Justin Arash Safayeni

Justin Safayeni is an experienced litigator. His clients appreciate his clear thinking, sound judgment, practical advice and strong courtroom advocacy skills.

Justin’s practice focuses on administrative and public law, media/defamation law and commercial litigation and appeals. He has appeared before all levels of court in Canada, including on several occasions as lead counsel at the Supreme Court of Canada.

In his administrative and public law practice, Justin represents clients in judicial reviews before the Divisional Court, as well as in hearings before tribunals, including the Ontario Securities Commission, sports law tribunals (including the Court of Arbitration for Sport), academic discipline tribunals at Ontario universities and human rights tribunals. He also acts as independent legal counsel to a number of regulators. Justin has represented clients in constitutional challenges involving freedom of expression, voting rights, the right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure and other Charter protections.

Justin acts for both plaintiffs and defendants in defamation cases. He has a particular interest in “anti-SLAPP” proceedings, having written and lectured on this topic and represented interveners before the Supreme Court on the leading cases in this area. Justin also has experience in proceedings for extraordinary relief that often arise in the context of defamation cases, including Norwich Pharmacal orders, injunctions and de-indexing/“take-down” orders. In addition to defending the media in defamation cases, Justin acts for media parties in seeking access to court documents, as well as resisting publication bans and production orders. He routinely provides pre-publication advice to authors, media organizations and publishers to minimize defamation and privacy law liability and risk.