Ghahhary Thomas LLP

Co-founders & Partners: Leila Ghahhary and Dan Thomas

Ghahhary Thomas LLP is a leading choice for navigating complex, sensitive, and high-stakes legal challenges. We are internationally recognised barristers, with a reputation for excellence rooted in elite courtroom experience, a dedication to client success, and a strong commitment to integrity and independence. Our experience across public, regulatory, criminal, civil, commercial and international law is rooted in many years of practice in both the United Kingdom and Canada. In Canada, the firm is ranked by Benchmark Litigation Canada as a Recommended Firm and as a leading firm for Corporate & Commercial Litigation in The Best Firms. Drawing on experience of practice at the independent bar, in global law firms, government and international organizations, our depth of expertise offers formidable representation. When you choose us, you benefit from a level of proficiency in advocacy that sets us apart in Canada’s legal market. With four decades of combined experience spanning North America and the UK, our global and cross jurisdictional insight brings a unique and elevated approach to any case.

• We have significant experience of public law matters and routinely act for government departments, public organizations, regulatory bodies, corporate entities and individuals, on a wide range of complex and high-stakes issues.
• Public law disputes have the potential to result in outcomes of lasting and far-reaching consequences for all involved. We provide advice and representation across the full spectrum of common law, statutory, corporate and administrative powers, duties and functions, of governments and public bodies. Our deep knowledge of public law, government affairs, and the public sector enables us to adeptly navigate the complexities and nuances of these specialized areas. Our experience in regulatory law naturally complements our public law practice, allowing for seamless advice and representation on the intersection of legal frameworks, governance, and policy between these two areas.
• In matters related to the exercise of public powers and duties, the political, economic, and social considerations often give rise to the need to strike a delicate balance between public functions, policy imperatives, and political sensitives. Our experience in this area ensures a focused and strategic approach to these intricate issues, allowing us to find elegant solutions to complex problems, that achieve the best possible outcomes for our clients.
• We provide strategic guidance on the powers and duties of governments and public entities, including the legal parameters within which they operate and the ways their decisions can be challenged. Whether the issues involve the lawfulness of a public body’s actions, determining if it is acting within its statutory authority, upholding principles of good governance and compliance with legal mandates, or evaluating the prospects of a successful challenge, we ensure our clients navigate through these matters efficiently and effectively.
• Our partners Leila Ghahhary and Dan Thomas bring significant experience in public law. Both have achieved the distinction of appointment to the UK Attorney General’s elite panel of counsel, regularly representing and advising a variety of government departments on a range of public law and civil matters. In addition, Leila has been appointed to the UK Equality and Human Rights Commission panel of counsel, which provides advice and representation to the Commission on matters relating to equality, public and human rights law. With a decade of in-house experience as a local government lawyer, Leila also offers a unique perspective and valuable governance and public law insight.
• Examples of our experience include advising on the drafting of legislation, public consultation processes, and policy development; supporting and advising government and public bodies on decision making, acting in litigation brought by and against governments and public bodies, judicial reviews, statutory appeals, and in administrative hearings before constitutional panels.

• We routinely act for public figures, government departments, corporations, private individuals, victims, bereaved families, and as counsel to the Inquiry in high profile, large scale, complex and high-stakes public inquiries and inquests.
• Inquiries and inquests can have profound and lasting consequences for individuals and organizations. They often give rise to a need for reputation and risk management. With a long-standing and international track record of acting in these matters, we bring a deep understanding of the legal, procedural, and strategic complexities involved. Our multidisciplinary background –spanning public, regulatory, commercial, civil, and criminal law– allows us to approach each case with a broad perspective and sector-specific insight. This combination means we provide enhanced, strategic, and effective representation at every stage, ensuring our clients navigate these processes with confidence.
• Consistently ranked as a top-tier leading lawyer and with two decades of experience, our partner Leila Ghahhary has an outstanding reputation in this field, routinely acting in major nationally and internationally significant public inquiries and inquests. As one of the very few lawyers in Canada with extensive cross-border experience in this area, Leila brings a unique international perspective to bear in these matters.
• Examples of our experience in this area include acting as Counsel to Canada’s Foreign Interference Inquiry, Counsel to the Cabinet Office and No10 Downing Street in the UK Covid-19 Inquiry, Counsel to the bereaved families and victims in the UK Manchester Arena Bombing Inquiry, Counsel to the UK Gosport Independent Panel Inquiry, Counsel to the UK Information Commissioner in relation to the Northern Ireland Renewable Heat Incentive Inquiry (the ‘Cash for ash’ scandal), Counsel to the Assistant Chief Constable of West Midlands Police in the Hillsborough Inquests, and acting for the government departments, public authorities, corporate entities and health care professionals in complex jury Inquests.

• Our extensive experience in prosecuting and defending large scale, complex white collar, business and regulatory cases spanning both enforcement and administrative proceedings, gives us a unique and enhanced strategic perspective on any case. We have acted for government departments, regulatory bodies, corporate clients, professionals, individuals, and a variety of public and private organizations before a wide range of courts, tribunals, and constitutional panels.
• We have successfully acted in investigations and prosecutions brought by a wide range of agencies and regulators including tax, revenue and securities agencies; environmental, licensing, consumer protection, trademarks, healthcare, public health, food safety and health and safety regulators; anti-corruption and anti-fraud government bodies. Both our partners are highly regarded practitioners in this field and have achieved the distinction of being appointed by the Attorney General of the UK to elite panels of counsel to prosecute serious fraud and regulatory crime on behalf of the government, agencies and major national regulatory bodies, acting in some of the UK’s largest cases in this area.
• Our multidisciplinary background spanning public, regulatory, commercial, civil, and criminal law, allows us to approach each case with a broad perspective and sector-specific insight. This combination means we provide enhanced, strategic, and effective representation at every stage, ensuring our clients navigate these processes with confidence.
• This breadth of experience enables us to navigate laterally and strategically the novelties and nuances of specialist regulatory frameworks, address compliance challenges, and manage the intricacies of enforcement actions, allowing us to anticipate issues including the potential for other types of proceedings to emerge down the line, mitigate risks, and achieve the best possible outcomes for our clients. Our unrivalled experience of both sides of a high-stakes criminal, quasi-criminal, or regulatory criminal trials is leveraged to the advantage of our clients.

• Our experience in corporate and commercial litigation spans Bay Street and the commercial courts in London, England.
• We are trusted advocates and advisors instructed by publicly traded and privately held corporations, as well as individuals, in disputes over banking, commercial contracts, shareholder matters and fiduciary obligations. We have acted in numerous shareholder oppression claims and derivative actions brought under the Canada and Ontario Business Corporation Acts on both sides – accused corporations, and oppressed shareholders and directors and officers.
• Ghahhary Thomas is ranked in Best Firms as a leading Toronto law firm for corporate and commercial litigation. Our partner Dan Thomas has acted in complex litigation matters on behalf of some of Canada’s major corporations and financial institutions and he is ranked in The Best Lawyers in Canada as a leading lawyer for corporate and commercial litigation.

• We have front-rank experience in securities litigation. We defend senior executives and corporations in investigations and enforcement proceedings before the Ontario Securities Commission and Canada’s other provincial securities commissions as well as the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization (CIRO).
• We have successfully represented clients against a range of allegations including disclosure violations, compliance deficiencies, insider trading and tipping, and fraud. We have particular experience in matters concerning the evolving regulation of cryptocurrency in Canada.
• We advise clients on cross-border investigations involving the Canadian elements of proceedings before the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the UK.
• We have acted in high-profile class actions on behalf of corporate and individual defendants including those involving allegations of secondary market misrepresentation and non-disclosure.
• Ghahhary Thomas LLP’s decades of business crime trial experience – as prosecutors and defence counsel – provides our clients who face quasi-criminal and criminal proceedings involving securities law breaches under the Securities Act and/or the Criminal Code with a unique multi-disciplinary team.

• We are ideally placed to act in matters of international law and arbitration. Our partners are internationally recognized barristers, called to the bars of Ontario, Canada and the UK, with experience of practice in global law firms, governments, international organizations and NGOs.
• We provide advice and representation across a range of international matters including, interstate disputes, interstate arbitrations, international criminal law, international humanitarian law, international human rights, state responsibility and reparation, transitional justice, peace and security, sovereign immunity and the drafting, negotiation or interpretation of treaties, and international policy development.

Both our partners, Leila Ghahhary and Dan Thomas, are dual qualified at the Ontario Bar and the Bar of England & Wales.

320 Bay St, Suite 101

Toronto, ON M5H 4A6

+1(437) 290-6321

Leila Ghahhary

[email protected]

Dan Thomas

[email protected]