Thomas Yates
Thomas Yates is a Foreign Legal Consultant (English law) authorised by the Law Society of Ontario and an English qualified solicitor-advocate. He works in Gowling WLG's Ottawa office and is a member of the firm's Commercial Litigation and International Arbitration practice groups.
Thomas has over 15 years' experience in large-scale, high-value, multi-jurisdictional commercial dispute resolution. He takes a holistic view of disputes, combining legal, commercial and relationship factors when devising effective strategies for managing risk and resolving commercial disputes.
Thomas' commercial disputes practice is broad, but he specialises in advising multinational companies, private equity funds, private companies and ultra high-net-worth individuals on corporate matters, including post-M&A, joint venture, shareholder and director disputes. He also advises major banks on banking & finance disputes. His experience includes a secondment with the in-house litigation department of J.P. Morgan.
Thomas is experienced in all forms of litigation and ADR, including mediation, adjudication and expert determination, with particular interest and expertise in domestic and international arbitration. Thomas has acted in numerous domestic and international arbitrations seated in various jurisdictions, including under the LCIA, ICC, SIAC and UNCITRAL rules. He also has significant experience with arbitration related court proceedings such as anti-suit proceedings, applications for court orders in support of arbitrations, challenges to arbitral awards and enforcement proceedings.
Thomas is a Member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. In addition to his day-to-day practice, he regularly provides training on arbitration related topics to other lawyers and clients and speaks at arbitration conferences. He has also written numerous articles and contributed to several textbooks on arbitration. Thomas also accepts appointments as an arbitrator.
Prior to joining Gowling WLG, Thomas worked in the London dispute resolution department at one of the world's largest law firms; he also spent time in their Sydney and Dubai offices.