Ira is a leading commercial litigator and international disputes lawyer focused on complex commercial litigation, commercial fraud, investigations, cybersecurity and information technology litigation, intellectual property litigation, and international disputes.
He has been described by Who’s Who Legal as “one of Canada's leading legal minds” and a “first-rate practitioner in complex commercial fraud cases” who “draws widespread acclaim” and is “well-known for his expert handling of complex commercial disputes”.
Ira leads complex international fraud litigation and investigations and asset recovery proceedings, and is a widely-recognized expert in in extraordinary remedies, including Anton Piller (civil search), Mareva (asset freezing) and Norwich Pharmacal (equitable discovery) orders. He has appeared in approximately 100 injunction proceedings before Canadian courts and has fashioned creative, leading-edge remedies to assist clients.
Ira advises clients on cybersecurity, data breaches, information security intrusions and exfiltration, and serves as “breach coach” in cybersecurity incident response. He has served as lead counsel in many important information technology and intellectual property cases in Canada.
Ira has also brought numerous court applications for the enforcement of international arbitral awards and foreign judgments, for letters of request/letters rogatory, and to stay proceedings on jurisdictional grounds. He has also acted in applications to set aside and seek leave to appeal international arbitral awards.
Ira appears before all levels of courts in Canada, including the Supreme Court of Canada, Federal Court of Appeal, Ontario Court of Appeal, Federal Court, Ontario Divisional Court and Superior Court of Justice. He appears frequently before the Commercial Court in Toronto in motions, applications, and trials.
Ira has litigated a wide range of cases including in the following areas:
- administrative law
- anti-piracy and anti-counterfeiting
- asset tracing and recovery
- banking and financial services
- broadcasting and telecommunications
- class actions/mass torts/collective redress
- computer, information technology and internet law
- contempt proceedings
- conflict of laws/forum non conveniens
- constitutional law/Charter of Rights and Freedoms
- contracts
- corporate/commercial law
- cybersecurity and cybercrime (including privacy, data protection and information security)
- defamation (libel and slander)
- fiduciary duties
- fraud
- injunctions (interim, interlocutory and permanent) and provisional measures
- intellectual property (including copyright and trademark infringement)
- labour and employment
- officer and director liability
- product liability
- professional negligence
- public and private international law
- shareholder and partnership disputes
Ira is the national leader of BLG’s cybersecurity and cyber risk management practice.