William David Rankin

David Rankin represents industry and government clients to solve public and private law disputes, including through appellate litigation, administrative and constitutional litigation, class actions, employment/wrongful dismissal litigation and other general civil litigation.

David has argued cases at all levels of court in multiple jurisdictions, including arguing at the Supreme Court of Canada and at the Federal Court and Federal Court of Appeal. He has managed complex and multi-billion dollar cases at both the trial and appeal levels. David is a co-author of Sopinka, Gelowitz and Rankin on the Conduct of an Appeal, 5th Edition , a leading resource for litigators and judges on appellate practice and procedure. He also teaches regularly at Osgoode Hall Law School, including a course on administration law remedies.

David joined the Litigation department at Osler in 2012 after serving as a law clerk to The Honourable Mr. Justice Morris J. Fish of the Supreme Court of Canada. He received his Juris Doctor from the University of Toronto, where he graduated with the W.P.M. Kennedy Silver Medal.

During his time at the Faculty of Law, David was co-Editor-in-Chief of the Law Review (Vol. 68). Prior to law school, David graduated from Acadia University — at the top of his faculty — with a Bachelor of Business Administration with Honours. David first joined Osler as a summer student in 2008, returning in 2010–2011 to complete his articles in the Calgary office.

The Court of Appeal’s modernized approach requires the proposed question to be arguable and sufficiently important to the public.

A recent decision of the Supreme Court of Canada clarifies the constitutional limits of legislative power over judicial review.