the Year (Bell Canada and NFL v. Canada (Attorney General)); Excellence Award - Litigator of the Year
Leading Lawyer: Biotechnology and Life Sciences Practice; Intellectual Property Law

Practice Areas

• Civil Litigation
• Intellectual Property

Bar Information

Called to the bar: 1994 (ON); 2001 (CAL)