Overview

“I think he is the best litigator in Canada. He can find the winning argument like a jet-seeking missile. He has a flawless execution and court presence; his oral and written work is stellar.”

Kent is the Head of the Litigation Department of Davies in Toronto. He specializes in complex, high-stakes commercial litigation. Recognized repeatedly as one of Canada’s leading trial and appellate counsel, Kent is trusted by clients to act on their most critical matters.

Described by clients as “one of the premier litigators in the country,” Kent appears regularly in courts at every level throughout Canada. (Client, Chambers Canada) He also acts before a number of tribunals in Canada, including the Ontario Securities Commission and the Competition Tribunal.

Lead counsel in many of Canada’s most closely watched cases, Kent has succeeded in obtaining numerous precedent-setting decisions in areas as diverse as oppression, plans of arrangement, class actions, corporate law, securities law, tort law, competition law, tax law, voting law and defamation, including on a number of occasions in the Supreme Court of Canada. He has also succeeded in obtaining numerous Awards for clients in complex domestic and international arbitrations in Canada, the U.S., Europe, Australia and Africa.

As one client says, “He’s indefatigable; he has a motor like no one else” and a “very strong sense of how to move a case forward, how to organise the tactics of a case and how to manage interactions with the court system.” (Chambers Canada)

Acted for Member of Parliament Ted Opitz in a successful appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada from a decision of the Ontario Superior Court overturning the results of a federal election in the riding of Etobicoke Centre. This case involved the first consideration by the Supreme Court of election laws in Canada in more than 50 years.

Acted as counsel for Baffinland Iron Mines LP and Baffinland Iron Mines Corporation (together, “BIM”) in a high-stakes application to set aside or overturn an arbitral award of more than $114 million in damages. The resulting appeal in this case resulted in an important decision rendered by the Ontario Court of Appeal in April 2023 that addresses the circumstances in which an arbitration agreement will be interpreted as excluding rights of appeal, the application of the presumption of consistent expression in the interpretation of Canadian contracts, and the narrow circumstances in which a refusal to grant leave to appeal by a Superior Court may be appealed directly to the Court of Appeal.

Acted for Bayer Corporation in successfully opposing in the Ontario Divisional Court and Ontario Court of Appeal certification of a proposed national class action concerning alleged price fixing in the supply of iron oxide, a colourant in bricks and paving stones. This case, known as Chadha v Bayer, is one of the leading decisions in Canada concerning the certification of antitrust class actions.

Practice Areas

• Civil Litigation
• Competition Law

Bar Information

Called to the bar: 1984 (ON)