The annual awards recognize outstanding deals, cases, firms, legal departments, and leaders in Canada
There are only a few more weeks to submit your nominations for the 2026 Canadian Law Awards, Lexpert and Canadian Lawyer’s annual event honouring exceptional achievements, organizations, and individuals across Canada’s legal industry.
Nominations will be accepted for 23 award categories until 11:59 pm EST on January 30, 2026. The awards recognize a variety of achievements, including excellent performances by in-house legal departments, law firms, and leaders in pro bono and diversity initiatives. Awards also honour exceptional cases and deals in areas like infrastructure, commercial litigation, M&A, and capital markets.
To determine each year’s winners, Canadian Lawyer and Lexpert evaluate nominations using a multi-stage process.
After an initial review, Lexpert and Canadian Lawyer will announce the 2026 Excellence Awardees on March 16. The Excellence Awardees cover those nominees who have been shortlisted for a Canadian Law Award by the Canadian Law Awards team, based on its industry expertise.
A shortlist of top deals will be announced separately in April.
An independent panel of judges will then score each nominee on the shortlists according to applicable criteria. The nominees in each category with the highest tallied scores will be announced at an awards gala at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre on Tuesday, May 5, 2026.
Nominations must be submitted via the Canadian Law Awards website to be considered.
At last year’s awards, Laurie Shieff, managing counsel at the Royal Bank of Canada, which netted the awards for both the Banking & Financial Services Law Department of the Year and the Canadian Law Department of the Year, called the experience “very exhilarating.”
“I’ve been at RBC for just two years,” Shieff said, noting that the event included “so many great nominees.”
“It was just such a lovely surprise to be able to accept the award and for me to accept the award on behalf of the law group,” Shieff added.
See a complete list of last year’s winners here.
