The lawyer says he intends to specialize in ‘numbers litigation’
Akiva Stern has joined WeirFoulds LLP as a partner in the firm’s commercial litigation, fraud and anti-corruption, and blockchain and digital assets practice groups.
Stern joins the firm from McCarthy Tétrault, where he was most recently a litigation associate. He also teaches mooting and advocacy courses at Toronto Metropolitan University’s Lincoln Alexander School of Law.
Stern started his new role at WeirFoulds on July 6.
Speaking to Law Times on Monday, the lawyer noted that he completed the University of Windsor’s Juris Doctor/Master of Business Administration program. While many of his peers went into business, Stern gravitated towards litigation, particularly when it involved complex finance, accounting, or economic components.
This led him to specialize in what he calls “numbers litigation” – an approach in which he considers litigation or disputes as one component of his clients’ broader business needs.
“I plan to bring a level of technical expertise that allows me to communicate with… industry specialists, whether they are accounting arbiters, quantification/economic experts, or simply partners or shareholders negotiating a buyout or share price valuation,” Stern says.
The lawyer points to WeirFoulds’ “highly entrepreneurial” spirit as a key reason he decided to join the firm.
This approach, which will allow him to test different strategies for expanding the business, “means that people like me, who are very business focused, have an incredible foundation of resources and support in order to fulfill my vision about how I want my practise to look like and what I want to do as a professional in the market,” Stern says. Much of that support comes from other partners in his practice groups, whose expertise will complement his own to maximize value for the firm’s clients.
In a statement announcing Stern’s hire last week, WeirFoulds chair Denise Baker said, “Akiva’s arrival reflects our continued investment in building a premier litigation practice that delivers exceptional value to clients facing increasingly complex disputes.
“His unique combination of litigation experience, financial sophistication and academic leadership will further strengthen our ability to advise clients on high-stakes commercial matters,” Baker added.
