U.S. lawyers who take on a matter in Ontario find that the pleadings look familiar. Almost everything after them works differently: discovery is narrower, juries are rare, and the loser usually pays a share of the winner's legal costs.
We have published a guide for U.S. counsel that sets out how a civil action moves through Ontario's Superior Court of Justice, and flags the points where U.S. assumptions most often lead clients astray.
Read the guide: Litigating in Ontario: What U.S. Counsel Need to Know
What the guide covers
- How Canada's court system is organized, and why most commercial disputes are heard in the provincial superior courts
- Ten differences between U.S. and Ontario practice, side by side, from the scope of documentary discovery to the deemed undertaking that limits the use of discovery evidence in parallel proceedings
- The stages of an ordinary Ontario action, from statement of claim to trial
- Costs scales and Rule 49 offers to settle, and how they change the economics of settlement
- Small Claims Court, the simplified procedure, appeals, class actions, limitation periods and anti-SLAPP motions
- Where Ontario's civil rules reform stands
- A seven-point checklist for U.S. counsel
The guide is current to October 12, 2026.
We regularly act as Ontario counsel for law firms outside Canada. If you have a client with a matter here, see how we work with foreign counsel.
