Sonia Bjorkquist

Practice Areas

Sonia is Chair of the firm’s National Disputes Department and Past President of the Advocates’ Society. Sonia has extensive experience defending companies in class actions, commercial arbitration and other complex litigation, including advising clients on strategies for managing risks and cross-border issues in multi-jurisdictional cases.

She defends complex product liability claims across many industries. She also litigates business-critical issues related to commercial agreements, banking, construction and infrastructure, data and privacy, directors' duties and shareholder rights and remedies.

An “extremely dedicated” and “tireless advocate” and trial lawyer, Sonia is ranked among Canada’s top litigators in Chambers Global (Dispute Resolution: Class Action Defence, and Litigation: Product Liability and General Commercial), Lexpert/ALM 500, Lexpert (Class Actions, Product Liability Litigation, Corporate-Commercial Litigation, and Commercial Arbitration), Best Lawyers (Class Action Litigation and Product Liability Law), and a Benchmark Litigation Star. Best Lawyers named Sonia as “Lawyer of the Year” for Product Liability Law, Toronto (2019). She is named as a leader in class actions in the Lexpert Guide to the Leading US/Canada Cross-Border Litigation Lawyers in Canada. Sonia is rated AV Preeminent in Martindale Hubbell’s Peer Review Ratings. She is a frequent speaker and author on class action and commercial arbitration issues.

Sonia was selected by the Government of Canada as a delegate to the CUSMA Advisory Committee on Private Commercial Disputes under USMCA Article 31.22, and served on the predecessor NAFTA 2022 Advisory Committee. The CUSMA Advisory Committee promotes the use of arbitration, mediation and ODR for the prevention and resolution of international commercial disputes between private parties in the North American free trade area.

Prior to joining Osler as a lawyer, Sonia clerked for the Court of Appeal for Ontario.

Career

Queen’s University, LL.B.

University of Waterloo, B.A. (Hons.)

Bar Admission: Ontario, 1997

Professional Memberships

CUSMA Article 31.22 Advisory Committee On Private Commercial Disputes, Delegate

The Advocates’ Society, Executive Committee (2014-2018), Past President (2017-2018)

Federation of Defense and Corporate Counsel (FDCC), Elected Member, Vice Chair, Class Action Section

International Association of Defence Counsel (IADC), Member, Vice Chair Membership, Vice Chair Engagement and Retention

Defence Research Institute (DRI), Member

Institute for Transactional Arbitration, Advisory Board Member

Toronto Commercial Arbitration Society (TCAS), Member, Past Member of Executive Committee

Young Canadian Arbitration Practitioners (YCAP), Past Advisory Board, Past Vice-President and Past Member of Board of Directors

ADR Institute of Canada, Past Member of Board of Directors

International Bar Association, Member

Canadian Bar Association (Ontario), Member

American Bar Association, Member, Litigation Section

Toronto Lawyers Association, Member