Date: May 25, 2016
Christopher Horkins
chorkins@casselsbrock.com
t: 416 815 4351
f: 416 642 7129
Toronto
Suite 2100, Scotia Plaza
40 King Street West
Toronto, ON
Canada
M5H 3C2
Chris Horkins is an associate in the Advocacy Group with a broad commercial litigation practice including
franchise, product liability, insolvency, securities litigation and class actions defence. Prior to joining Cassels
Brock as an associate in 2012, Chris was both a summer and articling student at the firm.
Chris’s practice regularly involves:
Acting for franchisors in franchise disputes, including class actions, rescission and good faith claims brought
under the Arthur Wishart Act and the enforcement of post-termination restrictive covenants;
Defending original equipment and component manufacturers for automobile, aircraft and watercraft products
in personal injury, wrongful death and other product liability actions;
Acting for court officers and creditors in Canadian and cross-border insolvency and restructuring
proceedings; and
Acting for shareholders, directors, officers and other stakeholders in corporate and securities litigation
disputes including oppression remedy applications.
Chris has appeared before the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, Ontario Court of Justice and the Ontario
Court of Appeal. He also has experience with arbitration and mediation proceedings as well as proceedings
before administrative tribunals.
Chris is an active member of the Advocates’ Society. In 2013 he was appointed to the Young Advocates’
Standing Committee (YASC), a standing committee of the Advocates’ Society promoting the interests of
advocacy lawyers in their first ten years of practice. Chris also writes regularly for the firm’s Franchise Law and
Product Liability E-Communiqués and has been published in the newsletter of the International Bar
Association’s Franchise Law section.
Chris graduated in 2011 with a J.D. from Queen’s University Faculty of Law. While at Queen’s Law, Chris
volunteered at the Queen’s Legal Aid clinic and was a recipient of the Canada Law Book Company Prize in
Torts, the Samworth Advocacy Prize, the MacDougall-Watson Memorial Award and Dennis Marshall
Contribution Award. In fall 2010, Chris spent a term studying at the Rijksuniversiteit Gröningen law school in
the Netherlands.
Chris regularly acts as pro bono counsel for early childhood education professionals in disciplinary
proceedings before the College of Early Childhood Educators as part of the joint legal assistance project
administered by Cassels Brock and Pro Bono Law Ontario. Outside of work, Chris is a volunteer board
member at RARE Theatre, a not-for-profit organization aimed at promoting the voice of disenfranchised
groups through theatre.
Education
Certificate (Business Essentials for Lawyers), University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies, 2014
J.D., Queen's University, 2011
B.A. (Hons.) (Political Science and English), Queen's University, 2008
Call to the bar
Ontario, 2012
Associations
Canadian Bar Association
Ontario Bar Association
The Advocates' Society
Defence Research Institute
Expertise
Class Actions
Franchise
Litigation
Product Liability
Securities Litigation