Celeste Poltak
Partner
Celeste Poltak focuses extensively on class proceedings litigation and is a partner in our class actions department. She regularly appears before a variety of courts throughout Canada, including the Courts of Appeal in over six provinces, and the Supreme Court of Canada. She has developed a particular expertise in class proceedings, having worked on some of the most notable Canadian cases, (eg. Indian Residential Schools; Sixties Scoop; LGBTQ Purge from the Canadian Armed Forces; the first environmental contamination certified action in Canada; institutional abuse; Archdiocese sexual assault) including a variety of common issues trials across the country and is well published in the area.
Celeste has lectured for many years on class proceedings at Osgoode Hall Law School, the Advocates’ Society, the OBA, Law Society and as adjunct faculty at the University of Toronto. She was a long-standing member of the Firm’s Executive Committee and past Chair of the Student Committee. Celeste also sits on the Class Actions Committee of the Advocates’ Society and is a member of the editorial board of the Canadian Institute’s Class Action Journal. She is a co-author of the textbook Class Actions in Canada (Emond Publishing) and was named Class Action Lawyer of the Year in 2023 by the Women in Law Awards as well as receiving the Lexpert Zenith Award in 2018 for mid-career excellence.
Celeste has been recognized by Lexpert as a leading practitioner in class proceedings, named a Future Litigation Star by Benchmark Canada and has received a Chambers ranking in Class Proceedings. She has also been selected for inclusion in the of The Best Lawyers™ in Canada every year since 2021.
Celeste is a member of both the ADR Institute of Canada and ADR Institute of Ontario.
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Experience
- Class Counsel in National Indian Residential Schools Settlement with attendance at settlement approval motions in nine jurisdictions across Canada
- Class counsel in environmental contamination class action for property devaluation in Port Colborne, Ontario, certified by the Court of Appeal for Ontario, leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada denied
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Education
LLM, 2001, London School of Economics and Political Science
LLB, 1999, University of Calgary
BA, 1994, Queen’s University
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Memberships / Affiliations
Member, Canadian Bar Association
Member, Ontario Bar Association
Member, International Bar Association
Member, The Advocates’ Society
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Celeste's Publications
- "The New Approach to Summary Judgment in Ontario”, Lawyers’ Weekly, January 27, 2012
- “Are the costs of certification too high?”, Lawyers Weekly, January 11, 2011
- “Is Decertification Doomed to Failure?”, Lawyers Weekly, May 28, 2010
- “The Space Between Rule 20 and Rule 21: the evidentiary burden on certification”, The Canadian Class Action Review, Vol. 6 (2010)
- "Class Action Costs Awards: A Swinging Pendulum", Lawyers Weekly, October 10, 2008.
- "Residential Schools Settlement Approval: Testing Jurisdictional Boundaries or Vigilant Scrutiny", The Canadian Class Action Review, Vol. 4, No. 2, (2008).
- "Ability of members to appeal orders in class proceedings remains limited", Lawyers Weekly, May 25, 2007.
- "Ontario and Her Sisters: Should Full Faith & Credit Apply to the National Class?", The Canadian Class Action Review, Vol. 3, No. 2 (2006).
- "Defendants May Have Difficulty Defeating Preferability Finding with ADR Programs", Lawyers Weekly, June 23, 2006.
- "Humanitarian Intervention: A Contemporary Interpretation of the UN Charter", University of Toronto Faculty of Law Review, Vol. 60, No. 2, May 2002.
