Background

Sean Gosnell is a partner practising in our Toronto office. He was admitted to the Ontario Bar in 1984 and qualified as a solicitor in England and Wales in 1989.

Sean holds a B.A. and a J.D. from the University of Toronto and an LL.M. in electronic commerce from Osgoode Hall Law School.

Areas of Practice

• Sean’s practice encompasses both contentious and non-contentious matters involving technology, public private partnerships in the real estate sector, land use planning and acquisition and professional liability and business interruption insurance.

Professional Experience

• Acted in three of the leading Ontario cases involving compensation for land acquired by government arising in the last 20 years.
• Involved in a number of multi-party land acquisitions including acting for the City of Toronto on the Yonge Dundas Square and Ataratiri projects in downtown Toronto, two large government led redevelopment projects.
• Provided advice on a variety of contentious and non-contentious technology related matters.
• Solicitor and Assistant Chief Operating Officer at Olympia and York Canary Wharf Limited in London, England (1989-1990). Participated in a number of milestones in the development of Canary Wharf, including the first lettings. Co-led a team that negotiated the conditional acquisition of a large parcel of land near Canary Wharf and an associated development agreement with the local government authority and a corporation controlled by the City of Tianjin, China.

Professional and Community Activities

• Guest lecturer in electronic commerce at the University of Windsor
• Member of the Executive of the Information Technology and E Commerce section of the Canadian Bar Association (Ontario).
• For ten years an associate editor of the Real Property Reports, the Canada wide real estate law reporter.
• Lectured and presented papers to the Law Society of Upper Canada and seminars sponsored by the Canadian Bar Association (Ontario) and the American Bar Association.
• Co-editor of Business Interruption Insurance, Canada Law Book (2004).