Eric S. Block is a partner in our Litigation Group in Toronto and a member of the National Class Action Group and the National Securities Litigation Group. He chiefly practices civil, consumer/commercial, power and energy, product liability, and securities litigation with an emphasis on class actions. Eric has acted in a full range of litigation matters before courts, boards, and tribunals at all levels of trial and appeal, including the Supreme Court of Canada.
Eric represents companies involved in product liability litigation, including class actions, and advises companies with respect to product recalls. He also represents power and energy companies involved in litigation with all levels of government.
Eric has acted, and is currently acting, for several companies regarding allegations of worldwide price-fixing conspiracies involving a wide range of products.
Eric has acted on some of Canada’s most significant take-over litigations.
Prior to joining the firm, Eric was an associate at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton and Garrison in New York from September 1998 through June 2002. There, he worked on major precedent-setting litigations, including the successful commercial arbitration of the world’s largest purchase price dispute, resulting in a $635.5-million settlement for the client. Along with Paul Weiss partners Mario Vullo, Liza Velazquez and Professor Catherine MacKinnon, Eric litigated, pro-bono, the Southern District of New York jury trial awarding $745 million to rape and torture victims of the Bosnian War (Kadic, et al, v. Karadzic). He also worked on matters involving securities class actions, corporate espionage, environmental crime, insider trading, tax litigation and commercial fraud.
Eric received his BA (Hons.) (Political Science) from McGill University in 1992. He held the Guy Drummond Fellowship consecutively at Institut D’Etudes Politiques de Paris ("Science Po") from 1992 to 1993 and at McGill University from 1993 to 1994. He received his MA (Political Science) from McGill University in 1995. From 1994 to 1995, Eric was a speechwriter to U.S. Ambassador Morris B. Abram in Geneva (former Ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva). He received his BA, MA (Jurisprudence) from Oxford University (Christ Church) in 1997. Eric received his LLM from the University of Chicago Law School in 1998.
Eric has written extensively for the Wall Street Journal, Wall Street Journal Europe, Washington Times, Jerusalem Post, Saturday Night Magazine and the Chronicle Herald. He has held a Publius Fellowship at the Claremont Institute. He sat on the Board of Directors of the National Ballet School Foundation.
Awards & Rankings
The Legal 500 - Canada
Next Generation Lawyer: Dispute Resolution - Ontario
Benchmark Litigation Canada
Litigation Star: Class Action, Commercial, Product Liability, Securities
The Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory
Leading Lawyer: Class Actions; Litigation - Directors' & Officers' Liability; Litigation - Securities; Litigation - Product Liability
The Lexpert/American Lawyer Guide to the Leading 500 Lawyers in Canada
Litigation – Corporate Commercial
Lexpert Special Edition: Agribusiness and Cannabis
Leading Lawyer
Lexpert Special Edition: Litigation
Leading Lawyer
Best Lawyers in Canada
Leading Lawyer: Product Liability Law