Ashley Paterson has a multifaceted commercial practice focused on class action, product liability, consumer protection and privacy litigation. She is an experienced litigator with a broad background in the defence of complex class actions and multi-party litigation, capable of providing tactical advice at all stages of complex cases.
Ashley has worked on several particularly influential cases, including successfully defeating certification of a multiple-model product liability class action, defending a class action involving one of the largest data breaches ever reported, and defending a high-profile class action alleging systemic abuse and negligence. Ashley has extensive experience in the defence of medical device and pharmaceutical class actions, including pelvic mesh, hernia mesh and inferior vena cava filters. Ashley has also acted for defendants in product liability and consumer cases (individual cases as well as class actions) related to allegedly defective automobile airbags, gear shifters, printer paper, electrical power bars, guardrails, water heaters, and fan motor components, among others.
Ashley works as Canadian national counsel to a number of international companies that design and manufacture both consumer and commercial products. Much of Ashley's work is international in scope and she frequently works with clients facing cross-border litigation. Ashley has experience managing and coordinating Canadian litigation in multi-jurisdictional proceedings, and working collaboratively with U.S. counsel on parallel matters.
Ashley is praised as being “an excellent lawyer” and "smart, reliable and attentive." Ashley has consistently been ranked by Chambers & Partners in the category of Litigation: Products Liability. Ashley recently received the IFLR Rising Star Award in the category of Product Liability (2022). In addition to her practice, Ashley Co-Chairs the annual Cambridge Forum on Canadian Class Actions; is a member of the Canadian Bar Association, the American Bar Association, The Advocates' Society and the Defence Research Institute; and is a former member of the Ontario Bar Association's Class Actions Law Section Executive.
Ashley regularly speaks and writes in the above-noted areas and is a frequent attendee of industry conferences. She has published extensively in the above-noted areas, both at the local and international levels.
Bennett Jones