Canada’s Intellectual Property Firm

Rankings & Recognition

Smart & Biggar again earns highest ranking with 12 lawyers honoured for “success across the brand spectrum” in the 2021 edition WTR 1000

Smart & Biggar is pleased to share our acclaim in the most recent release of the World Trademark Review 1000 (WTR 1000) – The World’s Leading Trademark Professionals. Ranked as a gold tier firm for Trademarks, and as a silver tier firm in Anti-Counterfeiting, WTR researchers lauded Smart & Biggar for our “success across the brand spectrum, from prosecution and strategy to litigation, anti-counterfeiting and transactions” and “the depth and quality of [our] bench”. Our Trademark practice has also been described as helping “clients to create enterprise value from their intellectual property and is very business driven – it just approaches things in a very different way to a lot of other firms, which are more focused on the technicality of the law.”

Gold-band partners Christian Bolduc, Mark Evans, François Guay and Philip Lapin were highlighted in the guide for their outstanding client work:

  • Christian Bolduc (prosecution and strategy, transactions) – Christian possesses deep strategic wisdom, having practised through all phases of the trademark lifecycle during his career. Clients commented that “Christian really gets trademark law and is highly commercial. It is always pleasing to have him on the other side of a case, as he looks for business resolutions.”
  • Mark Evans (enforcement and litigation, prosecution and strategy and anti-counterfeiting) – Mark is described as having a “rare level of experience and gravitas” and as a “fair professional who doesn’t play games”. Mark has also been chosen by WTR as a Global Leader in trademarks.
  • François Guay (enforcement and litigation) – François has built a reputation for being “incredibly smart, completely charming and one of the best litigators there is”.
  • Philip Lapin (prosecution and strategy) - “Philip provides top-notch, practical, real-world advice rather than stiff legal analysis – he does not hedge his opinions or saddle them with so many qualifiers as to render them useless. He understands clients’ risk tolerance and really takes ownership of the advice he gives. Also incredibly valuable, is the fact that if we ask him for work that doesn’t need to be done, he tells us, rather than just doing it and charging for it. As a result, he builds long-term relationships founded on trust.

In total, a dozen Smart & Biggar lawyers are recognized for trademarks across transactions, enforcement and litigation, anti-counterfeiting, and prosecution and strategy:

  • Daniel Anthony (enforcement and litigation, prosecution and strategy) – Daniel is known to clients and colleagues as a “social media and internet maven”.
  • Mark Biernacki (anti-counterfeiting, enforcement and litigation) - “Mark Biernacki is a trusted ally and can be wholeheartedly recommended as a reliable attorney. Comfortable at navigating areas of law tangentially related to trademarks, he excels at resolving complex issues and handles all matters in a manner that minimizes in-house time commitment. He is an effective advocate in adversarial scenarios.”
  • Jean-Sébastien Dupont (enforcement and litigation) – Jean-Sébastien is complimented in the guide as being a “rangy IP litigator “.
  • Steven Garland (enforcement and litigation) – Steven, described as a “consummate trial lawyer”, also “brings a very reasonable and even tone to matters, which is important when dealing with infringers often interested in seeking publicity”.
  • Sanjay Goorachurn (transactions) – Sanjay is known in the industry as a “transactions ace”.
  • Kwan T Loh (prosecution and strategy) – As a brand strategist, Kwan is “responsive, organised, creative and easy to work with”.
  • Kohji Suzuki (prosecution and strategy) – Kohji is Smart & Biggar’s Trademark group chair and known for being “proactive, practical and engaged with his clients on a business level”.
  • Ekaterina Tsimberis (enforcement and litigation) – Ekaterina is noted as being “great in negotiations, because she can put herself in others’ shoes to better figure out what she needs to do”. She also dispenses “precise advice that is not just theory focused”.

For a full listing of WTR 1000 2021, please visit https://www.worldtrademarkreview.com/directories/wtr1000/rankings/canada

WTR 1000 is the first and only guide exclusively dedicated to identifying the world's leading trademark legal services providers. Through an extensive research process conducted by a team of highly qualified, full-time analysts, the publication identifies the leading trademark law firms and individuals in over 71 key jurisdictions globally.

Smart & Biggar is recognised as Canada’s largest and leading firm practising exclusively in intellectual property and technology law, with offices in Ottawa, Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver and Calgary. As leaders in intellectual property and technology law Smart & Biggar has been serving clients for over a century.