We work closely with a wide range of public sector organizations—including local and provincial governments, Crown corporations, and regulatory bodies—to help them navigate their legal and operational opportunities and challenges. With a clear understanding of the pressures they face, we provide strategic and practical advice to support their organizational goals and mandates.
Our multidisciplinary team advises on a wide range of matters, including governance, commercial (including procurement and contracting), commercial real estate transactions, construction projects, intellectual property (IP) matters (including licensing, trademarks and copyright), information technology (IT) matters (including software transformation projects, and general data privacy and cybersecurity mattes), privacy and freedom of information compliance, employment, labour relations, human rights, and general litigation, amongst others. In every assignment, we deliver responsive, practical legal solutions tailored to our client’s specific organizational and public policy needs.
We are particularly known for our work in commercial real estate: our team regularly advises on deal structuring and financing, acquisitions, leasing, development, and land-use matters tied to public mandates. In tandem, our construction and infrastructure lawyers manage procurement, negotiate with contractors, and resolve disputes on capital projects of all sizes. Likewise, our IT and privacy lawyers provide strategic guidance on technology procurement, cybersecurity, data governance, and compliance with public sector privacy laws, while our IP lawyers work to secure, defend and enforce relevant IP. On the human capital side, our employment and labour group supports public employers in the full range of issues in unionized and highly regulated environments. When disputes arise, our litigation team is trusted to protect reputations and defend interests through informal dispute resolution, litigation, arbitration, and judicial review. Bringing it all together, our general business law team helps public bodies navigate policy, governance and compliance matters, review new initiatives and proposals, and negotiate and interpret a wide range of relationship agreements and commercial contracts.
We combine a deep understanding of the public sector regulatory and operational context with the diverse skillset of a full-service firm, all through a convenient single office. This allows us to respond swiftly to emerging challenges while supporting long-term planning and governance. Our team is committed to collaborating with our clients in order to deliver legal advice that is tailored, insightful, practical, and tightly aligned with the goals of our clients.
Services:
- Infrastructure, Construction & Procurement
- Procurement strategy and legal review (RFPs, RFIs, RFQs)
- Bid compliance, evaluation, and dispute resolution
- Contract drafting and negotiation for construction and infrastructure projects
- Delay claims, lien disputes, and construction litigation
- Commercial Real Estate
- Corporate and transactional structuring and financing
- Property acquisition and disposition
- Leasing, including long term ground leases and commercial leases
- Development agreements and subdivision servicing contracts
- Intellectual Property
- Trademark clearance, registration and enforcement, including opposition and litigation
- Securing Official Marks for public authorities, including assisting with consent requests
- Copyright advice
- IP assignment and licensing
- Information Technology & Privacy
- Technology contracting, including cloud services and AI
- IT procurement and outsourcing
- Freedom of Information (FOI) and privacy compliance (FIPPA, PIPA, CASL)
- Cybersecurity and data breach response
- Employment & Labour
- Labour relations and collective bargaining strategy
- Human rights, accommodation, and workplace investigations
- Wrongful dismissal and grievance arbitration
- Workplace policies, training, and compliance audits
- General Litigation
- Administrative law and judicial review
- Contract disputes and enforcement
- Defence of tort claims and negligence actions
- Alternative dispute resolution, mediation, and arbitration
- General Business Law & Corporate Governance
- Strategic risk and compliance advice with applicable laws, regulations and mandates
- Partnering agreements with public and private sectors
- Contract negotiation, drafting, and interpretation
- Governance and policy reviews and development, for both public bodies and their owned or controlled entities
Public Sector Key Contacts:
