Cassels

Canadian Corporate Law Firm

Queen's University

Saad Rajper

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Saad Rajper (he/him/his) is an associate in the Litigation Group at Cassels. Saad graduated from Queen’s Law where he served as a peer tutor and helped administer the school’s tutoring program as a Tutoring Program Assistant. In addition, he was actively involved in mooting, having competed as an Oralist in the Harold G. Fox Intellectual Property Moot in his second year and in the Grand Moot in his third year. During his 1L summer, Saad completed the Public International Law program through the Bader International Study Centre and interned with the Canadian Bar Association in the International Initiatives Group. Saad has volunteered with Pro Bono Students Canada working with the Kingston Youth Shelter to provide research on the barriers trans youth face in changing their name and gender on identification documents. Prior to joining Cassels as an associate, Saad was an articling student with the firm.

Prior to attending law school, Saad graduated from McGill University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and a Master of Arts degree in Communication Studies. In his spare time, he enjoys reading, swimming, and watching reality tv.

Erin Curtis

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Erin Curtis is an associate in the Banking & Specialty Finance Group Cassels. Erin’s practice focuses on domestic and cross‑border financing transactions, including securitization programs, asset‑based lending arrangements, bilateral and syndicated facilities, and other complex commercial financings. Erin regularly advises lenders, borrowers, and other transaction parties on all aspects of financings, including transaction structuring, security and priority matters, closing mechanics, and post‑closing compliance.

Prior to joining Cassels as an associate, Erin was both a summer and articling student with the firm.

Lauren Gruenberger

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Lauren Gruenberger is an associate in the Construction Group at Cassels. Lauren offers experience working on a wide range of disputes within her construction practice, including complex claims in relation to public infrastructure projects, traditional litigation and alternative forms of dispute resolution, and the preparation and negotiation of construction documents for clients across various sectors.

Prior to joining Cassels, Lauren served as an associate in the Construction Group at another national law firm.

Andrew Skodyn

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Andrew Skodyn (he/him/his) is a partner in the Intellectual Property Group at Cassels. Andrew is a very experienced intellectual property and commercial litigator, with particular emphasis on patent litigation, trademark litigation, complex commercial disputes, product liability defence and class actions. His intellectual property litigation experience covers a wide range of industries, including pharmaceuticals and life sciences, information technology and social media, professional services, manufacturing, agribusiness, and oil and gas.

Andrew is particularly well-known for litigating pharmaceutical patents. He has been counsel in numerous lengthy trials, high-profile appeals, and proceedings under the Patented Medicines (Notice of Compliance) Regulations. He is at home in the courtroom and his extensive trial experience sets him apart from most counsel and provides significant benefit to his clients.

Andrew also regularly provides strategic advice on the management, value, and enforcement of intellectual property assets, evaluating patents and portfolios and resolving regulatory issues for a wide range of clients.

Andrew’s broad commercial litigation experience includes complex cases and class actions, usually in highly technical areas. He has acted for clients in sectors such as pharmaceuticals and life sciences, information technology, manufacturing, automotive, banking, and cannabis.

Andrew’s experience as counsel includes trials, applications and appeals before all levels of the Ontario and Federal courts, including the Supreme Court of Canada, as well as in numerous mediations and private arbitrations.

Andrew’s experience includes:

  • Acting for Janssen and Actelion in multiple actions and appeals relating to Opsumit (macitentan), a medicine used to treat pulmonary arterial hypertension (Janssen Inc. v. Apotex Inc.; Janssen Inc. v. Sandoz Canada; Janssen Inc. v. JAMP Pharma)
  • Acting for Janssen and the Kennedy Trust in a patent impeachment and infringement action related to Remicade (infliximab), a biologic treatment for rheumatoid arthritis; this was the first patent infringement action in Canada relating to a biosimilar (Janssen Inc v. Pfizer Canada Inc.)
  • Acting for IBM in a passing-off action relating to IBM’s cloud computing services and technologies (Smart Cloud Inc v. International Business Machines Corporation)
  • Acting for Auxly in a commercial dispute relating to a distribution agreement for cannabis products (Auxly Cannabis Group Inc. v. Care Group of Pharmacies Inc., et al.)
  • Acting for Bausch Health and Valeant in a class action relating to the marketing and sale of products containing opioids (The Province of British Columbia v. Apotex Inc., et al.)
  • Acting for Cedarlane Corporation in a patent infringement action relating to biotechnology molecules (ExCellThera Inc. v. Cedarlane Corp., et al.)
  • Acting for Janssen in proceedings pursuant to the PM(NOC) Regulations relating to Prezista (darunavir), an antiretroviral medication (Janssen Inc. v. Apotex Inc.)
  • Acting for Valeant in proceedings pursuant to the PM(NOC) Regulations relating to Glumetza (metformin), a medication used to treat type 2 diabetes (Valeant Canada LP v. Generic Partners Canada Inc.)
  • Acting for Valeant in proceedings pursuant to the PM(NOC) Regulations relating to Wellbutrin XL (bupropion hydrochloride), a medication used to treat depression (Valeant Canada LP v. Ranbaxy Pharmaceuticals Canada Inc.)
  • Acting for Valeant, Orexo and Meda in multiple proceedings pursuant to the PM(NOC) Regulations relating to Sublinox (zolpidem), a medication used to treat insomnia (Pharmascience Inc. v. Valeant Canada LP)
  • Acting for Venngo in an appeal to the Federal Court of Appeal of a decision relating to trademark infringement and passing off (Venngo Inc. v. Concierge Connection Inc. c.o.b. as Perkopolis)

Prior to joining Cassels, Andrew was a partner in the Litigation Group at another national full-service firm, specializing in intellectual property and commercial litigation.

Samantha Prasad

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Samantha Prasad* (she/her/hers) is a partner in the Tax & Trusts Group and also serves as Co-Chair of the Private Client Group at Cassels. Samantha’s tax practice focuses primarily on private client (both personal and private company), international, and trust planning. Samantha’s clients vary from multi-national corporations, to family business owners/managers, to high-net and ultra-high-net worth individuals and families. As such, her practice is varied to include tax aspects of personal and corporate structures and reorganizations, domestic and international trust structures, as well as comprehensive business succession planning with an aim to maximizing generational wealth for clients and their families.

Clients appreciate Samantha’s ability to set up tax-efficient structures, and her ability to explain complex issues in everyday terms. Samantha is very adaptable to her clients’ needs, while also being able to provide a holistic view in respect of the client’s particular situation and goals. Her reputation is underscored by being recognized by her peers in Best Lawyers in Canada for Tax Law and in The Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory for both Estate & Tax Planning and Corporate Tax. Samantha is also ranked as a leader in the field of Private Wealth Law by the Chambers High Net Worth Guide.

Samantha is an accomplished author, having co-authored the 3rd edition of Tax and Family Business Succession Planning. Additionally, she is the co-editor of various other CCH Canadian Limited tax publications including the Canada Income Tax Guide, Wealth Management Guide, and Tax Planning for Small Business Guide. Samantha is a regular contributor to TaxNotes (Wolters Kluwer) and was a Contributing Editor to The TaxLetter newsletter (MPL Communications) for many years. Samantha is also a frequent lecturer for professional and commercial organizations, businesses, and conferences, including (but not limited to) the Canadian Tax Foundation, STEP Canada, the Law Society of Ontario, the Ontario Bar Association and Federated Press. She has also served as a guest speaker for the Osgoode Faculty of Law LLM (Corporate Taxation) program.

Prior to joining Cassels, Samantha served as a partner at a Toronto-based full-service business law firm where she was a member of the Executive Committee, Diversity & Equality Task Force, Legal Personnel Committee, and Student Recruitment Committee. She also represented the firm as a Board Member and Executive Committee Member with Meritas, a premier global alliance of independent law firms.

*Services provided through a Professional Corporation

Sam DiGiuseppe

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Sam DiGiuseppe (he/him/his) is an associate in the Banking & Specialty Finance Group at Cassels. Sam’s practice focuses on a broad range of domestic and international financing transactions, acting for both borrowers and lenders in secured and unsecured lending transactions, bilateral and syndicated facilities, and project finance facilities. Sam is also developing experience working with resource companies in the mining sector. At Cassels, Sam serves as Deputy Chair of the firm’s 2SLGBTQ+ Affinity Group, working with the firm’s Inclusion and Diversity Committee to support various internal and external initiatives throughout the year.

Sam received his J.D. from Queen’s University Faculty of Law, where he achieved a Dean’s Honour List designation. At Queen’s, Sam served as the Program Coordinator for Pro Bono Students Canada and was a faculty-appointed peer tutor. Prior to studying law, Sam spent a decade working as a professional musical theatre actor. He performed in 20 productions across North America including We Will Rock You, The Wizard of Oz, and Mamma Mia.

Prior to joining Cassels as an associate, Sam summered and articled with the firm.