Justin Necpal
Justin’s litigation practice focuses on complex business disputes, including shareholder and partnership matters, deal litigation, investment loss and fraud recovery, securities litigation, real estate litigation, and executive employment disputes.
He has acted as counsel at all levels of court in Ontario, at the Federal Court, in commercial arbitrations, and before a variety of administrative tribunals. Justin’s clients include private and public companies, directors and officers, investors, creditors, entrepreneurs, and professionals across a wide range of industries, including financial services, healthcare, infrastructure and technology.
Justin has particular expertise acting for clients on emergency injunctions and other pre-trial remedies involving complex financial or technological elements. His experience includes acting as the court-appointed Independent Supervising Solicitor in Anton Piller matters.
Justin also maintains a substantial regulatory defence practice, in which he acts for clients responding to investigations and proceedings initiated by the Ontario Securities Commission, the Financial Services Regulatory Authority and a variety of other regulators and professional colleges. Justin is also frequently retained to advise organizations and employees in internal investigations arising from the workplace.
Before founding Necpal Litigation in 2016, Justin trained and practiced in the Toronto office of Torys LLP, where he was involved in class action defence, securities litigation, intellectual property litigation and competition litigation.
Justin is actively involved in the legal community in Toronto and throughout Southern Ontario. He is a contributing member of the Ontario Bar Association’s Civil Litigation Section, the Canadian Bar Association’s National Competition Law Section and The Advocates’ Society, where he has served on the Young Advocates Standing Committee. Justin also participates in Pro Bono Law Ontario’s duty counsel program, assisting self-represented litigants in Toronto-area courts. Justin frequently speaks and publishes on civil litigation and legal professional matters, and he is a member of the editorial board of the Commercial Litigation and Arbitration Review. Justin also supports several national law school moot competitions as an advisor and judge and serves as an instructor at Toronto Metropolitan University’s Law Practice Program on trial advocacy.
Justin received his law degree from the University of Western Ontario and a B.A. in Political Science summa cum laude from York University. He was admitted to the Ontario Bar in 2008.
- Acting for the victims of an international ‘advance fee’ mortgage lending fraud in securing judgment for $26 million and a receivership over all assets
- Acting as the Independent Supervising Solicitor for the execution of an Anton Piller order in a Commercial List action concerning theft of confidential information and breach of trust against a financial institution
- Acting for the trustees of the estate of a Canadian music agent in advancing contract claims against a high-profile recording artist (confidential settlement)
- Acting for an investor in advancing claims of misrepresentation arising from their investment in a private-turned-public Canadian technology company (confidential settlement)
- Acting for one of the lead respondents in the Ontario Securities Commission proceedings re Paramount Equity
- Acting for mortgage brokers and administrators in regulatory proceedings before the Financial Services Regulatory Authority concerning syndicated mortgage investments
- Acting for a major American machine manufacturer in its defence of Ontario claims of manufacturing defects
- Acting for a Canadian luxury hotel in advancing claims against a contractor for delay in a major renovation project
- Acting for a Toronto investment firm in an emergency resolution of a breach of privacy
- Acting for the plaintiff in an action for wrongful arrest against an Ontario police service (confidential settlement)
- Advising a Canadian bank on non-compete matters concerning its investment advisors
- Acting for a public holding company of lottery and gaming assets in its defence of claims arising from individual lottery losses
- Acting for a Toronto property services company in prosecuting complex claims of bank liability for cheque fraud under the Bills of Exchange Act
- Advising a top Canadian professional athlete on management contract matters
- Acting for a trade union and its senior leadership team in advancing defamation claims against a former union member
- Acting for the Estate Trustee During Litigation in advancing claims of solicitor’s negligence in a major estate dispute
- Acting for a clergy member of a large Toronto diocese in settling claims of negligent investigation and defamation arising from an internal investigation into workplace conduct
- Stevens v. Hutchens (Court of Appeal) – Counsel to the successful respondents in an appeal concerning the validity of mortgages taken by the defendants’ law firm after a multimillion-dollar trial judgment
- Stevens et al. v. Hutchens et al. (Commercial List) – Counsel to the victims of an international ‘advance fee’ mortgage lending fraud in securing judgment for $26 million and a receivership over all assets
- Vessair et al. v. Vessair et al. (Commercial List) – Counsel to the defendant corporations in successfully resisting a motion for leave to commence a derivative action in a shareholder dispute
- Thrive Capital Inc. et al. v. Noble 1324 Queen Inc. et al. (Court of Appeal) – Counsel to the successful appellants in overturning an unprecedented $9 million judgment as a sanction for contempt of court
- HZC Capital Inc. v. Lee (Commercial List) – Counsel to an executive officer in successfully opposing a Mareva injunction in a $30 million action for fraud and conspiracy arising out of real estate development projects in Ontario
- ACT Greenwood Ltd. v. Desjardins-McLeod (Court of Appeal) – Counsel to the defendant physician at trial and on appeal in her successful defence of non-compete claims in the addiction medicine business
- RWDI Air Inc. v. N-SCI Technologies Inc. (Court of Appeal) – Counsel to infrastructure developers on their successful motion to strike an unjust enrichment claim, including on appeal
- BlackBerry Limited v. Marineau-Mes (Superior Court) – Co-counsel to BlackBerry in a high-profile executive employment dispute concerning resignation notice periods
- Davidson v. Barnhardt (Superior Court) – Counsel to the Receiver for the State of California in cross-border proceedings to obtain evidence and enforce a foreign judgment in Ontario relating to a securities fraud in California
- Mull v. National Bank of Canada (Court of Appeal) – Co-counsel to National Bank Financial and National Bank of Canada in their successful defence of claims for investment losses in the market for asset-backed commercial paper