Website: osler.com
Head office address (Canada): 1 First Canadian Place, 100 King Street West, Suite 6200, Toronto, ON M5X 1B8
Year established: 1862
Ownership structure: private LLP, Canadian
Target market/client profile: businesses, institutions, and governments across Canada and internationally seeking legal counsel in business law, including pensions, benefits, and employment
Number of professional staff: 550 legal professionals and over 600 business professionals
Canadian office locations: Toronto (head office), Montréal, Calgary, Vancouver, and Ottawa
Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP is a Canadian business law firm that operates across Canada and internationally from six offices. The firm advises pension funds, plan sponsors, employers, and corporations on matters spanning pensions and benefits, M&A, and employment law.
Osler dates back to 1862, when Britton Bath Osler opened a law practice in Dundas. The town sat about 70 kilometres west of Toronto and was still developing as a regional centre at the time.
He also served as president of the Hamilton and Dundas Street Railway during this period. He practised in the area for about 20 years before a new opportunity drew him to Toronto.
In 1882, Osler joined the Toronto firm of D'Alton McCarthy, a well-known barrister with an established practice in the city. Their partnership grew into McCarthy, Osler, Hoskin & Creelman, a firm that took on major corporate clients across the country.
Frederick Harcourt joined as a partner in 1902, and the firm's title expanded to include his name. In 1916, the McCarthy partners departed to form what would later become McCarthy Tétrault, leaving behind the firm now known as Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP.
Over the following decades, Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP continued to build its presence across multiple areas of business law. In 1968, Bertha Wilson became a partner at Osler, a first for a major Canadian corporate law firm. Wilson went on to become the first woman appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada in March 1982.
In 2012, Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP reached its 150th year in practice, an anniversary the firm marked under the theme "Making a Difference". Its pensions and benefits practice had grown over those years to serve plan sponsors, pension administrators, and public sector funds.
Osler also developed a pension fund investment group to advise institutional investors on asset management and governance matters. That group works with some of Canada's largest institutional investors across asset classes that range from private equity to infrastructure.
Osler provides legal counsel across the following practice areas:
Beyond pensions and employment, Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP also covers M&A, capital markets, tax, and competition law, among other areas. The firm also runs Osler Works, a unit that pairs lawyers with legal technology for due diligence and deal support.
Douglas Bryce serves as national managing partner of Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP, a role he has held since 2017. His practice focuses on M&A and securities law, with experience on major public company transactions across Canada and the US. Bryce holds an LLB from the University of Toronto and a BA in history and economics from McGill University.
Bryce leads Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP's management team alongside the following senior figures:
Boctor leads the Pensions and Benefits Group alongside these partners:
Osler's national co-chairs, Killoran and Pressman, work alongside Bryce to oversee firm strategy, client relations, and operations. Bryce also sits on the firm's executive committee, which includes practice group chairs and regional managing partners from each Canadian office.
Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP serves public and private organizations across Canada and the US. The firm works across the following sectors and client types:
The firm also handles cross-border work for US-based and international clients with Canadian legal needs. It manages each mandate through an integrated team drawn from across its offices.
Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP is also featured in our Benefits and Pensions Monitor's (BPM) Legal Directory page.
Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP has received recognition from several Canadian legal publications and organizations in recent years. Its pensions and benefits lawyers have also been featured in BPM programs.
Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP's pensions and benefits lawyers publish through the firm's Pensions and Benefits Law Blog, which covers Canadian and cross-border pension and employment legal developments for plan sponsors and administrators.
The firm's pro bono practice operates across Canada and earned a 5-Star designation from Canadian Lawyer in 2025. Osler also released its 2025 Diversity Year in Review, which outlines the firm's ongoing work on equity and inclusion across its offices.
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