Brendan van Niejenhuis

Brendan is a seasoned trial lawyer and trusted strategic advisor. He draws on his extensive experience across a wide range of cases before every level of court in Canada, tribunals and regulators, and public inquiries. He has acted as trial or appeal counsel in many fields, among them professional and securities regulation, competition/antitrust law, class actions, intellectual property litigation, judicial reviews and appeals, First Nations litigation, corporate and contractual disputes, commercial arbitrations and municipal law. In addition to representing private firms and individuals, he has often acted as counsel for senior public and elected officials, government agencies, police services, municipalities, industry regulators, and professional discipline tribunals in challenging cases.

He has been engaged in sensitive national security matters and is appointed to the authorized roster of security-cleared Special Advocates appointed where deemed necessary in sensitive intelligence matters.

As part of his intellectual property litigation practice, he is cross-appointed as counsel to the leading patent & trademark firm of PCK IP, with offices in Toronto, Waterloo, Boston and Washington, D.C.

Brendan is a Senior Fellow of Massey College, and Adjunct Professor at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law, where he leads a seminar on the Administrative State. From 2006 to 2021, he taught Administrative Law as Adjunct Professor at Osgoode Hall Law School and at the Queen’s University Faculty of Law. He continues to regularly speak and write at professional conferences on a variety of subjects.

He is listed by Chambers Global, LEXPERT and Benchmark Litigation as a leading litigation counsel, and recognized in Best Lawyers (Canada) for Administrative & Public Law, Class Actions, and Corporate-Commercial litigation.

Prior to joining Stockwoods, Brendan served as a law clerk to the Hon. Frank Iacobucci of the Supreme Court of Canada. He holds a B.A. (Hons.) in Classics and an LL.B., both from the University of Toronto.

Brendan is a member of The Advocates’ Society, Toronto Lawyers’ Association, and Ontario Bar Association. He is an active musician, and enjoys performing live when time permits. He is also Chair of the Board of Directors of the Muskoka Music Festival.

• Public Inquiry into Foreign Interference. Senior counsel for the Government of Canada before this ongoing federal public inquiry into foreign interference in Canadian democratic instutitions.
• Public Order Emergency Commission. Senior counsel for the Government of Canada before this federal public inquiry into the events surrounding the Freedom Convoy occupation of the City of Ottawa and blockades at numerous ports of entry, and the Government’s decision to invoke the Emergencies Act in February, 2022.
• Privacy Commissioner of Canada v. Facebook Inc.  Seeking a Federal Court order as counsel for the Privacy Commissioner, to compel Facebook to implement measures to secure consent before sharing users’ personal information with third-party Apps and to adequately enforce and monitor third-party use of information, as a result of an investigation into the Cambridge Analytica scandal.
• Vavilov v. Canada.  Acting for the Queen’s Prison Law Clinic, advanced an influential perspective on behalf of federal prisoners that informed this landmark Supreme Court overhaul of decades of administrative law and the right of the individual to challenge the legality of government action before an independent judge.
• Greta Energy v. Veresen Energy Infrastructure et al.  Acting for a minority owner of wind farm assets in enforcing rights under a Right of First Refusal, pursuing damages for the alleged manipulation of purchase price allocations by the seller and buyer of a larger suite of energy assets in order to discourage the exercise of the ROFR.
• Wenger S.A. et al. v. Travelway Group Representing the plaintiffs (who have made the Swiss Army knife since the 19^th century) in enforcing their well-known Wenger Cross trademark for luggage, prevailed before the Federal Court of Appeal and overturned most factual findings at trial. Ongoing appeal proceedings dealing with an important and precedent-setting question of damages for infringement.
• Toronto Police G20 Discipline Prosecutions Appointed as an independent prosecutor of discipline charges against officers of the Toronto Police Service arising from conduct during the 2010 G20 summit in Toronto, led the prosecution of nearly 20 cases, including the successful prosecution of Supt Mark Fenton for his command of two “kettling” incidents in which large numbers of citizens were detained indiscriminately.
• Attiwapaskat FIrst Nation v. Canada. When this First Nation experienced a housing crisis, the Minister’s response was to install an accountant as “third-party manager” over the elected government that sounded the alarm. Working in collaboration with leading First Nations litigator Katherine Hensel, successfully overturned the Minister’s decision as unreasonable, as featured in the Alanis Obomsawin film “The People of the Kattawapiskak River”.
• Class Actions.  Representing TD Bank (worldwide FX case; worldwide SSA Bonds case); City of Windsor and Town of Tecumseh (license fee legality); a US energy consulting firm (Timminco secondary market litigation) as defendants. Has acted as plaintiff counsel remedying municipal negligence harming Parkdale rooming house tenants, and often advise on plaintiff class proceedings for litigation funders. Has been appointed amicus curiae by the Ontario Court of Appeal in a significant case involving fee-sharing.
• Judicial Review and Appeals.  Has argued dozens of judicial reviews and appeals with a strong track record of success since 2003. In addition to Supreme Court litigation in significant cases, has regularly appeared for government bodies, regulators and private parties routinely before the Divisional Court and has particular experience briefing and argue cases there. Has often successfully appeared in the Court of Appeal across a diverse range of cases and clients – from marketing partnerships in the health care industry, to global logistics firms targeted by Canada Post, to acting as an appointed amicus curiae in a major class action relating to credit card merchant fees.
• Intellectual Property Enforcement. Principally representing rights-holders, counsel on major cases from the Supreme Court’s Access Copyright decision (2012) to the important Wenger appeal noted above, and numerous trade-mark and patent enforcement disputes. Has also successfully represented several well-known copyright holders in royalty disputes with their licensees/publishers. Cross-appointed as litigation counsel at PCK IP, a leading intellectual property firm with offices in Toronto, Waterloo, Boston and Washington, DC.
• Securities, Competition and Regulatory Practice. Prosecuted major fraud matters Sextant Capital Management and Weizhen Tang for Staff of the Ontario Securities Commission. Has acted for respondents in securities regulatory matters and competition investigations; and defended major firms and senior executives in class actions arising from securities and competition law claims. Regularly act on behalf of regulatory authorities in difficult prosecutions or other litigation, including the Alcohol & Gaming Commission; the Law Society of Ontario; the Ontario Racing Commission, and others.
• Commercial disputes and licensing issues. A broad range of commercial cases including domestic and international arbitrations, and actions for oppression  and other corporate law remedies; software and data licensing and IP/confidentiality protection; licensing issues across numerous professions and regulated businesses; and other private and public law disputes on behalf of business and individuals.
• Other advocacy mandates.  Has successfully litigated in a variety of areas and forums in selected cases, ranging from criminal proceedings and firearms regulation in the Ontario Court; challenging disputes with government and private business on behalf of First Nations; unique experience with litigation involving the horse racing industry; constitutional litigation; civil forfeiture claims; extradition and mutual legal assistance work; and pro bono contributions before all levels of court up to the Supreme Court of Canada.