H. Scott Fairley

H. Scott Fairley is a partner at Cambridge LLP. He received his B.A. in 1974, and LL.B in 1977, from Queens University. He has also received his LL.M in International Legal Studies from New York University in 1979, and his S.J.D. in international and constitutional law from Harvard University in 1987. He has been a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (FCI Arb) since 1999. Scott was called to the bar in 1982. In 2015, he received the  Ontario  Bar Association Award of Excellence in International Law.

Within the profession, he has been a leader in various organizational capacities: National Section Chair for both constitutional law (1991-93) and international law (1998-2000) in the Canadian Bar Association, past-president of the Canadian Council on International Law (1992-94), and Co-Chair (2006-08) and Senior Advisor (2010- ) of the Canada Committee in the International Law Section of the American Bar Association.

Scott has represented numerous government and private entities at all levels of Canadian federal and provincial courts, with extensive experience in the Supreme Court of Canada. He has acted as counsel and given expert evidence in the U.S. Federal Courts; and has served as counsel and as an arbitrator, respectively, in international and domestic arbitrations.

Dr. Fairley holds the highest rating by Martindale-Hubbell, an “AV” rating, which categorizes him a lawyer with, “very high to preeminent legal ability.”

Dr. Fairley has extensive litigation experience at all levels of court, including the Supreme Court of Canada, particularly in international disputes. He serves as an arbitrator and as counsel in arbitral proceedings, extending to the recognition and enforcement of arbitral awards.
Dr. Fairley is a founding director of the Canadian Branch of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, 2018.

A previous appointee of the Government of Ontario to the standing Panel and Appellate Body rosters under the AIT, Dr. Fairley was re-appointed to the equivalent rosters under the Canadian Free Trade Agreement, effective 1 July 2017.

Areas of Expertise
  • Public and Private International Law
  • International Business & Trade Law
  • Commercial
  • Insolvency & Trade-Mark Litigation
  • Constitutional & Administrative Law
  • International Commercial Arbitration & Dispute Settlement
  • Appellate Advocacy
Organizations & Activities

Scott has been appointed by the Government of Ontario to both the Standing Panel Roster of Arbitrators and the Appellate Panel Roster, Effective 1, July 2017.

Scott has spoken and written within Canada and abroad on public and private law subjects, with over 70 publications, primarily in the fields of public and private international law and constitutional law. Representative presentations of publications include:

"International human rights-based tort litigation moves north: a common law alternative to the alien tort statute?" American Bar Association North America Forum; Vancouver, B.C., November 17, 2014;

"Internal accountability for provincial violations of Canada's international obligations: lessons from Abitibi," 53 Can. Bus. L. J., 31-62 (September, 2012);

"Exporting your remedy: a Canadian perspective on the recognition and enforcement of monetary and other relief," CH. 18 in The Law of Remedies New Direction in the Common Law, 609-638 (J. Berryman and R. Bigwood, EDS., 2010);

"International law comes of age: Hape V. the Queen," 87 Can. B. Rev. 229-246 (2008);

"In search of a level playing field: the huge project on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments," in Trilateral Perspectives on International Legal Issues: Conflict and Coherence, 57-70 (Chi Carmody Et Al Eds., 2003);

"After 9/11: Legal premises for the new war against terrorism and some thoughts on the Legacy," 4 Can. INT'L Lawyer, 175-186 (2002);

"Exceeding the limits of territorial bounds: The Helms-Burton Act" [1996] 34 Can. YRBK INT'L L. 161-212 (December, 1997).

Recognitions

OBA Award of Excellence in International Law, 2015

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