Francy Kussner

Partner

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Francy Kussner

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Overview

Francy Kussner is a partner in the Litigation and Dispute Resolution Group at Goodmans and serves as Alternate Section Head for the group. Her practice covers a wide range of areas, including real estate litigation, estate litigation, banking and insolvency litigation, anti-money laundering, financial services regulatory matters, contractual disputes, directors’ and officers’ liability insurance matters, representation and warranty insurance matters, business interruption insurance matters, professional negligence litigation, shareholder and partnership disputes and numerous other commercial matters.

Francy appears before the Superior Court of Justice, including the specialized Commerical List, and the Ontario Court of Appeal, and has appeared before the Supreme Court of Canada. Francy has experience in Alternative Dispute Resolution, including mediations and arbitrations.

Francy is involved with work allocation, as well as lawyer engagement, morale and development within the Litigation Group. She is also involved with the internal and external Continuing Professional Development initiatives for the group. Francy is active in the firm’s articling student and litigation associate development programs and co-chairs the Student Review Committee.

Francy is recognized in The Legal 500 Canada for Dispute Resolution: Ontario and by Best Lawyers in Canada for Corporate Commercial Litigation and Director and Officer Liability Practice.

Featured Work

Francy’s representative work includes acting as:
  • legal advisor for numerous real estate investment trusts and special purpose acquisition companies, in connection with directors’ and officers’ liability insurance and public offering of securities insurance
  • counsel for a major multinational mining corporation and others in obtaining the summary dismissal of an action seeking damages in excess of $1 billion
  • co-counsel on certain litigation claims for the court-appointed monitor of Target Canada Co., in connection with Target’s CCAA proceedings
  • lead litigation counsel for a real estate developer in connection with a lease dispute with a U.S.-based corporation, which resulted in a favourable settlement
  • counsel in various commercial cases involving disputes among family members, achieving successful resolutions through mediation or arbitration

Credentials

Professional Involvement

Francy led pro bono efforts at Goodmans to address key legal issues connected with the Canadian Centre to End Human Trafficking’s launch of Canada’s first-ever hotline designed to support victims and survivors of human trafficking and to educate the public about the issue. 

Francy acted as pro bono co-counsel to various intervenors in an appeal before the Supreme Court of Canada in respect of the judicial review of a high profile deportation matter.

Francy has published articles in the Abstract Page and the Commercial Litigation Journal. She has spoken at various symposiums, including the Institute for Professional Development Inc.’s symposium on Major Business Agreements – Practical Negotiating and Drafting Strategies, and has co-chaired a conference for the Ontario Bar Association on Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Mortgages (and were afraid to ask). For over a decade, Francy chaired the bi-annual conference for the Law Society of Ontario on Safeguarding Real Estate Transactions. She has also spoken on Ethical and Professional Considerations for Counsel at the Osgoode Short Course in Debtor-Creditor Litigation.

Professional Affiliations

  • Law Society of Ontario
  • Canadian Bar Association
  • Ontario Bar Association
  • The Advocates’ Society
  • Toronto Lawyers Association