Dan Fridmar
Biography
Prior to starting his own practice, Dan learned his trade at a medium-sized, fast-paced law firm in Vaughan, Ontario. In a short time, Dan amassed a voluminous amount of experience in litigation, negotiation, and client management. In addition to his legal endeavours, Dan has spearheaded many academic initiatives, including authorship of legal blogs and articles, presenting at various professional development lectures for clients, and acting as a content-producer/course-designer at the Credit Institute of Canada. As such, Dan effectively implements the creativity obtained in his academia with the practical issues facing his clients. Dan prides himself on being the first individual of his family to enter the legal profession, particularly as he is a first-generation Canadian. He shaved-off a year of his undergraduate studies at York University by securing an early acceptance into Osgoode Hall Law School. He graduated from York University summa cum laude and received the Law Society Prize, an award recognizing the highest academic average in his graduating class. During his time at Osgoode, Dan was immersed in both curricular and extra-curricular activities. In his first year, he advanced to the semi-finals of the Dentons Negotiation Competition. Throughout his second year, he played an active role in the Osgoode Mediation Clinic by volunteering as a mediator with the Toronto Small Claims Court and the North York community. Dan also contributed to Osgoode’s social life by participating in the Mock Trial event, Law Games, and acting in executive positions in various student organizations. In his limited spare time, Dan loves to perform at Open-Mics with his guitar, contribute to the visual and theatrical arts, and mentor high school and university students. He is also heavily involved in the Russian-speaking Jewish community.
Jay Nathwani
Biography
Jay is a versatile construction lawyer who provides both litigation and contract negotiation services. He brings clients valuable in-house experience gained on two of Canada’s largest transit infrastructure projects. Certified by the Law Society of Ontario as a Specialist in Construction Law, Jay has acted as external legal counsel in court and arbitration proceedings on large and complex construction disputes in both public infrastructure and private development, involving claims in excess of $1 billion. Jay has acted in respect of arbitrations involving numerous rules and administrative bodies. Leveraging his litigation and in-house experience, Jay drafts and negotiates a wide variety of contracts for projects ranging from a home renovation to large design-build or infrastructure projects. Jay gained his experience in construction litigation at leading national and boutique firms, acting on a wide variety of projects, including subways, hydroelectric dams, hospitals, hotels, condominiums and office towers. Prior to joining Margie Strub Construction Law, Jay led the in-house legal department for the design-build consortium executing the Finch West LRT, an 11km light rail project in Toronto. Jay was also a member of the in-house legal team at one of Canada’s largest civil infrastructure companies and acted as in-house counsel on the Eglinton Crosstown LRT, a 19 km (10km underground) light rail project through the centre of Toronto.
Ivan M. Merrow
Biography
Ivan is a litigator, solution provider and trusted advisor. Cutting through legal complexity, he delivers pragmatic advice in times of conflict. Clients appreciate Ivan’s ability to understand their business, distill complex issues into understandable and impactful advice, and follow through with decisive action.
During the course of his active litigation practice, Ivan has represented organizations and individuals before all levels of court in Ontario and in arbitration. His industry-focused practice resolves complex disputes in the sectors that drive Canada’s economic development, including power, mining, construction, real estate, technology and infrastructure.
Reviewing his recent notable work, Ivan has previously:
- Represented a heavy industry subcontractor in dispute with contractor in a confidential arbitration of delay and negligence claims related to a power infrastructure project in northern Ontario.
- Acted for a manufacturer and supplier in a confidential accelerated arbitration related to the supply of light rail vehicles to a major urban public infrastructure project.
- Acted for a design-builder in a confidential arbitration related to the construction of a public infrastructure project.
- Defended multiple lawyers and acted as repair counsel in response to allegations of professional negligence.
- Acted for an international plumbing fixture manufacturer in the defence of multiple product liability claims.
- Obtained a trial judgment for breach of trust and defamation, along with a dismissal of the opposing party’s counterclaim, resulting from a real estate dispute.
- Defeated multiple breach of contract claims against a renewable energy power producer following an aborted property transaction.
- Dismissed a class action proceeding alleging securities misrepresentation in Web Objective, Inc. v. SociaLabra, Inc., 2018 ONSC 664 (CanLII).
- Dismissed a summary judgment motion in its entirety relating to a complex real estate and shareholders’ dispute in Hussaini v Checroune, 2017 ONSC 2435 (CanLII).
Ivan is committed to each client’s cause. By taking an entrepreneurial, creative and problem-solving approach to his practice, Ivan is able to stay on top of industry trends, offer a leading-edge perspective on his clients’ issues, and provide tailored solutions. He takes a passionate and engaged approach to his clients’ businesses, understands big picture strategy, and gives advice that empowers his clients’ definition of success.
In addition to offering exceptional service on legal matters, Ivan shares with his clients a deep interest in future-focused, innovative, and project-related domains such as city building, urban design, PropTech, architecture, and the marriage of technology and infrastructure.
Ivan earned his JD and MBA from Queen’s University where he earned academic awards for his work in legal ethics, operations and technology, and served as a volunteer editor for the Queen’s Law Journal and Canadian Labour and Employment Law Journal. Ivan previously earned an Honours BA with from the University of Waterloo in Psychology and Business, where he completed internships in banking, consulting, education, aerospace, and information technology.
Joshua Strub
Biography
Josh is a skilled construction lawyer with both private practice and in-house experience. Along with his civil engineering degree, his background enables him to understand complex construction issues and provide efficient, high-quality legal advice. Prior to co-founding Margie Strub Construction Law, Josh managed the nation-wide legal affairs for Canada’s largest full-service track and signal construction and maintenance provider. There he focused on the pursuit, execution, and claim phases of some of Canada’s highest-profile transit infrastructure projects. Josh also gained an acute understanding of the structure, principles, value, and potential pitfalls of collaborative contracting gained from his involvement in Canada’s first alliance contract. Josh’s in-house practice also included a wide variety of general legal matters, including labour and employment, insurance, personal injury, WSIB, safety, leasing, IT agreements, and data security. He was also instrumental in managing the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Josh began his legal career at a mid-sized construction law firm in Toronto. There he represented clients across the country in all forms of construction dispute resolution. Much of Josh’s early legal career involved representing clients on large, complex infrastructure disputes with claim values ranging up to $1 billion. Josh is a frequent speaker at industry functions and conferences, including at the Ontario Bar Association, Canadian Bar Association, and the Construction Superconference. Recently he was a panelist at the Construction Superconference discussing different forensic schedule analysis methodologies. Additionally, in 2019 Josh and John co-founded and taught, along with another colleague, the Construction Law course at Western Law in London, Ontario.
Stephanie R. Garraway
Biography
Stephanie Garraway is an associate in the Construction Law Group at Cassels, Brock & Blackwell LLP. Her practice focuses on providing strategic and practical advice to clients operating at all levels of the construction pyramid, including owners, developers, general contractors and suppliers. Stephanie also maintains a broad commercial litigation practice to service both construction and commercial clients. Stephanie’s specialized construction litigation practice includes representing clients in construction lien actions, bidding and tendering disputes, as well as breach of trust, delay, and deficiency claims. Stephanie’s commercial litigation practice has included debt recovery, real estate litigation, partnership litigation, shareholder disputes, creditor-debtor litigation, various injunction-type proceedings, product liability, and general contractual disputes. Stephanie has broad courtroom experience and has regularly appeared on contested matters at various levels of court including the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, the Divisional Court of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, and the Ontario Court of Appeal. In addition to her role as an advocate, Stephanie’s past experiences have made her a sound business advisor to clients, with an ability to offer workable, practical solutions that accord with a client’s business practices. She continues to work with clients to help navigate the risks associated with any stage of a construction project. Stephanie is an active member of the community. During law school, she collaborated with International Legal Partnership to conduct remote research for the Foundation for Human Rights Initiative in Uganda. She continues to engage in local and national charitable events by volunteering in various mental health initiatives and as a sitting University Councillor at her alma mater, Queen’s University.
