Patrick D Flaherty

Practice Areas

Pat Flaherty has a broad civil litigation practice, with an emphasis on corporate/commercial, securities litigation, international arbitration, class action defence, product liability, intellectual property, and privacy. Before founding Chernos Flaherty Svonkin LLP with David Chernos and Stuart Svonkin, Pat practised at Torys LLP in Toronto for more than twenty years, the last 14 years as a partner. He has appeared before all levels of court in Ontario and in the Federal Court of Canada, and he has extensive trial experience, both in court and as counsel in domestic and international arbitrations in Canada, the United States, Europe and Asia. Pat has also acted as an arbitrator, including regularly as a panelist in domain name disputes under the auspices of the Canadian Internet Registration Authority Dispute Resolution Rules.

Career

Pat has taught in the trial advocacy programs in several Canadian law schools, and he has written and spoken extensively on a wide range of legal subjects. He lectures at Osgoode Hall Law School, having most recently taught in its LLM program on Protection of Intangible Business Interests.

Professional Memberships

Ontario Bar, 1993; Law Society of Ontario; Canadian Bar Association; The Advocates’ Society; Toronto Lawyers’ Association; The Osgoode Society; London Court of International Arbitration

Clients

Pat has a broad and diverse client base with particular expertise in dispute resolution for clients in mining, financial services, securities and investment banking, tobacco, large scale infrastructure projects, and professional services. He frequently represents senior executives of public companies in a broad range of claims. His current clients include the former general counsel of a public alternative lender in multibillion dollar proceedings brought by its receiver; a former high-ranking Saudi Arabian intelligence official accused of civil contempt; a Canadian bank and credit card issuer in defending claims in relation to interchange fees; a senior executive of a public company in proceedings before the OSC alleging breach of the Securities Act arising out of alleged material misstatements and related proposed class actions; senior executives of a multi-national food company accused of fraudulent and negligent misrepresentation in relation to a corporate acquisition; and an investment bank successfully defending claims of negligence in relation to the issuance of a fairness opinion.

Awards

Education