LAWYERS

Linda Fuerst is one of Canada’s leading securities and commercial litigators. Her litigation practice covers a broad range of commercial and professional liability matters, with a particular focus on securities litigation, class proceedings and regulatory issues. She has litigated civil, criminal and regulatory matters and has appeared before all levels of court in Ontario, the Supreme Court of British Columbia, the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia and the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal, and represented clients in connection with investigations and proceedings by the Ontario, Alberta, British Columbia and Nova Scotia securities commissions, CIRO (formerly IIROC and the MFDA) and the Competition Bureau. Ms. Fuerst has also directed internal investigations into matters including possible insider trading and backdating of stock options, manipulative trading and misconduct by senior executives of public and private corporations, including the payment and receipt of secret commissions and kickbacks.

Ms. Fuerst began her legal career clerking for the Chief Justice of the High Court of Ontario. She practised criminal law and served as a part-time assistant crown attorney before joining the Enforcement Branch of the Ontario Securities Commission as senior investigation counsel. Following a rotation at the US Securities and Exchange Commission in Washington, DC, she joined a well-known litigation practice in Toronto where she practised from 1994 to 2015. From 2015 to 2023, she practised at a global full-service law firm where she gained prominence for her handling of cross-border securities matters, including class actions and regulatory investigations, and complex and often highly sensitive internal investigations into potential corporate misconduct.

Awards & Recognition

In 2023, Linda was named “Securities Litigator of the Year” and inducted to the Hall of Fame by Benchmark Litigation Canada. She was also recognized by Benchmark Litigation Canada as one of the Top 100 Women in Litigation. Linda has been recognized by Lexpert as one of the Top 500 Lawyers in Canada, by Chambers Canada as a leader in the fields of Securities Litigation and Class Action (Defence) and by Best Lawyers in the fields of Corporate Commercial Litigation, Class Action Litigation and Securities Law. Linda has also been recognized as a Leading Lawyer by The Legal 500 Canada for Dispute Resolution.

According to reviewers in Chambers Canada,

Speaking Engagements & Publications

Author, Mithaq Canada (Re): Exercise of the Capital Markets Tribunal’s Discretion Whether to Cease Trade a Private Placement as “Clearly Abusive”, March 24, 2024

Author, The Perils of Failing to Coordinate Settlement of Cross-Border Securities Class Actions: Kwong v. iAnthus Capital Holdings Inc., March 15, 2004

Author, The Flip Side of the Trailing Commission Coin: Frayce v. BMO Investorline Inc., 2024 ONSC 533, January 31, 2024

Co-Author, NorthWest Copper Corp.: The Free Flow of Information and Opinion Among Shareholders May Trump Disclosure of Joint Action by Dissident Shareholders, January 16, 2024

The Defence of Multijurisdictional Securities Class Actions, Annual Review of Civil Litigation, T. Archibald Editor, 2022 (co-author)

Two Steps Forward, One Step Back: "Some Basis in Fact" andThe Certification of Common Issues (co- author), The Canadian Class Action Review, Volume 17, No. 2, March 2022