Geoff R. Hall

Geoff R. Hall

Geoff R. Hall is a partner in the Litigation Group based in our Toronto office. Mr. Hall's practice focuses primarily on corporate/commercial litigation, and he also has extensive experience in bankruptcy/restructuring litigation, constitutional and administrative law litigation, and employment litigation.

Mr. Hall has appeared in all levels of courts in Ontario, as well as the Supreme Court of Canada, the Federal Court of Appeal, the Federal Court, and the courts of Alberta and British Columbia. He has also appeared as counsel in domestic and international arbitrations.

Mr. Hall is the author of Canadian Contractual Interpretation Law (LexisNexis Canada Inc. 2007), the leading text on contract interpretation in Canada. In the first five months after its publication, it had already been cited and relied upon by courts and arbitrators in several provinces, including the Manitoba Court of Appeal.

Mr. Hall holds a BA from McGill University (1987, Gold Medallist in Economics), an MA in Economics from the University of Toronto (1988, Connaught Scholar), an LL.B. from the University of Toronto (1991, Silver Medallist), and an LL.M. from Harvard Law School (1996). Mr. Hall clerked at the Supreme Court of Canada and was called to the Ontario bar in 1993.

Mr. Hall teaches widely. He is an Adjunct Professor at Osgoode Hall Law School, teaching an advanced contract law course. He is also a Sessional Lecturer at Queen's University, Faculty of Law, teaching a course in Trial Advocacy. He also teaches annually at the Intensive Trial Advocacy Workshop at Osgoode Hall Law School, and at trial advocacy programs offered by the Advocates' Society.

In addition to his practice and teaching, Mr. Hall is active in a diverse range of activities within the legal community. He is an advocacy advisor with the Supreme Court Advocacy Institute. He has published widely in a variety of legal journals. He has spoken at numerous conferences, including the Annual Workshop on Commercial and Consumer Law at the University of Toronto, Faculty of Law. He is fluent in French, and in the fall of 2005 made a presentation in French at an insolvency conference in Montreal. Mr. Hall is on the executive of the Harvard Law School Association of Toronto. He often serves as a judge at mooting competitions.

Mr. Hall's recent major engagements include the following:

· Lead counsel to the owner of commercial real estate at the trial of a claim for $25 million in connection with the aborted sale of the property.

· Lead counsel to a large owner of private timberlands in British Columbia in a challenge to the legality and constitutionality of the federal government's log export restrictions in B.C.: TimberWest Forest Corp. v. Canada, 2007 FC 148, affd. 2007 FCA 389.

· Counsel to a major creditor of Ivaco Inc. in the lengthy proceedings under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act (2003-present).

· Lead counsel to a private corporation in the successful defence of allegations of corporate oppression of a minority shareholder: Toole v. Acres Inc., [2007] O.J. No. 1337 (S.C.J.).

· Lead counsel to a Canadian distributor of audio-visual equipment in a contract dispute with the U.S. manufacturer of the equipment, which was determined in an international arbitration conducted in Dallas, Texas under Texas law (2006).

· Lead counsel to a commercial lender in a case in which summary judgment was successfully obtained dismissing a lender's liability claim: Peel Standard Condominium Corp. No. 668 v. Dayspring Phase I Ltd., [2006] O.J. No. 523 (S.C.J.).

· Lead counsel to a technology company which successfully obtained an interlocutory injunction restraining competition by a former director: Cygnal Technologies Corp. v. Taylor, [2005] O.J. No. 3093 (S.C.J.).

· Appointed amicus curiae by the Court of Appeal for Ontario to argue the respondent's position in an appeal arising from Stelco's CCAA proceedings: Re Stelco Inc., [2005] O.J. No. 1575 (C.A.).

· Counsel to Stelco Inc. in its lengthy proceedings under the CCAA (2004-2006).

Publications

· Canadian Contractual Interpretation Law (LexisNexis Canada Inc., 2007).

· "A Study in Reasonable Expectations" (2007), 45 Canadian Business Law Journal 150.

· "Don't Push 'Delete": Lessons from the American Law of Spoliation of Electronic Evidence" (2005), 11 Commercial Litigation 602.

· "A Curious Incident in the Law of Contract: The Impact of 22 Words from the House of Lords" (2004), 40 Canadian Business Law Journal 20.

· "Bank of America Canada v. Clarica Trust Co.: A Comprehensive and Relatively Simple Set of Principles Governing the Award of Compound Interest on Civil Judgments" (2003), 9 Commercial Litigation 458.

· "Was Final Note Not the Final Word?: Scurry-Rainbow and the Continuing Quest for Balance in the Reform of Common Law Rules" (2002), 37 Canadian Business Law Journal 229.

· "Preserving the Clavicle in the Cat: Stunted Reform of Common Law Rules in the Supreme Court of Canada" (2001), 36 Canadian Business Law Journal 89.

· "Applications for Leave to Appeal: the Paramount Importance of Public Importance" (1999), 22 Advocates' Quarterly 87.

· "Statutory Interpretation in the Supreme Court of Canada: The Triumph of a Common Law Methodology" (1998), 21 Advocates' Quarterly 38.

· "A Prelude to Reform of the Law of Wrongful Dismissal: Cronk v. Canadian General Insurance" (1996), 18 Advocates' Quarterly 356.

· "The Quest for Native Self-Government: The Challenge of Territorial Sovereignty" (1992), 50 University of Toronto Faculty of Law Review 39.