LAWYERS

Melissa MacKewn has been widely and repeatedly recognized within the profession as one of Canada’s leading securities and corporate commercial litigation lawyers. Among other recognitions, Melissa has been twice voted by her peers as Best Lawyers Securities Lawyer of the Year and is part of a small and prestigious group of litigation lawyers in Canada selected by Best Lawyers, based on peer review, as “bet the company” litigation counsel.

Melissa has one of the deepest and most robust securities litigation practices in the country. She advises investors, registrants, issuers, officers, directors, underwriters, and private and public corporations on a variety of securities matters. She has extensive experience representing clients in enforcement investigations, settlements, and contested proceedings before the OSC and CIRO involving such issues as insider trading, disclosure violations and market manipulation. As a prior Senior Enforcement Counsel at the OSC, Melissa offers unparalleled insight on regulatory matters which allows her to strategically guide her clients to creative and precedent-setting outcomes when careers, reputations, livelihoods and shareholder value are on the line.

Melissa is also regularly retained by both public and private companies and their audit and special committees to conduct confidential internal investigations in respect of whistleblower complaints, disclosure, controls and reporting issues, trading and compliance issues, matters engaging conflicts of interest, and workplace allegations. Melissa’s depth of knowledge and expertise allows her to navigate the concurrent class action and regulatory risks, including cross-border risks, at issue in these mandates strategically and efficiently as a trusted advisor and business partner to her clients.

Melissa has extensive experience with corporate and securities capital markets litigation matters including securities class action proceedings, corporate and shareholder disputes, oppression remedy matters, proxy battles, takeover bid litigation, corporate governance matters and investment loss claims.

Bringing to bear the depth of her administrative law expertise, Melissa is frequently retained as outside prosecution counsel on complex disciplinary matters by self-regulatory organizations in the accounting, insurance, and financial sectors.

Awards & Recognition

Since 2017, Melissa has been recognized as one of the Top Women in Litigation by Benchmark Litigation. In 2018 & 2022, Melissa was named the Lawyer of the Year for Securities Law in the Toronto area by Best Lawyers in Canada. Best Lawyers also selected her as part of a small and prestigious group of “bet the company” litigators. Melissa has also been recognized by Lexpert as one of the Top 500 Lawyers in Canada, by Chambers Canada as a leader in the field of securities litigation and by Best Lawyers in the fields of corporate commercial and securities litigation. Melissa has also been recognized as a Stand-out Lawyer by Thomson Reuters based on nominations by senior legal buyers.

According to reviewers:

“Melissa is extremely thorough, smart, responsive, has an excellent command of the subject matter, litigation skill, and understanding of client expectation/requirements. She is very cool under pressure and can defuse a crisis. She always puts in whatever work is necessary to get the job done well, and on time.” — Benchmark Litigation

Speaking Engagements & Publications

Speaker, “The Dollars and Sense of KYP Conflicts”, Conduct, Compliance & Legal Advisory Section (CCLS) Annual Conference, November 30, 2023

Co-Author, What Can SEC Sweeps of Off-Channel Communications Teach Canadian Securities Markets Participants? Stop Texting (for Work), October 10, 2023

Moderator, “Navigating the Challenges of Internal Investigations in the Securities Industry”, Securities Litigation Conference, June 14, 2023

Faculty, “Internal Investigations of White Collar Crime”, White Collar Crime Update for Litigators, Law Society of Ontario, May 9, 2023

Speaker, “White Collar Crime”, Advanced Criminal Law: Financial Crimes in a Global Context, University of Toronto, March 18, 2023

Faculty, “Nuts & Bolts: The How Tos of Examination at Tribunals”, The Advocates’ Society, April 28 & 29, 2022

Moderator, Northwind’s 2^nd Internal and Enforcement Investigations Invitational Forum Conference, June 11 & 12, 2019

Faculty, “Securities Advocacy”, The Advocates’ Society, May 7, 2019

Speaker, “Client Complaints and Complaint Resolution”, PCMA Compliance Network Meeting, June 19, 2018

Speaker, “Institutional Bias”, Disciplinary Resources Group, CPA Organizations in Canada, June 8, 2018