Adrian Pel

Associate

Toronto
[email protected]
416.367.6040

Adrian is developing a broad commercial litigation practice. Adrian’s areas of focus include:

  • Securities, competition, and product liability class actions
  • Shareholder/partnership disputes, including oppression claims
  • Judicial review applications
  • Regulatory investigations and prosecutions

Adrian acts for individuals, public and private companies, financial institutions, healthcare institutions and public bodies. He has acted on matters before commercial arbitrators, the Ontario Court of Justice, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice (including the Commercial List), the Divisional Court, and the Ontario Court of Appeal. He has also worked on class actions matters before the Federal Court and in British Columbia and Saskatchewan.

Adrian summered and articled at BLG’s Toronto office. While Adrian was in law school, he won numerous academic awards, served as executive editor of the McGill Law Journal and volunteered as a student advocate at McGill’s Legal Information Clinic.

Experience

  • BMO InvestorLine Inc. in defeating a certification motion relating to “trailing commissions” received by discount brokers (2023 ONSC 16).
  • Several defendants in a complex partnership dispute, including successfully resisting a motion for a certificate of pending litigation (2022 ONSC 6295).
  • Counsel to a public school board in a judicial review before the Ontario Divisional Court (2023 ONSC 349)
  • A publicly-listed technology company seeking damages in relation to an allegedly improper bankruptcy application.
  • A pharmaceutical company defending proposed class actions in multiple Canadian provinces.
  • The majority shareholders of a company defending an oppression claim in an arbitration commenced by a minority shareholder.
  • A company claiming against a former senior officer for breach of fiduciary duty.
  • The purchaser of a property in a successful application for specific performance (2022 ONSC 3823).
  • An automotive manufacturer defending an arbitration under the NADAP Rules.

Beyond Our Walls

Professional Involvement

  • Executive Member, Ontario Bar Association, Class Actions Section​
  • Member, The Advocates' Society
  • Member, Canadian Bar Association

Community Involvement

  • Volunteer, Pro Bono Ontario Hotline
  • Volunteer and Student Advocate, Legal Information Clinic at McGill (2016-2018)

Awards & Recognition

  • Recipient of the Principal David L. Johnston Medal in 2019 for distinguished academic standing and outstanding contribution to the McGill Faculty of Law in the areas of academic, social and community life.

Bar Admission & Education

  • Ontario, 2020
  • LLB/BCL, McGill University, 2019
  • MA, University of Toronto, 2015
  • BA, University of Cambridge, 2014