He makes the jump from Ogletree Deakins
Employment and labor law specialist Michael Comartin has commenced with Goodmans as a counsel in its employment, pensions, and executive compensation group.
He transitions from Ogletree Deakins International LLP, where he had been a partner since January 2020 according to LinkedIn. He also recorded a stint at Gowlings as an associate.
Comartin has tackled wrongful dismissal, restrictive covenants, M&A/restructuring, wage and hours issues, human rights, accessibility, and employee benefits and executive compensation matters. He has worked on class actions, appellate litigation, and general litigation as well.
Comartin was called to the Ontario bar in 2011 and is a member of the Law Society of Ontario. He has appeared before the Court of Appeal for Ontario, the Divisional Court, the Superior Court of Justice, the Federal Court of Appeal, the Federal Court, the Ontario Labour Relations Board, the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario, and labor arbitrators.
He acted as counsel for an employer and manager in successfully enforcing confidentiality of minutes of settlement and repayment remedies before the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario and the Divisional Court. He was also the counsel acting in judicial review proceedings for several provincially and federally regulated public and private sector employers.
Comartin was a co-counsel in proceedings before the Superior Court of Justice, Divisional Court, and Federal Court, where he defended the immunity of a foreign sovereign from Canadian courts’ jurisdiction. Moreover, he was co-counsel to plaintiffs prosecuting a proposed class action against the Crown involving discrimination on the basis of disability in the calculation and payment of benefits.
He has obtained orders effecting requests for international judicial assistance in securing evidence in Ontario for use in foreign legal proceedings. He was Superior Court counsel for several objectors to a class action settlement relating to allegedly improper investment advice; the objectors successfully had court approval of the settlement adjourned pending their appeals of their entitlements.
