Biography

Howard Levitt has appeared as lead counsel in more employment law cases in the Supreme Court of Canada and at more provincial Courts of Appeal than any lawyer in Canadian history. He has been lead counsel in thousands of employment law cases, acting as counsel in over 50 trials, appeals, judicial reviews and other hearings annually. He has regularly chaired employment law and labour law conferences across Canada, including the Ontario Law Society, for its first ten years 2001-2009, the maximum time permitted. 

Howard is the best known and most widely quoted authority on employment law in Canada. Howard writes a twice weekly employment law column in the Financial Post, has weekly radio appearances discussing employment law, and is the author of one of Canada’s leading dismissal textbooks, The Law of Dismissal in Canada, five other texts, and is Editor-In-Chief of the national law report, The Dismissal and Employment Law Digest, which covers every notable dismissal and employment law case across Canada. He is cited by the Canadian media more than any other lawyer in any field for his commentary on legal issues of the day. 

Howard is the labour lawyer and employment lawyer for many of Canada’s largest corporations and acts as chief spokesperson for numerous collective bargaining negotiations in a variety of industries. He conducts lobbying at the Federal and Provincial level on behalf of several clients regarding labour legislation.  

Howard has also dabbled in politics from time to time, working with Liberals such as Jean Chretien as his Ontario Campaign counsel for leadership in 1990 and Cochaired with the Hon John Roberts an organization opposing the Meech Lake Accord as well as a few Tories. He is a recipient of the Governor General’s Award for Community Service and Citizenship. He is also a philanthropist, having donated millions of dollars to Toronto hospitals and the Faculty of Law at U of T.