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Frank Addario leads a group of smart, energetic advocates committed to finding innovative ways to help clients solve problems. We work hard to protect our clients from disruption to their lives, businesses, and reputations.
Services
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PRE-CHARGE ADVOCACY & CRIMINAL TRIALS
We specialize in pre-charge advocacy for individuals and organizations to prevent enforcement action, penalties or charges. This work requires energy, judgment and an excellent working relationship with enforcement and prosecution agencies. Our most successful advocacy is known only to those most affected: if you have never heard of our work in this area, we succeeded.
If the authorities lay charges, our lawyers defend a wide variety of criminal and regulatory matters, from administrative decisions to the most serious offences. Our signatures are creativity, preparation, and nimble responses to evolving problems. We bring our reputation with adversaries and judges to each client’s case. -
POLICE & REGULATORY INVESTIGATIONS
General counsel seek our assistance in separating regulatory and prosecutorial threats from acceptable business risks. We provide strategic advice and direction in responding to investigations to achieve optimum results from containing the problem to defending our client in court. Our legal services include witness interviews, document review, legal and reputational analysis and negotiations with regulators and law enforcement. We help clients who choose to cooperate with external investigations protect their own interests.
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CRISIS MANAGEMENT
We provide crisis management advice to law firms and corporate boards, senior management and audit committees. We work with general counsel and outside corporate counsel to contain and solve our clients’ legal problems. We make sure internal challenges don't attract external scrutiny.
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APPEALS
We regularly prepare and argue appeals in criminal and constitutional cases at the Superior Court, the Ontario Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Canada. Effective appellate advocacy requires a combination of intellectual rigour, practical advocacy skills and an ability to view legal problems creatively. We bring these skills to every appeal we argue and have successfully advanced appeals in many factually and legally complex cases.
Our team of lawyers includes former clerks from every level of appeal court in Canada. -
CONSTITUTIONAL & JUDICIAL REVIEW
We argue constitutional questions and applications for judicial review. We are leaders in public law. Our lawyers address complex constitutional issues at all levels of court, including the Supreme Court of Canada.
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LEGAL OPINIONS & ADVICE
We provide advice and legal opinions to individuals, corporations and organizations about their legal rights and responsibilities. Our goal is to quickly and efficiently answer legal questions in plain language. We regularly provide advice to major online businesses about compliance with criminal and quasi-criminal reporting obligations and responding to police investigations.
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CIVIL LITIGATION
We represent individuals and organizations in all areas of civil litigation, including high-stakes complex commercial disputes. Our experience conducting hundreds of trials and appeals sets us apart. We assist our clients with contractual disputes, negligence claims, fraud claims, shareholder disputes, oppression remedies, director and officer liability, arbitration proceedings, and professional liability cases.
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FRAUD
With our experience in both civil and criminal fraud cases and investigations, we are uniquely positioned to assist individuals, organizations and their boards or special committees in investigating, managing risk from, prosecuting, and defending claims arising from financial impropriety and white-collar crime.
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INJUNCTIONS
We help clients urgently obtain or defend against injunctions including Mareva (freezing) orders, Anton Piller (civil search) orders, and Norwich (third-party production) orders.
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SECURITIES LITIGATION
We defend against allegations of Securities Act violations and other financial misconduct brought by the Ontario Securities Commission and IIROC. We have successfully defended claims of insider trading and fraud.
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PROFESSIONAL LIABILITY & REGULATION
We defend professionals in proceedings before regulators and professional colleges, including the Law Society of Ontario, College of Audiologists and Speech Language Pathologists of Ontario, Royal College of Dental Surgeons of Ontario, the College of Pharmacists, the College of Psychologists, and the College of Physician and Surgeons of Ontario. We have also served as regulatory investigators and prosecutors. We are routinely engaged to navigate concurrent college, civil, and criminal proceedings.
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LEARN MORE
Visit our lawyers' pages to learn more about our experience and expertise.