Howard Shapray KC

Howard Shapray, Q.C., FCIArb.

In a career that has spanned more than four decades, Mr. Shapray has been called upon by some of Canada's most prominent entrepreneurs to represent them when the stakes are high and the chips are down. Mr. Shapray’s clients are a Who's Who of Canadian business.

In 2013, he and his partners won a landmark $93 million award for his client in a breach of fiduciary duty / corporate opportunity case.

Over the years, he has successfully prosecuted and defended a gamut of civil claims: corporate disputes, property and environmental cases, mining litigation, securities regulatory disputes, fraud and conspiracy claims, professional liability claims, libel and slander, commercial arbitration, intellectual property issues, and matrimonial and estate disputes. His cases have made both law and headlines. Through his strategic management of these extraordinary cases, Mr. Shapray has acquired a reputation as a skillful and passionate counsel.

His clients are often referrals from other clients or law firms as well as former adversaries. He has appeared as counsel in all levels of the Canadian Court system and has been retained to represent clients in cases in the courts of British Columbia, Ontario, Alberta, Yukon as well as in the United States.

Once described by Canadian business writer Peter Newman in his book Titans, as Vancouver's toughest and ablest courtroom lawyer, Mr. Shapray’s legal ability rating by the prestigious Martindale-Hubbell organization rates is the highest available, (Very High to Preeminent, for skill and ethics). According to the Canadian Lexpert survey, he is repeatedly recommended by his peers for his litigation prowess.

Mr. Shapray is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, the world leader in providing training and qualifications in arbitration, mediation and adjudication. He recently completed a Mediation Program at the Harvard Law School. He is also a Fellow of Litigation Counsel of America.

As one of Canada’s pioneers in the use of a computer for evidence management and presentation in the courtroom, Mr. Shapray was invited to be a Contributing author to the American Bar Association's best selling book, Winning With Computers, Trial Practice in the 21st Century, as well as to lecture, as part of an international panel of experts, to members of the Canadian Bar Association across Canada on the use of computers in the management of complex litigation and is a former Canadian Bar Vice-Chair of the ABA’s Litigation Applications Newsletter. He has also presented lectures to various groups including the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants on the role of the forensic accountant as expert witness.