Professional Profile

Julian Porter, Q.C. has practised litigation exclusively since 1964 and is recognized by the Law Society of Upper Canada as a specialist in civil litigation. He now practices as independent counsel. He has appeared before all levels of Court, in every kind of civil, commercial and criminal proceeding. He acts as defence counsel for professionals and he is fond of appearing before juries.

In his career he has done some interesting things. He has examined a member of the Milosovic cabinet in Moscow. He acted with two counsel in Canada’s last murder trial which resulted in a hanging. He was sent to make the final appeal to the Minister of Justice — it failed. He acted in numerous obscenity cases; he persuaded a Court to take the ribbons off Michael Snow’s geese in the Eaton Centre; he persuaded a Court that his wife’s publishing house had not breached L. Ron Hubbard’s copyright; he defended an accused in the dredging case — a two year criminal jury trial. On behalf of Peter Newman and Jack McClelland, he convinced a Judge to allow felt pens to be used by the publisher to eliminate an offending sentence in a book rather than withdraw the publication.

His litigation experience includes: the Dubin Inquiry into Ben Johnson (for the CPSO); the Winnipeg police inquiry; the Toronto Sun’s official secret prosecution in respect to Peter Worthington; the Walker Brothers v. CTV libel case which led to huge damages for the plaintiff; the Patti Starr inquiry; the Reichmann family v. Toronto Life libel case (for the Defendant); Karlheinz Schreiber v. Luc Lavoie (for the defendant); Tony Clement v. Dalton McGuinty (for the defendant); Lee Kuan Yew (the Senior Minister of Singapore) v. The Globe and Mail (for the plaintiff); Randolph Fiennes v. Allan Fotheringham and Maclean’s (for the defendants); St. John Shipbuiliding Ltd. v. CTV and Eric Malling et al. (for the defendants); Sullivan Entertainment Group v. Kate MacDonald Butler et al. (for the defendants).

Recently he completed a seven week bilingual libel jury trial in Ottawa. He acted for the OPP. The case, Cusson v. The Ottawa Citizen et al. went to the Court of Appeal and its decision is the most important in Canadian jurisprudence for 25 years. He also received the highest award for a slander case before a jury in Cobourg under the Simplified Rules.

He has successfully represented Maclean’s magazine in a highly publicized Human Rights prosecution in British Columbia and in Ottawa in June, 2008.

He has defended many of Canada’s leading writers, publishers and magazines in libel matters and has acted for a large number of plaintiffs suing newspapers and television stations. Lexpert has, for a number of years, recognized him as a leading practitioner and one of the most frequently recommended in the law of defamation and he is included in The Best Lawyers in Canada. He is currently engaged in a number of libel cases.

Julian Porter has conducted prosecutions, was counsel to the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario for 20 years and he has appeared as counsel in numerous Royal Commissions. His law practice is described in the books In Court and Judges by Jack Batten and Ontario.

Mr. Porter is co-author of the law text entitled Canadian Libel Practice (Butterworths, 1986). He has lectured on many occasions to the Canadian Bar Association and the Law Societies of Upper Canada, British Columbia and Prince Edward Island. His lecture on cross-examination is in video format for Canada Law Book. He has given a three-hour demonstration on cross-examination for Law Society lectures throughout Ontario. He occupied the Mulvain Chair of Advocacy, January 1992, University of Calgary. He is a Bencher of the Law Society of Upper Canada and a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers. He was also appointed to the Ontario Judicial Council and the Committee that reviews judicial appointments to the Superior Court of Justice and in October, 2002 he was presented with the degree of Doctor of Laws, honoris causa, from Queen’s University. He was also recently appointed to the Interim Ad Hoc House of Commons Parliamentary Committee on the Appointment of Supreme Court Judges.

Julian Porter represented Canada at the UNESCO Copyright Convention in Paris (1971); was Secretary to the Canadian Conference of Arts and was Chairman of the Parcost Review Committee.
He was President of the Canadian National Exhibition in 1975 and 1976, and has served on the following boards: Harbourfront; Ontario Cancer Research Foundation; the Exhibition Stadium Corporation; the Hockey Hall of Fame; Key Publishers; and Gray Coach Lines. He was appointed to the Toronto Transit Commission in 1977 and served as Chairman from May 1979 to February 1987. He has served on the board of the Advocates’ Society and the Stratford Festival Foundation.

He is very proud to be known as the husband of Anna Porter, O.C., publisher and author, and father of Susan, Jessica, Catherine and Julia.