Gavin MacKenzie has appeared as counsel in over 200 reported cases, before all levels of court including the Supreme Court of Canada and before many tribunals. In recent years he has served as a mediator and as both a sole arbitrator and as a member of a three-arbitrator panel. His experience as an arbitrator and mediator includes contract and commercial issues and law firm partnership and costs disputes.
Since his call to the bar 46 years ago, Mr. MacKenzie’s litigation practice has focused on commercial litigation, civil appeals, arbitrations, judicial review applications, and professional responsibility, liability, and discipline. ...more He was honoured by induction as a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers in 2000. He has consistently been listed in Best Lawyers in Canada in the field of Alternative Dispute Resolution among other areas.
Mr. MacKenzie is often retained as an expert witness on professional responsibility and litigation in Canada and in the United States. He recently testified in the Supreme Court of Singapore as an expert on Canadian commercial litigation. His practice has included a number of medical malpractice appeals and professional liability work in many industries, including health care (pharmaceuticals, public hospitals, and long term care facilities), financial services, and a wide variety of regulated professions.
Since 1993, Mr. MacKenzie has received the highest available peer review rating from Martindale-Hubbell for legal ability and adherence to high ethical standards. He is repeatedly recommended as a leading practitioner in the field of professional liability by the Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory and, in addition to his recognition in the field of Alternative Dispute Resolution as mentioned above, he is consistently listed in Best Lawyers in Canada for his work in Appellate Law, Legal Malpractice Law, Administrative and Public Law, Class Action Litigation, Corporate and Commercial Litigation, and Product Liability Law. Mr. MacKenzie has also been selected by American Lawyer Media and Martindale-Hubbell as a Top-Rated Lawyer in Canada, and has been recognized by the Lexpert/American Lawyer Guide to the Leading 500 Lawyers in Canada.
Mr. MacKenzie was elected as a Bencher of the Law Society of Ontario for four consecutive four-year terms, and was elected as Treasurer, the highest position in the Society, on three occasions between 2006 and 2008. He has also served as a Director of the Advocates' Society, the Medico-Legal Society of Toronto, and the Canadian Institute for the Administration of Justice.
Mr. MacKenzie is the author of Lawyers and Ethics: Professional Responsibility and Discipline, a leading authority on legal ethics and professional responsibility and liability issues for practitioners and the courts for the past 30 years (throughout which time it has been supplemented at least annually). The 6th student edition was published by Thomson Reuters (Carswell) in 2018. He has authored many other legal publications and has served as an Adjunct Professor of Legal Ethics at Osgoode Hall Law School.
In 2010, Mr. MacKenzie was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws (LL.D.) degree from the Law Society of Ontario in recognition of his contributions to the legal profession.
