Ashley L. Paterson

Ashley Paterson is a trusted advocate and advisor to companies navigating high-stakes litigation in Canada. Ashley has extensive experience defending complex class actions, product liability disputes, and privacy-related claims, offering clients clear, actionable guidance that reflects a deep understanding of their business and industry priorities. Known for her sound judgment, responsiveness, and ability to cut through complexity, Ashley helps companies defend their products, brand, and reputation; navigate risk; and achieve practical outcomes—efficiently and cost-effectively.

Called to the bar in both Ontario and British Columbia, Ashley seamlessly represents clients across Canada. She frequently works with our Montreal office on matters with Quebec components and also collaborates with U.S. counsel on cross-border matters. Ashley has extensive experience coordinating Canadian litigation in complex, multi-jurisdictional proceedings.

Ashley has been involved in the defence of some of the country’s most high-profile class actions. Her class action work includes defeating certification in a multi-model product liability class action; defending one of Canada’s largest reported data breach class actions; and representing clients in class actions involving historical abuse and institutional negligence. She has significant experience in pharmaceutical and medical device litigation, including the defence of claims involving pelvic mesh, hernia mesh, and IVC filters. Ashley has appeared before all levels of court in Canada, including at the Supreme Court of Canada.

Ashley also defends product liability claims—both class and individual—related to a wide array of consumer and industrial products, such as automobile airbags and gear shifters, guardrails, electrical power bars, fan motor components, water heaters, and printer paper, to name a few. She regularly serves as national coordinating counsel to global manufacturers of consumer and commercial goods, helping them manage litigation risk across jurisdictions and navigate parallel cross-border proceedings in collaboration with U.S. counsel. Clients rely on Ashley for litigation strategies that are thoughtful, tailored, and aligned with broader commercial priorities, particularly when managing litigation risk across multiple provinces or responding to parallel proceedings in the U.S.

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 as well as other legal publications such as Lexpert and IFLR. 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.